The role of engineering in science and mathematics education continues to emerge as a contributing factor to improving STEM education. Efforts across different countries include the integration of engineering in K-12 curriculum, after school programs, and inservice teacher professional development. Only recently have science teacher educators begun to introduce engineering in science teacher preparation programs. By incorporating novel curriculum and design-related experiences, we can begin to explore how preservice teachers not only learn about engineering, but more importantly, learn how to teach science using engineering design. In this study, we explore different ways 45 elementary preservice science teachers characterize and construct new understandings about engineering design-based science teaching. Data were gathered via self-interviews and reflective narratives. Data analysis entailed systematic and consistent open coding across transcripts. Document analysis served as a means of triangulation, reinforcing and reaffirming claims corroborated through the analysis of interview data. Using the teacher as learner framework, we contend that preservice teachers, when engaged in an engineering design-based methods course, demonstrate positive shifts from being learners to teachers of science by embodying the participatory, performative, and experiential nature of engineering design. To support preservice teacher development, we propose that teacher education programs incorporate engineering design-based learning experiences throughout teacher preparation rather than in a single semester or year. This means integrating more and earlier opportunities for preservice teachers to develop and apply their understandings of engineering design and design teaching, potentially leading to earlier shifts and increased design-based pedagogical understandings.

工程学在科学和数学教育中的作用继续成为改善 STEM 教育的一个促成因素。不同国家的努力包括将工程学融入 K-12 课程、课后课程和在职教师专业发展。直到最近，科学教师教育者才开始在科学教师预备课程中引入工程学。通过结合新颖的课程和与设计相关的经验，我们可以开始探索职前教师如何不仅学习工程知识，更重要的是学习如何使用工程设计教授科学。在这项研究中，我们探索了 45 位初级职前科学教师对基于工程设计的科学教学进行表征和构建新理解的不同方式。数据是通过自我采访和反思性叙述收集的。数据分析需要跨转录本的系统和一致的开放编码。文件分析作为三角测量的一种手段，加强和重申通过面谈数据分析证实的说法。使用教师作为学习者框架，我们认为职前教师在参与基于工程设计的方法课程时，通过体现工程设计的参与性、表演性和体验性，展示了从学习者到科学教师的积极转变。为了支持职前教师的发展，我们建议教师教育计划在整个教师准备过程中而不是在一个学期或一年中纳入基于工程设计的学习经验。