Navigating Pre-college Engineering Teaching during COVID-19: A Review and Analysis of Teacher Experiences

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic with its unique constraints led teachers of all disciplines, across all levels to employ diverse strategies in their quick transition to online learning. Emerging literature has suggested readiness and resources for the transition to remote learning along with intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as motivation and engagement to be frequent challenges faced by teachers. The purpose of this work is twofold: a) conduct a review of the post-pandemic literature to summarize the challenges of teaching engineering during the pandemic, and b) summarize the experiences of secondary teachers when teaching a pre-college engineering curriculum at the beginning of the pandemic. Collectively the literature review and experimental findings enable greater understanding and sense-making of adaptations made to prepare for future abrupt changes that may arise. Focus group data (n= 39) of high school engineering teachers were analyzed using sensemaking theory to reveal several challenges faced and strategies adopted during this unprecedented time. Our review findings suggest Lack of Engagement and Motivation, Scheduling, the Right Resources, and Training with Technology were the most frequent challenges noted in the literature. Our empirical findings showed similar challenges faced by pre-college teachers which were summarized into four themes: Teaching logistics, Time Management, Available Support, and Regulations. The themes provide the foundation for mitigation strategies for teachers during a crisis or abrupt change in the future.