Pre-service science teachers’ understanding of science and engineering practices, engineering design process, and scientific method

This study examined secondary pre-service science teachers’ understanding of science and engineering practices, the engineering design process, and the scientific method before and after an intervention. Participants were ten pre-service science teachers. Data were collected through a survey and semi-structured interviews. Results show that after the intervention pre- service science teachers developed understanding of science and engineering practices and used more engineering-specific language when describing them. They also developed an understanding that both engineering design process and scientific method are cyclical and iterative and that the two processes share many practices, but the biggest difference between them is in their purposes. Pre-service teachers also said that the redesign process in engineering design, and the repetition of steps can occur at any point in engineering design process and scientific method. These findings have implications for science teacher education, and teaching and learning of science and engineering design in schools.