2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Much can be learned about one’s personal beliefs by studying the mental images that person holds in relation to a particular topic. Instruments such as Draw-A-Scientist Test and Draw-An-Engineer Test have been used to assess both student and teacher perceptions of scientists and engineers. Likewise, the Draw-A-Science-Teacher Test (DASTT) was developed to “illuminate the knowledge and beliefs preservice elementary teachers construct prior to coursework in elementary science teaching methods,” and the Draw-A-Mathematics-Teacher Test was developed to investigate pre-service teachers’ perceptions of what it looks like to teach mathematics in the classroom. DASTT has also been used to identify changes in pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching science that take place over the course of a semester long science education methods course.

The current study, works to add to the previously mentioned set of Draw-A-Teacher Tests by developing a Draw-An-Engineering Teacher Test (DAETT) to identify teachers’ mental images of engineering teaching. Specifically, the study seeks to answer the following research questions:
1. What mental images do participants hold of themselves teaching engineering at the elementary level?
2. How do pre-service teachers’ mental images of teaching engineering change after completing a semester long science methods course that includes engineering-focused components?

The DAETT is modeled after the DASTT and instructs participants to draw themselves teaching engineering and to describe what they are doing as well as what their students are doing in the picture. The instrument is being piloted with 46 pre-service elementary teachers at _____University who are currently enrolled in a K-8 science methods course. All participants completed the DAETT on the first day of the course and will complete the instrument again on the last day of the course (mid-December 2018). This paper will report on the initial inductive coding of the pilot data as well as the initial DAETT scoring checklist that is being developed based on the inductive coding and research literature. The development of the scoring checklist is informed by the coding results from the pilot study, a review of K-12 engineering education literature, and the widely used DASTT checklist.