Draw an Engineer Test (DAET): Development of a Tool to Investigate Students' Ideas about Engineers and Engineering

The public has an incomplete understanding of engineers and engineering as a profession. In discussions about the public’s understanding of engineers, many have referenced the “conventional” stereotype of engineers as train operators. Though this stereotype may exist among students as well as the public, few investigations to date have focused on students’ ideas about engineers and engineering. The recent introduction of engineering into the K-12 curriculum in Massachusetts has increased interest among educators in assessing students’ knowledge of engineering as a result of intervention and outreach. The “Draw a Scientist Test” (DAST) has been widely used to assess students’ attitudes about scientists. To help assess students’ ideas about engineering before and after intervention, we are developing a “Draw an Engineer Test” (DAET). This analysis focuses on the results of the pilot study of students’ written and drawn responses to the question “What does an engineer do?”