Erdogan Kaya

Background: The next generation science standards (NGSS) (NGSS Lead States, 2013) place a particular emphasis on the integration of engineering into the science curriculum. Consequently, the NGSS calls on teachers to engage students in engineering practices to facilitate their experience with the engineering design process similar to engineers and develop a more contemporary view of engineering as a discipline. Since engineering education research in K-12 is still in its infancy, there is limited empirical evidence related to how teachers integrate engineering concepts into their classrooms. To assess the quality of teachers’ engineering teaching practices, teaching self-efficacy can be used as an indicator of their instructional practices because teaching efficacy beliefs are often associated with greater use of student-oriented instructional practices, increased teacher effort, and other positive instructional behaviors. Purpose: The main aim of this study was to validate an engineering teaching efficacy beliefs instrument (ETEBI) to measure pre-service elementary teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy beliefs. Design/method: The science teaching efficacy beliefs instrument version B was modified to develop the ETEBI. The instrument was administered to 561 pre-service elementary teachers. A Rasch model analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted on the data obtained from 561 pre-service elementary teachers to provide evidence supporting the validity of the instrument. Results: The Rasch model and CFA suggested a two-factor solution: personal engineering teaching efficacy and engineering teaching outcome expectancy. Also, Cronbach’s coefficient alphas for each subscale were measured to assess the internal consistency of the subscales. Based on the analyses, the study provided evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the ETEBI to assess pre-service elementary teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy. Conclusions: The ETEBI can be confidently utilized to assess pre-service elementary teachers’ engineering teaching efficacy beliefs. It is effective in gauging the current status of their beliefs and/or determining changes in their beliefs as a result of any teacher training and professional development effort.

Background: Since the advent of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), there has been an increasing focus on engineering in K–12 education. As educators and researchers have gained a better understanding of the nature of engineering in the decade following the release of the NGSS, there are new opportunities for growth and complexity.Purpose: This study used an epistemological approach to seek insights from experts in the science and engineering communities about the prominent aspects of engineering for K–12 education.Design/Method: This mixed‐methods study employed a three‐round Delphi study and a focus group meeting to elicit experts' opinions on the epistemic aspects of engineering that could shed light on the nature of engineering knowledge and practices. Constructivist grounded theory methodology was used to identify preliminary themes concerning the epistemic aspects of engineering and then to develop main themes by combining relevant themes together.Results: The analysis process yielded 21 preliminary themes that reflect key ideas about the engineering knowledge base, engineering design activities, and values and norms of the engineering community. Additionally, the current study identified eight main themes that captured the broader patterns in the data.Conclusions: The outcome of this study, including the preliminary themes and main themes concerning the epistemic aspects of engineering, could serve as a conceptual tool for establishing and improving students' conceptions of engineering and as a guide for designing and implementing engineering design activities in K–12 education settings.

This study explores the direction and magnitude of racial disparities on three advanced placement (AP) computer science (CS) exams, namely AP CS Principles, AP CS A, and AP CS AB, based on the test scores of more than one million students who have taken AP CS exams between 1997 and 2020. Using Mann–Kendall test and Sen's slope procedures we found that the number of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students in AP CS exams have increased steadily and significantly over years, yet they are still far from reaching parity. Further, our findings suggest that the racial disparities among top achievers are very wide. The results provide educators and researchers support for identifying and quantifying the racial disparities in advanced academic programs and may inform the development of policies, practices, and programs to reduce racial disparities in pre-college CS education and further.

Background: Pre‐college engineering education reform documents aim to help students develop engineering literacy. Helping students develop sophisticated epistemological views about engineering makes a significant contribution toward developing engineering‐literate citizenry. Despite these widely recognized benefits, research on students' and teachers' epistemological views about engineering, commonly termed nature of engineering (NOE) views, has remained stagnant due to the absence of an open‐ended questionnaire whose collected evidence of validity indicates its appropriateness for assessing students' and teachers' NOE understanding.Purpose: The purpose of this study is threefold: (a) describing the development of a new open‐ended instrument, the Views of Nature of Engineering Questionnaire version B (VNOE‐B), (b) providing evidence in support of the VNOE‐B validity and reliability, and (c) discussing the implications of the newly developed instrument for future research.Design/Method: We aimed to provide evidence for the content and face validity of the VNOE‐B by seeking input from a panel of science/engineering educators. Evidence for the construct validity was determined by analyzing the open‐ended questionnaire and semistructured interview responses provided by pre‐service and in‐service teachers (considered novices in this field) and experts (engineers and engineering educators).Results: Our findings indicate that the VNOE‐B is consistently successful in differentiating between experts' and novices' NOE views. All engineering experts held sophisticated NOE views across all NOE views under study, whereas most novices held partially informed or uninformed NOE views.Conclusion: Evidence of validity supports the appropriateness of the VNOE‐B as an open‐ended instrument for assessing adults' NOE views. Its application may guide teacher educators in determining the efficacy of teacher professional development in meeting the aim of improving in‐service teachers' NOE understanding. Additionally, VNOE‐B may potentially inform the success of pre‐service teacher training.