Abstract

Considering the progressive incorporation of the STEM competence in the primary education curriculum in Spain, students’ conceptions of engineering are explored. For this purpose, we conducted the validated instrument Draw an Engineer Test (mDAET) to 18 Spanish students aged 10 to 11. The data obtained from a mixed methodology –on the one hand, descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests; on the other, content analysis– show that the participating students present stereotypical notions of engineering as manual activities developed in fieldwork environments and individually. Furthermore, they identify a simplistic use of mathematics and fail to recognise the role of science in engineering. Teacher professional development is argued to be necessary to address these conceptions and thus move towards interdisciplinary STEM or STEAM education.