Adaptation Studies of Engineering Design Process Cycle to Robotics Coding, STEM, and Nature of Science Activities in Science Education

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to examine the effect of adapting the engineering design process to robotic coding, STEM, and the nature of science applications on teachers’ self-efficacy towards engineering education and attitudes towards robotic coding. A weak experimental design with a single-group pre-test and post-test, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The sample of the study consists of 20 science teachers from all over Turkey who meet the application requirements within the scope of the project 2237 supported by TÜBİTAK and working in schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education. The sample was determined using the purposive sampling method. In this study, teachers were given theoretical and practical training on engineering design process-based STEM, robotic coding, and the nature of science for a total of 36 hours over one week. Quantitative data were analyzed using dependent groups t-test and correlation analysis in the SPSS 23 program. They evaluated their ability to apply these activities in their classes. As a result of the analysis of the quantitative data of the study, it was observed that their self-efficacy towards engineering education and attitudes towards the use of robotic coding in the class showed a positive increase.