Development of a survey to assess K-12 teachers' perceptions of engineers and familiarity with teaching design, engineering, and technology

This paper describes the development of a survey instrument to assess K-12 teachers' perceptions of engineering and their familiarity with teaching design, engineering, and technology (DET). Item development, field testing, and the factor analysis are described along with reliability and validity. Administration of the instrument revealed differences based on gender, grade level taught, and years of teaching experience. Female teachers rated the importance of DET higher than male teachers, elementary teachers were least likely to teach DET, and moderately experienced teachers were the most willing to learn more about DET. Barriers to infusing DET into the curriculum were time and administrative support. All teachers were unfamiliar with DET, lacked confidence in their ability to teach DET, and held stereotypes about the skills needed to be an engineer. Based on the findings, recommendations are made for professional development of K-12 teachers and for the pre-service teacher preparation curriculum.