The Conceptual Connection Between Science and Engineering: Analysis of Middle School Science Teachers Integration of Engineering Design Process Into Science Units

Abstract

This study aimed to compare and contrast seven middle school science teachers' science and engineering integration and the extent of the conceptual link they made between science and engineering by analyzing pre- and post-unit plans and interviews. The training provided to the participants had theoretical and practical aspects, and lasted 14 weeks. Deductive analysis was conducted using existing codes proposed by Pleasants et al. (Int J STEM Educ, 8:1-17, 2021), which capture the extent and quality of explicit connections between science concepts and design practices (i.e., deep, shallow connections). The results revealed that no deep connection was observed in the pre-plans. In addition, only four pre-plans integrated the engineering design process (EDP) into science in the plans. All the teachers integrated EDP into the science units in their post-plans. Moreover, five teachers were able to make a deep connection between the two in the post-plans. The engineering integration and STEM training support given to teachers should explicitly show how science content and engineering design can be conceptually connected.