Engineers and engineering through the eyes of preschoolers: a phenomenographic study of children's drawings

Date

2021-08-01

Author

Ata-Akturk, Aysun
Demircan, Hasibe Özlen

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This study aimed to explore how preschoolers perceive engineers and engineering by using their drawings. For this aim, phenomenography was used as a research approach. The data were collected using the draw-and-tell technique and through the drawing and explanation related parts of the Draw an Engineer Test. Totally, 436 preschool children from 16 different cities in Turkey were asked to draw an engineer and narrate their drawings. The data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Findings indicated that some children did not reveal an understanding of engineer or engineering via their drawings (n = 50). A limited number of children (n = 17) had a perception of engineer parallel to the definition of the engineer in the literature. Most children (n = 199) tended to perceive engineering as a male-specific and physical work and represented engineers while working outdoors (n = 147); building structures or constructing machinery (n = 156). This research implies that preschoolers should have a higher amount of opportunity to explore engineering in everyday life with the empowerment of teachers, parents, and community members.

Subject Keywords

Drawings, early engineering education, perception, phenomenography, STEM

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/92875

Journal

EUROPEAN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION RESEARCH JOURNAL

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293x.2021.1974067

Collections

Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Article

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Citation Formats

A. Ata-Akturk and H. Ö. Demircan, “Engineers and engineering through the eyes of preschoolers: a phenomenographic study of children’s drawings,” EUROPEAN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION RESEARCH JOURNAL, pp. 0–0, 2021, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/92875.