Engineers in Elementary Classrooms: perceptions of learning to solve technological problems

Abstract

The participants in this study were 20 professional and practising engineers who had made visits to elementary schools as invited speakers. Transcripts of tapes recorded during an extended interview with each participant have been analysed for the engineers' perceptions of the nature of technological problem‐solving and how one teams to do such problem‐solving. The views of these engineers on the value of their classroom visits are discussed in the context of developing a pedagogy for technological problem‐solving. A conclusion of the study was that recognition of the nature of each professional occupation will be needed to realize the potential of collaboration between engineers and elementary school teachers in developing a pedagogy for technological problem‐solving.