Work in progress - Changes in secondary school teachers’ attitudes following a course in engineering design

This paper discusses the changes in attitudes about engineering before and after an introductory course in engineering design offered to in-service secondary math and science teachers. The course is part of a series of courses offered through the NSF-sponsored MSP(Math and Science Partnership): Project Pathways designed to help integrate mathematic and science and can be taken as partial fulfillment of a Master´s degree in Science/Math Education. An attitude survey based on the well- documented PFEAS (Pittsburgh Freshmen Engineering Attitude Survey) was administered to the teachers taking the course. The survey was given at the beginning and end of the Fall 2006 semester. The greatest difference in the teachers´ attitudes was in the area of engineering being perceived as an exact science. On a 5-point Likert scale, the teachers´ mean responses to the group of questions regarding engineering being perceived as an exact science had a statistically significant mean difference of -.68, p<.01. The teachers showed significant differences on three other scales as well (engineering compatibility, confidence in basic engineering knowledge and skills, and overall computer skills). Additional open-ended questions showed a gain in the teachers´ general knowledge about engineering as a profession and their ability to recognize students in their courses that might be successful as engineering students following their graduation from high school.