This study explores how Learning by Evaluating (LbE) can be integrated into the 5E instructional model to support Technology and Engineering Education. LbE, influenced by comparative judgment, engages students in analyzing peer work to foster reflection, design reasoning, and iterative thinking. Using qualitative content analysis of teacher interviews, this research investigates how LbE can contribute to each phase of the 5E model: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Findings suggest that LbE enhances engagement during the Engage phase by leveraging real-world examples and peer comparisons to activate interest and prior knowledge. In the Explore phase, it aids design ideation and constraint recognition, though students often need structure to express their insights. During the Explain phase, LbE supports analytical thinking by helping students distinguish strong and weak designs, yet misconceptions may persist without debriefing. In the Elaborate phase, LbE reinforces the value of feedback and supports refinement of criteria and constraints, serving as a primer for redesign. In the Evaluate phase, it promotes reflection and group communication, though many students struggle to articulate evaluative reasoning without scaffolding. Overall, LbE offers a flexible and impactful way to deepen learning when intentionally embedded across the 5E framework. However, its success depends on thoughtful implementation and alignment with broader design thinking goals. The study recommends future research to explore how LbE supports long-term learning outcomes and how it may be adapted for diverse classroom settings.

The growing importance of computational thinking in an increasingly digitalized world is conveyed through Wing's perspective on why every child should develop analytical abilities.Computational thinking is a fundamental skill for everyone, not just for computer scientists.To reading, writing, and arithmetic, we should add computational thinking to every child's analytical ability.Just as the printing press facilitated the spread of the three Rs, what is appropriately incestuous about this vision is that computing and computers facilitate the spread of computational thinking (Wing, 2006, p. 33).For nearly two decades Wing's perspective has contributed to promoting widespread awareness of the importance of computational thinking in an increasingly digitalized world.Throughout these years the concept of computational thinking has evolved significantly, transitioning from its origins in manual computation to its contemporary application in solving complex problems.Historically, computational thinking was often associated with mathematical calculations, for example determining the values of sine or cosine.Today, however, it is understood as a set of mental skills and practices used to design computations that enable computers to perform tasks and to interpret the world as a network of information processes (Denning & Tedre, 2019).

Despite the benefits of integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education that have been discussed for decades; many teachers still find it challenging to implement integrated STEM education due to lacking confidence and experience. Numerous models and frameworks exist, but they tend to focus on enhancing teachers’ conceptual understanding rather than providing concise, step-by-step guidance for implementation. An urgent demand for a conceptual model to fit teachers’ practical teaching needs has been yielded. The current study aims to reach agreement among Integrated STEM Education professionals on an instructional design model that teachers could follow when teaching integrated STEM education. An online Delphi study was conducted to collect data from a panel of 12 experts from different countries. Consensus and stability were achieved to ensure its validity from international perspectives. The results revealed an integrated STEM education instructional design model with six stages, namely Preparation, Analysis, Design, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation (PADPIE), and 25 tasks. The six-stage PADPIE model was proposed as guidance for teachers to organize well-structured activities in integrated STEM education; the tasks were formulated into a checklist that allows teachers to examine their works.

While STEM education is widely acknowledged for enhancing national competitiveness and fostering creativity and innovation, it’s important to note that certain marginalized groups, such as women and rural communities, still need to reap its benefits fully. To address these marginalized groups in the context of STEM education, this study aimed to investigate the impact of rural-focused design-based STEM instruction on high school students’ attitudes toward STEM. Additionally, we explored the interplay between gender, school locale, and teachers’ perceptions of STEM through multilevel modeling (MLM) analysis. Our study involved 597 high school students distributed across 35 classes. The results of our MLM analysis revealed a significant difference in STEM attitudes between genders following participation in the design-based STEM instruction, while no regional disparities were identified. Furthermore, our comprehensive MLM model analysis indicated a positive relationship between teachers’ perceptions of the importance of STEM and students’ attitudes toward STEM. This study implies that incorporating culturally familiar topics into design-based STEM instruction can enhance the STEM attitudes of rural high school students.

