Impact of an engineering design-based curriculum compared to an inquiry-based curriculum on fifth graders’ content learning of simple machines

Abstract

Background: Elementary Science Education is struggling with multiple challenges. National and State test results confirm the need for deeper understanding in elementary science education. Moreover, national policy statements and researchers call for increased exposure to engineering and technology in elementary science education. The basic motivation of this study is to suggest a solution to both improving elementary science education and increasing exposure to engineering and technology in it.

Purpose/Hypothesis: This mixed-method study examined the impact of an engineering design-based curriculum compared to an inquiry-based curriculum on fifth graders’ content learning of simple machines. We hypothesize that the LEGO-engineering design unit is as successful as the inquiry-based unit in terms of students’ science content learning of simple machines.

Design/Method: We used a mixed-methods approach to investigate our research questions; we compared the control and the experimental groups’ scores from the tests and interviews by using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and compared each group’s pre- and post-scores by using paired t-tests.

Results: Our findings from the paired t-tests show that both the experimental and comparison groups significantly improved their scores from the pre-test to post-test on the multiple-choice, open-ended, and interview items. Moreover, ANCOVA results show that students in the experimental group, who learned simple machines with the design-based unit, performed significantly better on the interview questions.

Conclusions: Our analyses revealed that the design-based Design a people mover: Simple machines unit was, if not better, as successful as the inquiry-based FOSS Levers and pulleys unit in terms of students’ science content learning.

Keywords:

• engineering design-based curriculum
• inquiry-based curriculum
• Lego materials
• simple machines
• elementary schools

Acknowledgements

This study is derived from the doctoral dissertation of the first author (Marulcu 2010).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research described in this paper was supported in part through a National Science Foundation Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) program [grant number 0633952].