A case study of implementing engineering design process to build a “controllable switch instrument”

Abstract

"STEM education serves to prepare a workforce in which integration of scientific information as well as technological literacy are becoming more and more widespread. Important skills for success in the twenty-first century include critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, cooperation, self-directed learning, scientific environmental and technological literacy. In this study, primary school teacher candidates used a STEM activity, following the engineering design process. The case study, a qualitative research approach, was used in this study. The participants in the study were thirty primary school teacher candidates from second class at university. This study used audio and video recordings and engineering design notebooks as data collection tools. The engineering design process as a context for developing science, mathematics and technology concepts was used. An electrical engineering activity requiring students to design and build an electrical instrument to control the current intensity was created. This activity has been determined in an engineering context where students were introduced to the work of electrical engineers, such as designing basic electric circuits and using different electrical tools. As a result of this research, primary school teacher candidates had an opportunity to experience engineering design-based science education focused on electricity saving, which is a problem they may encounter in real life and also results demonstrated that the adjustable wrench designed by primary school teacher candidates changes the bulb's brightness. "