Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T08:51:51.850Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 13 - Learning Disciplinary Ideas and Practices Through Engineering Design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2015

Kristen Bethke Wendell
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts Boston
Janet L. Kolodner
Affiliation:
Georgia Institute of Technology
Aditya Johri
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Barbara M. Olds
Affiliation:
Colorado School of Mines
Get access

Summary

Introduction

When pre-college students are given opportunities to engage in engineering, and those opportunities are carefully structured to include particular affordances, much more than designing and building can take place. Engineering education researchers who focus on elementary and secondary education are finding that engineering design can help create an environment for the learning of ideas and practices in a variety of academic disciplines. In this chapter, we put forth a framework, case-based reasoning, that suggests ways of carefully conceiving engineering design activities to support disciplinary learning. We highlight K–12 engineering education research that exemplifies the structures and practices suggested by the case-based reasoning framework. These research studies inform our understanding of how students learn disciplinary ideas and practices through engineering design at the pre-college level.

For a first glimpse into this work, picture the following scene in a third-grade science classroom. Two students are consulting with their teacher about the final assignment of their musical instrument engineering unit. The goal is a novel instrument that can play three different pitches. After a brief discussion to help the students see the strengths and weaknesses of their initial plan, the teacher sends them on their way to revise their ideas.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achieve, Inc. (2013). Next generation science standards. Retrieved from
Atman, C. J., Adams, R. S., Cardella, M. E., Mosborg, S., Turns, J., & Saleem, J. (2007). Engineering design processes: A comparison of students and expert practitioners. Journal of Engineering Education, 96(4), 359–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capobianco, B. M., Diefes-Dux, H. A., & Mena, I. B. (2011). Elementary school teachers’ attempts at integrating engineering design: Transformation or assimilation? In Proceedings of the 118th American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Vancouver, BC, Canada.Google Scholar
Cleary, B. (1990). The mouse and the motorcycle. New York, NY: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Cross, N. (2004). Expertise in design: An overview. Design Studies, 25(5), 427–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diefes-Dux, H. A., Moore, T., Zawojewski, J., Imbrie, P. K., & Follman, D. (2004). A framework for posing open-ended engineering problems: Model-eliciting activities. In Proceedings, 34th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Savannah, GA (pp. F1A-3–F1A-8). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE.Google Scholar
Fortus, D., Dershimer, R. C., Krajcik, J. S., Marx, R. W., & Mamlok-Naaman, R. (2004). Design-based science and student learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(10), 1081–1110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J., Camp, P., Holbrook, J., Fasse, B., & Kolodner, J. L. (2001). Science talk as a way to assess student transfer and learning: Implications for formative assessment. Retrieved from .
Hammer, D. (2004). The variability of student reasoning, lecture 1: Case studies of children's inquiries. In Redish, E. & Vicentini, M. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Enrico Fermi Summer School, Course CLVI (pp. 279–299). Bologna, Italy: Italian Physical Society.Google Scholar
Hazelrigg, G. A. (1999). On the role and use of mathematical models in engineering design. Journal of Mechanical Design, 121(9), 336–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hynes, M. M. (2009). Teaching middle-school engineering: An investigation of teachers’ subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Tufts University, Medford, MA.Google Scholar
It's About Time. (2011). Project-Based Inquiry Science: PBIS™. Retrieved from
Kafai, Y. B., & Muir Welsh, K. A. (2007). Evaluating students’ multimedia science design projects in the elementary classroom. In Pintó, R. & Couso, D. (Eds.), Contributions from science education research (pp. 435–449). New York, NY: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendall, A. L. M., & Wendell, K. B. (2012). Understanding the beliefs and perceptions of teachers who choose to implement engineering-based science instruction. In Proceedings of the 119th American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, TX.Google Scholar
Kolodner, J. L. (1993). Case based reasoning. San Mateo, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolodner, J. L. (1997). Educational implications of analogy: A view from case-based reasoning. American Psychologist, 52(1), 57–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolodner, J. L. (2006). Case-based reasoning. In Sawyer, K. L. (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences (pp. 225–242). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kolodner, J. L., Camp, P. J., Crismond, D., Fasse, B., Gray, J., Holbrook, J., Puntambekar, S., & Ryan, M. (2003). Problem-based learning meets case-based reasoning in the middle-school science classroom: Putting Learning by Design™ into practice. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 12(4), 495–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolodner, J. L., & Gray, J. (2002). Understanding the affordances of ritualized activity structures for project-based classrooms. In Bell, P., Stevens, R., & Satwicz, T. (Eds.), Keeping learning complex: International conference of the learning sciences (ICLS) (pp. 221–228). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Kolodner, J. L., Starr, M. L., Edelson, D., Hug, B., Kanter, D., Krajcik, J.,… Zahm, B. (2008). Implementing what we know about learning in a middle-school curriculum for widespread dissemination: The Project-Based Inquiry Science (PBIS) story. In Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Utrecht, Netherlands (Vol. 3, pp. 274–281). International Society of the Learning Sciences.Google Scholar
