5th/6th Graders and Preservice Teachers Explore Engineering and Coding in a Combined After-School Technology Club/Educational Technology Course

Elementary schools are increasingly encouraged to adopt STEM education efforts that include engineering and programming, yet pre-service teachers (PSTs) are not traditionally prepared to teach these subjects. This pilot study describes an innovative preparation experience designed to help PSTs gain experience and confidence in these areas. As part of an undergraduate educational technology course, PSTs led an after-school technology club at a local public school. PSTs enrolled in the course worked alongside fifth and sixth grade students on a series of collaborative design challenges that culminated in the creation of animal-inspired robots. The “WoW Club”, as it came to be known, introduced both student populations to engineering, coding, and robotics, while allowing them to interact and develop skills in a low-stakes environment. The approach was found to have a positive impact on PSTs’ engineering selfefficacy and coding self-efficacy. Purpose Elementary schools are increasingly embracing engineering and programming within STEM education. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for the engineering design process to be emphasized as much as scientific investigation and for students to begin learning about it in kindergarten (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Virginia updated its Science Standards of Learning to include engineering practices and became the first state to require computer science education when it adopted the K-12 Computer Science Standards of Learning in 2017 (Sawchuck, 2017). Other states are establishing similar standards, introducing programming at the earliest educational levels (Neary, 2016; Stanton, Goldsmith, Adrion et al., 2017). Despite these efforts, many elementary students are not introduced to engineering and coding in school (Bybee, 2010; Carr, Bennett & Strobel, 2012). One reason for this is teachers’ lack of familiarity with the topics and lack of confidence in the underlying disciplines of mathematics and science (Hsu, Purzer & Cardella, 2011). Hsu et al. (2011) found that elementary school teachers believed that it was important to incorporate engineering into their curricula, but did not feel confident teaching it. Most pre-service teachers (PSTs), especially those pursuing licensure in elementary education, are not exposed to engineering or coding in their coursework. As of Spring 2017, only nine higher education programs in the US provided courses or curricular programs for elementary education majors to develop content knowledge in technology and engineering (Rose, Carter, Brown, & Shumway, 2017). This dearth of appropriate instruction conflicts with prior research suggesting that P-6 PSTs must receive training in engineering topics, feel confident in their abilities to teach them, and be willing to adopt new teaching practices, to integrate engineering into their classrooms (Rich, Jones, Belikov, Yoshikawa, & Perkins, 2017). If teachers are to feel confident teaching engineering and computer science, they will need experience doing so. Thus, it is crucial to develop teacher preparation programs capable of equipping teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills in teaching these topics (Grover & Pea, 2013). In Spring 2018, an education faculty member partnered with an engineering professor to introduce PSTs to engineering and programming within the context of an educational technology course, T430. Eight enrolled students met at a local school alongside eighteen 5th and 6th graders (FSGs) who were recruited for an after-school technology club. The group of PSTs and FSGs became collectively known as “The WoW Club”. Over the course of ten weeks, WoW Club participants explored educational technologies and completed programming activities that culminated in the creation of animal-inspired robots. The overall goal was to enhance PSTs’ engineering knowledge, engineering beliefs, engineering self-efficacy, coding self-efficacy, and intention to integrate engineering into their instruction. -1600SITE 2019 Las Vegas, NV, United States, March 18-22, 2019