Examination of the engineering design process in popular science magazines: The example of Science for Children

The primary purpose of this research is to examine the contents of the "Science for Children" magazine published between 2012-2022 in terms of engineering discipline and engineering design processes. Participants of the research, in which the document review method was used, consists of the engineering discipline and design-based activities included in the contents of the magazine. In the analysis of 295 contents in 131 issues published between January 2012 and October 2022, the "Engineering Discipline and Engineering Design Process Checklist" prepared by the researcher was used. As a result of the analysis of the data obtained, an increase was determined in the number of engineering design-based activities in the magazine contents published in 2017 and beyond. The most prominent career areas in the magazine contents were determined as "Computer Engineering," "Software Engineering," and "Electrical-Electronics Engineering," respectively. Among the engineering design process steps, it was seen that the most commonly used ones were "identifying the problem" and "testing." When the relationship between the activities and the Science Curriculum achievements was examined, it was revealed that it is related to "Physical Events" and "Living Things and Life" most; and related to "World and Universe" and "Matter and Nature" subject areas least. It was determined that the number of subjects and achievements in the activities increased from the 4th-grade to the 8th-grade level in parallel with each other. It was also determined that the thematic areas most frequently included in the magazine contents were "sustainable life," "tools and machines," "space," "robotics," "medicine," and "biomimicry," respectively. As a result of the study, it was determined that various engineering disciplines and engineering design-based activities were included in the contents of the "Science for Children" magazine. Accordingly, the magazine contents can be used within the scope of the science, engineering, and entrepreneurship practices in middle school science courses.