Self-efficacy of teaching engineering: Does TEK8 help or hinder?

Integrating engineering into K-12 classrooms is gaining considerable attention. With new standards, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), that require the incorporation of engineering through design into the K-12 curriculum, it is essential that opportunities be provided to those teaching in K-12 to aid in appropriate integration. Translating Engineering Research to K-8 (TEK8) addresses this need through a summer research experience followed by a fall semester course that accomplishes K-12 outreach related to the research. While the course seems to increase interest related to integrating engineering into K-12 classrooms, we are interested in extending this analysis to understand impacts on self-efficacy. Specifically, we sought to answer the following research question, “How do participants' self-efficacy towards teaching engineering change over a semester?” To frame this investigation, we conceptualized self-efficacy as one's belief in their own ability to teach engineering design challenges in the K-12 context.