“Let the Designing Begin!”: Teacher Tendencies Supporting Efficient Facilitation of the Engineering Design Process

This research full paper utilizes qualitative methods to explore middle school engineering teachers' facilitation of the engineering design process as they implement STEM-integrated curricula. Engineering teachers face the challenge of guiding students through a multi-phase, iterative process to design, prototype, and test solutions to engineering problems. In our research exploring middle school teachers' implementation of the semester-long STEM-ID curricula, we have found considerable variation in the degree to which teachers successfully work with students to navigate the engineering design process (EDP). Some teachers have been able to guide students through the EDP to complete STEM-ID challenges efficiently, whereas other teachers have struggled to do so. To better understand the problem of practice evidenced by such variations in the efficiency of EDP facilitation, this qualitative study synthesizes observation and interview data to identify tendencies characterizing efficient facilitation of the EDP among teachers implementing the STEM-ID curricula. In the current study, which focused on curricula implementation by six engineering teachers, four teachers demonstrated efficient facilitation of EDP, successfully guiding students through the vast majority of the curricula's design challenges, while two teachers struggled to do so. Our qualitative data suggest three major tendencies that may account for variations in the efficiency with which teachers guided students through the various stages of the EDP: 1) adept management of student groups working at multiple stages of EDP, 2)explicit discussion of EDP progress and documentation in engineering design process logs, and 3) engaging students in discussions about the purpose of engineering and the engineering design process, including beyond the design challenges they complete as part of the STEM-ID curricula. By identifying tendencies we observed among teachers who efficiently implemented the EDP, we hope to advance the field's understanding of strategies that support student engagement in the EDP while also informing future engineering curricula and professional development projects.