Evaluation of the impact of engineering design-based activities performed in 6th-grade "matter and heat" unit on problem-solving and design skills

The main purpose of this research study was to examine the impact of engineering design-based activities performed in 6th-grade unit titled 'Matter and Heat' on students' problem-solving and design skills. Moreover, the study included sub-objectives of investigating students' images towards the engineering profession during the activities and the alteration in knowledge structures towards STEM; and finally investigating students' opinions towards engineering design-based activities. The present study that employed the action research method was conducted with 26 6th-grade students (16 girls, 10 boys) who study in a public school, which provide education to students with low socioeconomic level, in the academic year of 2017-2018. In the scope of the study, the engineering design-based activities were structured in line with the learning outcomes of the unit titled 'Matter and Heat' were carried out for five week-period. The data collection tools of the study consisted of Problem-Solving Skills Test-PSST (Pekbay, 2017), engineering-image form, word association test (WAT), student journals, worksheets. In addition, the designs produced as a result of the study were used for the purpose of evaluating students' design skills. In the analysis of the data obtained from PSST, the descriptive analysis method was employed. In the analysis of the data collected from engineering-image form, word association test and student journals, the content analysis method and constant comparative data analysis method was used. The findings of the study obtained from the analysis of the obtained data revealed that engineering design-based activities which were performed in the context of students' lives have made a positive contribution to students' problem-solving and design skills. The findings also showed that there is an improvement in their images of the engineering profession and STEM knowledge structures. Keywords: Action research, Engineering design-based science education, Problem solving skill, Design skill.