Practical activities are at the core of learning in both engineering and science education programs. Hence, such activities are included as important practical learning experiences in each of these fields. During such learning experiences students are confronted by many different entities, from simple equipment to advanced instrumentation, all of which requires knowledge of how, when, why and for what they can and should be used. Emotional outcomes accompany learning through practical activities and can range from feelings of success and satisfaction, to disappointment and worries. Such emotions can play a critical role in a student’s decision to start or continue their studies in any science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) education field. This project explores how practical activities intra-act with emotions and thereby shape learning processes. Three methods of data production were employed: video-recorded observations, fieldnotes, and micro-interviews. These data were collected in two different undergraduate civil engineering courses (genetic engineering and nuclear physics), each with their own unique experimental setups for engaging students in practical laboratory activities. In total, 81 students were filmed for 80 hours in one genetic engineering and one nuclear physics course. By using Barad’s theory of agential realism (Barad, 2007) and Ahmed’s ‘Cultural Politics of Emotion’ (Ahmed, 2014) in the analysis, we found that practical lab activities require many different abilities of the students to be able to navigate in laboratories crammed with artefacts – tools, equipment, machines, instruments, etcetera. During any given practical lab activity students must distinguish what artefacts they should use or not. Much of the learning that takes place is bodily and non-verbal, where the teacher’s instructions are also bodily and intertwined with the students, materials, and emotions. Findings indicate that when a practical moment is repeated, the emotions are transformed or even fade away. The study demonstrates the importance of instructor awareness of the active role of both human and non-human entities when designing instruction for the unique educational settings students will encounter in science and engineering, also relevant to technology and design education preparation programs.

Engineering and technology teachers have advocated using robotics and coding to cultivate students’ computational thinking and problem-solving skills at PreK-12 levels. Understanding teachers’ perceptions of how preschool children develop strategies and skills for engaging in robotics and coding activities is crucial for promoting the early use of these technologies in classrooms. This qualitative case study explored two preschool teachers’ perceptions regarding capabilities and strategies to code and interact with the socio-technical world during robotics activities among children aged 3–5. The teachers used a Blue-Bot® robot to engage children in interactive coding and shared their experiences and insights in interviews. A thematic analysis revealed that teachers observed children employing three strategies for directing the robot, physical visualization, verbalization, and multiple pathways, with age and gender differences in strategies employed. Furthermore, teachers perceived children were able to understand and apply basic coding concepts through practices, even though they were not verbally articulating them. Additionally, teachers perceived children were developing favorable relationships with peers and the robotics world during their robotics and coding activities. The findings suggested that teachers should consider the developmental stage of children aged 3–5, along with the diverse strategies they employ, when implementing robotics education in early childhood settings. Moreover, they should recognize that children’s understanding of fundamental coding concepts and their perspectives on socio-technical relationships are critical to consider when engaging children in robotics and coding activities.

While increasing emphasis has been placed on computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) little is known about these topics in elementary classrooms. Significant equity gaps exist within CS/CT at the elementary level, with a major contributor being the lack of highly qualified CS/CT elementary teachers. Professional development (PD) for inservice teachers who already teach in high need CS schools or for preservice teachers planning to teach in high need schools is a viable solution. The research presented was part of an ongoing university/elementary school Teacher-Researcher Partnership designed to address the CS/CT PD needs of elementary educators. An exploratory, descriptive case study was conducted to better understand the experiences of 4th grade inservice teacher partners co-designing and implementing a robotics event serving over 100 4th grade students, along with the experiences of preservice teachers facilitating the event. Inservice teacher partners (n=5) were participants generating data through co-design session recordings, co-designed artifacts, and a final reflective interview. Data from preservice teacher facilitators (n=14) were anonymous reflections. Thematic analysis found inservice teachers gained increased confidence and ownership over CS/CT activities. Moreover, inservice and preservice teachers both reported student benefits such as growth in Technology and Engineering Education (T&EE) problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills. The emergence of joyfulness from CS/CT engagement was an important finding, particularly given T&EE intentionally capitalizes on the benefits of appealing, minds-on/hands-on experiences for young learners. This research provides insights for other T&EE researchers who are exploring PD approaches that help build CS, CT, problem-solving, and other related T&EE skills and dispositions.