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The 1950s saw the emergence of the science-driven model of engineering education. In the following decades, the model has been continuously challenged to incorporate aspects such as liberal arts, information & communication technology, design, entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, industry 4.0, and more recently, online-learning. This has triggered several initiatives at institutional and national levels, and manifested in approaches and practices for transforming engineering education. One approach that appears to be gaining attention is design-centric engineering, with its emphasis on learning-by-doing, product design and entrepreneurial orientation. While literature points to several variants of design-centric engineering and challenges in implementation, it also calls for more empirical studies and deeper theoretical inquiry into the contradictions and paradoxes that this approach might present to the students at the micro-level, and guidance on how they might make sense and find pathways of action jointly with internal and external stakeholders. This paper throws light on the contradictions and paradoxes experienced by undergraduate engineering students while implementing a design-centric engineering program at a young public-funded institute in India, involving approximately 1500+ students over a period of six years. The paper also discusses the theoretical and pragmatic aspects of the approach adopted to encourage students to make sense of the contradictions and paradoxes, namely: (a) leveraging the affordance offered by one of the courses in the program—"Sociology of Design—to synthesize engineering, design and sociological perspectives; (b) turning the contradictions and paradoxes into sources of learning and change, informed by the theory of complex responsive processes; and (c) application of multiple methods such as rich pictures, reflective writing, self-organized interactions and data analysis to enable sense-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last decade, different values, tools and practices promoted by maker culture have been adopted in formal educational settings with the aim of reinvigorating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Higher education institutions (HEIs) have also engaged with maker culture to explore its potentialities regarding education, entrepreneurship and innovation. However, these collaborations with various stakeholders are not always smooth and educators need to deal with significant challenges that arise in these engagements, despite the problem-solving learning opportunities that they can offer their students. This paper presents the results of a case study that dealt with these issues through the establishment of an open and collaborative learning ecosystem (OCLE) between different educators, students and external stakeholders. The empirical work was based on thirty-three semi-structured interviews across four countries, eight focus groups and a final participatory workshop. The study argues that maker culture can offer several potentialities for pushing forward an integrative vision of STEM education as well as other disciplines from social sciences and humanities. An emphasis is placed on how tertiary education can benefit greatly from the adoption of OCLEs and how these communities of practices can encourage an education oriented to meeting societal challenges. The paper also warns that these kinds of interventions face significant organisational challenges in HEIs that demand significant institutional recognition and support to overcome this organisational resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how lower secondary pupils experience their participation in the Danish science and green entrepreneurship competition, called Edison. The study uses a qualitative research method to investigate pupils' descriptions, in retrospect, on the process of their entrepreneurial work. We completed semi-structured interviews with two teachers and six groups of pupils from two schools. Independence and being able to determine their own product were motivating factors. Often the pupils included other actors, particularly family members, on their own initiative as part of their work. The pupils' interest in STEM education did not appear to have been affected except for two pupils who broadened their educational perspective. However, the awareness of sustainability issues has for some of them been supported, one of them with a change of lifestyle. By including engineering design process models in the analyses, the concept of entrepreneurship in science and technology became more process oriented and operational, which may also help both the teachers' facilitation and the pupils' inventing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature on STEM education outcome in the tertiary context has pursued the construct of non-cognitive attributes distinctly from that of entrepreneurship skills and pedagogical competencies, notwithstanding the inferred indications that the three can be adapted in an integrated model to enhance positive outcomes. This study established that there is a range of approaches seeking to optimize positive learning outcomes in tertiary level institutions. This paper argues that there is need to incorporate entrepreneurship and pedagogical skills training in the curriculum for STEM educators at the tertiary level institutions. The study has therefore proposed an integrated theoretical model which can be used to generate data sets to address identified gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of Bandura's (Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive perspective, Princeton-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1986) social cognitive theory (SCT), we investigated the roles of four different entrepreneurial factors: entrepreneurial qualities (EQ), entrepreneurial knowledge (EK), perceived entrepreneurialism (PE) and entrepreneurial inspiration (EIN), in entrepreneurial intention (EI) formation. Alongside, this paper explored the unique role played by entrepreneurial self-efficacy as a mediator among the list of determinants and EI. The study approached with a sample of 1062 final year engineering student from 15 premier technical institutes in India. The findings show that the effects of EQ, PE, and EIN on EI are partially mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy whereas a full mediation between EK and EI, which is consistent with the SCT framework. The implications suggest for improving the EK delivery system, which in turn will make students feel self-efficacious toward being entrepreneurial. The article argued on various pedagogical as well as the policy-related context of business venturing at Indian technical institutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the goal of the vocationalisation of school curriculum has been viewed as fallacious and mythical, many countries have continued to introduce practical subjects in schools. This paper reports on the views of three teachers involved in the development of the technology studies curriculum. The curriculum developers' views were corroborated with a focus group discussion involving teachers that were invited for the first ever primary school technical teacher training. The in-depth discussions focused on their understanding of the rationale and future of technology studies in the primary school curriculum and how to build teacher capacity for the subject. The teachers viewed the programme as providing primary school learners with skills for their survival after school as chances of proceeding to secondary were limited. Learning in this programme was also seen as likely to develop attitudes necessary for technology studies at tertiary level. In conclusion, the teachers hold the assumption similar to skills development for jobs and employment while technological literacy is not viewed in its broad sense and this has implications on how and what to teach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern engineering curricula have started to emphasize design, mostly in the form of design-build experiences. Apart from instilling important problem-solving skills, such pedagogical frameworks address the critical social skill aspects of engineering education due to their team-based, project-based nature. However, it is required of the twentyfirst century engineer to be not only technically competent and socially and culturally aware, but also innovative and entrepreneurial. This paper discusses a reformulated firstyear engineering course at the University of Pretoria, which was adopted 6 years ago to better address the required innovation skills of engineering students. This design-buildinnovate course employs a unique creative problem-solving strategy in designing and building solutions to set technological problems. The students further investigate the provisional patenting of their design concepts. Mini business plans are developed and the students participate in a university- and in a national innovation competition. This introductory engineering course has been successful as measured by overwhelmingly positive student feedback, several provisional patents, and a number of small start-up companies that emanated from the students' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a mixed methods approach and based on the theory of planned behaviour, the present study investigated the factors determining the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of media designers in Taiwan. In Study 1, eight media design entrepreneurs were invited to join focus group discussions. The results revealed that entrepreneurial attitude, subjective norms, social capital, and self-efficacy influenced the EI of media design entrepreneurs. Three other critical factors were identified from the qualitative data, namely entrepreneurial alertness, educational attainment, and work experience. The results were then used to formulate an online survey in Study 2 to test a model for predicting the EI of media design entrepreneurs. Subsequently, the factor structures established in prior research were verified by performing confirmatory factor analysis on data from 242 student designers majoring in multimedia media production. Multiple regression was employed to examine the potential effects of these factors on EI. The results revealed that entrepreneurial attitude, institutional social capital, entrepreneurial usefulness, entrepreneurial originality, and educational attainment had the strongest positive effects on EI, whereas work experience, bridging social capital, and social pressure had significant negative effects on EI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]