Perceptions of Teaching Safer Engineering Practices: Comparing the Influence of Professional Development Delivered by Technology and Engineering, and Science Educators

The release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (NGSS Lead States, 2013a) raised concerns regarding elementary school science educators’ preparation to adequately teach engineering practices using potentially hazardous engineering tools and materials (Love, 2014, 2015b; NSTA, 2016; Roy, 2012, 2013, 2014a, 2014b, 2015). This study employed a concurrent quasi-mixed methods design (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2006) to examine the safety perceptions of 131 elementary teachers among four professional development (PD) implementation sites across a southern state. The PD was taught by science education experts at all sites except for one, which was collaboratively delivered by science, and technology and engineering (T&E) education2 experts. The goal of this study was to compare the differences in safety perceptions among each PD site to examine if the collaborative delivery of PD by T&E educators was associated with differences in participants’ self-efficacy beliefs and expected outcomes toward safer use of engineering tools and materials in science instruction. Participants at the collaborative site reported significantly greater safety self-efficacy gains and a greater overall safety awareness than participants at the other sites. This study provides implications to enhance elementary teachers’ awareness and self-efficacy toward safer use of engineering tools and materials within science curricula through collaborative preparation efforts with T&E educators.

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Work Title Perceptions of Teaching Safer Engineering Practices: Comparing the Influence of Professional Development Delivered by Technology and Engineering, and Science Educators
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Tyler S. Love
Keyword
  1. STEM
  2. Safety
  3. Science Education
  4. Engineering Education
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. National Science Education Leadership Association
Publication Date June 2017
Subject
  1. STEM
Language
  1. English
Geographic Area
  1. United States
Related URLs
Deposited May 04, 2021

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Version 1
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  • Added Creator Tyler S. Love
  • Added ScienceEducator_SafetyArticle_Summer2017.pdf
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    Related URLs
    • https://nsela.memberclicks.net/science-educator-journal-
    • https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1272512
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