Engineering Design-based Activities: Investigation of Middle School Students’ Problem Solving and Design Skills

Research Article

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of engineering design-based activities carried out in the 6th grade Matter and Heat unit on the problem-solving skills of students and the changes in the designing skill of students during the activities. This research, conducted by following the single group pre-test - post-test quasi-experimental design, was carried out with 23 students enrolled in a public school. Within the scope of the research, activities structured in line with the Matter and Heat unit gains were carried out for five weeks. The effect of the activities on the problem-solving skills of students was evaluated with the “problem-solving skills test ”. During the activities, “worksheets” and “design products” were used to evaluate the designing skills of students. The analysis of the data obtained from the problem-solving skills test was performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The worksheets and the products emerging in the activities were evaluated with an evaluation rubric to evaluate the engineering design process. As a result of the research, a significant difference was found between students’ pre-test and post-test scores of the problem-solving skills test. It has been determined that engineering design-based activities carried out within the framework of their real-life contribute to the increase of engineering design skills of students.