Development and implementation of engineering-based aircraft unit: middle school students’ engineering design process skills

This study examined the effects of the engineering design-based activities developed in the context of aircraft engineering on the engineering design process (EDP) skills of students. Through the notebooks that the students provided during the implementation process, their EDP skills for each engineering design phase (identification of the problem, generation of design ideas, and creation and improvement of the final design artefact) were analyzed. Focus group interviews were held to reveal their understanding of EDP and to elaborate on the findings, which indicated that the EDP skills of the students improved thanks to the engineering design-based activities. In addition, the focus group interviews indicated that the students had some difficulties while implementing EDP. This study investigated the implementation skills of students in EDP and revealed the skills that are open to and resistant to improvement in this process. It is believed that these findings will enable teachers and researchers to integrate engineering and science more effectively while developing engineering-based teaching activities and conducting classroom practices.