Blended Engineering Design Process Learning Activities for Secondary School Students during COVID-19 Epidemic: Students’ Learning Activities and Perception

Abstract

This study aims to present the teaching and learning activities of Engineering Design Processes (EDP) to secondary school students. The proposed teaching technique used was blended learning, which integrated group activities based on online learning and individual hands-on activities through independent study at home. The context of COVID-19 medical mask protection was used in comparison to the current situation. In order to test the effectiveness of the proposed learning activities, a single-group pretest–posttest design was employed to explore (a) the students’ perceptions of their problem-solving confidence before and after they underwent the proposed learning technique and (b) students’ perceptions of the designed course. After they had finished the 4 weeks of learning activities, the students were asked to complete the Students’ Perception on Problem-Solving Skill Questionnaire (SPPSS) and the Students’ Perception towards the Proposed Blended Engineering Design Process learning activities Questionnaire (SPBEDP) in order to gauge how confident they felt in their ability to solve problems and how they felt about the proposed course. There were 30 seventh-grade students enrolled in this course. An increase in the level of problem-solving confidence was found in the students after they were subjected to the proposed activities. Moreover, the students mentioned that, based on the proposed activities, “Identify Problem and Need”, “Design a Solution”, and “Developing Prototype” are the Engineering Design Process learning steps they enjoyed most since they were the steps in which they could use their creativity, and they were hands-on, fun, easy, challenging, and provided them with an opportunity to choose issues in which they are interested.