The Impact of Integrating Engineering into Science Learning on Student's Conceptual Understandings of the Concept of Heat Transfer

Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (STEM) integrated education has been spotlighted as a new approach for promoting students' conceptual understanding and supporting their future career in STEM field. There is increasing evidence of the positive impact of using a whole design process that can be an example of STEM integrated activities to improve students' conceptual understanding and problem solving skills. However, there is a lack of information on how teachers should accomplish science and engineering integration activities in their classroom and what process they should pay attention. To answer this question, we research the relationship between an design process and students' conceptual understanding using an engineering design activity, called 'Save the Penguins', and study on how each step in an engineering design process in this activity enhance students' conceptual knowledge in science. We found that testing their prototypes and discussing with their peers were the most important process for students to understand and apply science concept for their design, even though the whole engineering design process (demonstration about radiation, discussion about examples in our lives, and testing and reviewing their prototypes, and making final design) helps the students understand the scientific concepts.