Asee peer logo

Board # 116 : Writing in the Disciplines for Engineers: Implementation and Assessment of Student Learning

Download Paper |

Conference

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Columbus, Ohio

Publication Date

June 24, 2017

Start Date

June 24, 2017

End Date

June 28, 2017

Conference Session

Student Division Poster Session

Tagged Division

Student

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

2

DOI

10.18260/1-2--27701

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/27701

Download Count

441

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Jordan E. Trachtenberg Rice University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-9286-5444

visit author page

Jordan Trachtenberg received her PhD in bioengineering from Rice University. She has been passionate about STEM education and outreach throughout her undergraduate and graduate studies. Her broad teaching interests include teaching K-12 outreach programs in 3D printing and computer-aided design, mentoring undergraduate laboratory and design teams, and organizing graduate professional development opportunities in science communication. She works on collaborative pedagogical research projects to understand student learning in engineering problem-solving and design.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

This research investigates fundamental questions pertaining to what students write in engineering, what they learn when they write, and how we can qualitatively and quantitatively assess student writing and development of critical thinking in the engineering curriculum. Writing in the Disciplines is an integrated approach that ties writing assignments to the learning outcomes of a technical course and provides relevant opportunities for students to develop expertise in their field. In order to ameliorate the public’s scientific literacy, we need scientists to communicate in a clear and concise manner. As we prepare students for science and engineering careers, it is crucial to help them improve their technical writing and presentation skills to wide audiences. It is well-supported that students who engage in discipline-specific writing develop important professional and critical thinking skills. There are specific engineering writing assignments that scaffold student learning in laboratory, design, or research-related courses. After implementing these scaffolded writing assignments in the engineering curriculum, it is then possible to qualitatively and/or quantitatively assess student perceptions of learning, development of critical thinking skills, and alignment of our courses with accreditation standards. Improvement of writing feedback and assessment methods in the future will then inform educators about the effectiveness of their teaching, as well as provide measurable standards for students as they pursue professional careers.

Trachtenberg, J. E. (2017, June), Board # 116 : Writing in the Disciplines for Engineers: Implementation and Assessment of Student Learning Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27701

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2017 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015