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West_ Final Dissertation_20240815.pdf (1.61 MB)

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Superstar K-5 Engineering Educators: A Narrative Study of Positive Deviant Educators

West, Megan E
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1031-7381
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1723730037641959

Abstract Details

2024, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Engineering Education.
Formal incorporation of engineering education into K-12 education has been a new focus in the last decade to answer national calls for increased diversity and talent within the discipline. Although national level efforts to integrate engineering standards into K-12 curricula are an important step toward early exposure to engineering and an increase in student interest, teachers are becoming engineering teachers without formal engineering education training, especially at the elementary level. This manuscript-style dissertation seeks to provide insights into engineering teacher professional identity development through the study of positive deviant, or superstar, K-5 engineering teachers’ engineering teaching journey. Participants for this dissertation were recruited through a national survey that asked K-5 engineering teachers to self-identify as superstars. From that survey, nine participants completed narrative-style, one-on-one interviews. One participant’s data was used to perform a qualitative analysis methods comparison of the Listening Guide and Critical Incident Technique (CIT). This comparison showcased what each analysis method afforded with respect to teacher identity development, specifically that both methods can be used to answer research questions regarding identity development. These results informed the research design of the larger study of engineering teacher professional identity development in superstars. The larger study of engineering teacher professional identity leveraged the experiences of superstar K-5 engineering educators and the Listening Guide analysis method. Data analysis indicated that each superstar had unique experiences and dispositions that were integral to their individual engineering teacher professional identity development. While superstars had unique narratives around their engineering teaching journey, themes across the narratives were also found related to the effect of personal experiences, professional contexts, and aspects of the external political environment on their engineering teacher professional identity development. Finally, the narrative interview data was used in a thematic analysis to provide practitioners with concrete take aways from the superstar K-5 engineering teachers’ actions and experiences that positively impacted their engineering teaching. These take aways include: 1) Elementary school teachers are "everything" teachers, 2) If you need something to aid/improve your engineering teaching, always ask, 3) Elementary engineering teaching benefits from sharing resources and duties with peers, 4) Grants are worth the time and effort it takes to find and apply for them, and 5) Apply to the engineering/STEM teaching position whether you think that you are qualified or not. The findings of this dissertation can be applied to future K-5 engineering teaching education for in-service and pre-service teachers to motivate the development of an engineering teacher professional identity in a greater number of K-5 teachers.
Rachel Kajfez (Advisor)
Theodore Chao (Committee Member)
Emily Dringenberg (Committee Member)
177 p.
Education; Engineering
engineering education; K-5 teachers; identity; positive deviance;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • West, M. E. (2024). Superstar K-5 Engineering Educators: A Narrative Study of Positive Deviant Educators [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1723730037641959

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • West, Megan. Superstar K-5 Engineering Educators: A Narrative Study of Positive Deviant Educators. 2024. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1723730037641959.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • West, Megan. "Superstar K-5 Engineering Educators: A Narrative Study of Positive Deviant Educators." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1723730037641959

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1723730037641959
257
© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.