Lawson, A. E. (1978). The development and validation of a classroom test of formal reasoning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 15(1), 11–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lesh, R., Hoover, M., Hole, B., Kelly, A., & Post, T. (2000). Principles for developing thought-revealing activities for students and teachers. In Handbook of research design in mathematics and science education (pp. 591–645). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Massachusetts Department of Education. (2006). Massachusetts science and technology/engineering curriculum framework. Malden, MA: Author.Google Scholar
McCormick, M., & Hynes, M. M. (2012). Engineering in a fictional world: Early findings from integrating engineering and literacy. In Proceedings of the 119th American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, TX.Google Scholar
National Research Council (NRC). (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.Google Scholar
National Research Council (NRC). (2012). A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.Google Scholar
Penner, D., Giles, N. D., Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (1997). Building functional models: Designing an elbow. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34(2), 125–143.3.0.CO;2-V>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penner, D. E., Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (1998). From physical models to biomechanics: A design-based modeling approach. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 7(3/4), 429–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petroski, H. (1996). Engineering by design: How engineers get from thought to thing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Portsmore, M. D. (2010). Exploring how experience with planning impacts first grade students’ planning and solutions to engineering design problems (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Tufts University, Medford, MA.Google Scholar
Puntambekar, S., & Kolodner, J. L. (2005). Toward implementing distributed scaffolding: Helping students learn from design. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42(2), 185–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redmond, M. (1992). Learning by observing and understanding expert problem solving. (Unpublished doctoral thesis). College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.Google Scholar
Rogers, G., & Wallace, J. (2000). The wheels of the bus: Children designing in an early years classroom. Research in Science & Technology Education, 18(1), 127–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roth, W.-M. (1996). Art and artifact of children's designing: A situated cognition perspective. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 5(2), 129–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roth, W.-M. (2001). Learning science through technological design. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(7), 768–790.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russ, R. S., Scherr, R. E., Hammer, D., & Mikeska, J. (2008). Recognizing mechanistic reasoning in student scientific inquiry: A framework for discourse analysis developed from philosophy of science. Science Education, 92, 499–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sadler, P. M., Coyle, H. P., & Schwartz, M. (2000). Engineering competitions in the middle school classroom: Key elements in developing effective design challenges. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(3), 299–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schank, R. C. (1982). Dynamic memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schank, R. C. (1999). Dynamic memory revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schank, R. C., & Abelson, R. L. (1977). Scripts, plans, goals, and understanding. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Silk, E. M., Higashi, R., Shoop, R., & Schunn, C. D. (2010, December–January). Designing technology activities that teach mathematics. The Technology Teacher, 21–27.
Silk, E. M., Schunn, C. D., & Cary, M. S. (2009). The Impact of an engineering design curriculum on science reasoning in an urban setting. Journal of Science Education & Technology, 18, 209–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, S., & Agogino, A. M. (2004). Insights in designers’ sketching activities in new product design teams. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology, Salt Lake City, UT (Vol. 3a, pp. 351–360). American Society of Mechanical Engineers.Google Scholar
Welch, M. (1999). Analyzing the tacit strategies of novice designers. Research in Science & Technology Education, 17(1), 19–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendell, K. B. (2011). Science through engineering in elementary school: Comparing three enactments of an engineering-design-based curriculum on the science of sound (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Database (3445103).
Wendell, K. B., & Lee, H.-S. (2010). Elementary students’ learning of materials science practices through instruction based on engineering design tasks. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 19(6), 580–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendell, K. B. & Rogers, C. (in press). Engi-neering-design-based science, science content performance, and science attitudes in elementary school. Journal of Engineering Education.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×