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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching,Volume 16, Issue 1, Article 14 (Jun., 2015) |
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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching,Volume 16, Issue 1, Article 14 (Jun., 2015) |
A pilot study on Hong Kong primary school students’ views of engineers
Pun Hon NG1, Tsz Pun MAK2, Lok Yi KAN3, Yuen Fung NGAN2 and Hung Fai CHOI2
1Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG
2Lingnan University Alumni Association (HK) Primary School, HONG KONG
3Faculty of Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, HONG KONG
E-mail: phng@cuhk.edu.hk
Received 23 May, 2015
Revised 26 Jun., 2015
STEM is an important issue in current science education development. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. One of the aims of STEM education is to develop the interest of K-12 (kindergarten, primary and secondary) students in joining STEM related careers in the future. Therefore, knowing students’ views on STEM related professions is becoming important. This paper reports a small scale pilot study on investigating Hong Kong primary school students’ views on engineers. The methodology is to collect data by questionnaire from Primary six students of a school (N=43), and then compare their data with those collected from 30 university engineering students using the same questionnaire. The results reveal that the primary students consider the work of engineers to be some kinds of construction work and building renovation. They think these are hard works and are unwilling to become engineers in the future.
Keywords: Elementary students’ views of engineers, STEM Education, General Studies for Primary Schools
Copyright (C) 2015 HKIEd APFSLT.Volume 16, Issue 1, Article 14 (Jun., 2015). All Rights Reserved.