| dc.description.abstract | While Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM) education is expanding
worldwide, engineering reminds as both valuable and difficult element to integrate.
Understanding students’ perceptions of the engineer might be key to enhancing their
interest in engineering careers in the future. These perceptions also could be a valuable
insight to science educators who demand to develop more STEM activities. In our
framework, a case study was used to explore the perceptions of 16 students as they
participated in STEM activities at a Junior High School in Japan. After participating in the
activities, students completed a questionnaire about the profession. Data analysis was
guided by a focus on general perceptions of engineering, it’s clusters, and discussions of
how it related to the literature and socio-cultural of Japan. Text analysis was conducted,
especially in terms of frequency network and hierarchical cluster analysis. Our findings
indicate that students’ perceptions were related to making or creating, technology, and
machines. Five clusters of responses were found. The “design” and “solve the problem
faced by society” clusters were influential. There were disparities between the students’
perceptions and the definition of engineering, especially regarding constraints and the use
of science and mathematics concepts. Therefore, STEM education needs to be promoted
especially in problem solving and designing activities to support positive perceptions in
engineering profession. | en_US |
