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Board # 43 : WIP: Examining Micro-interventions to Improve Classroom Community in Introductory Engineering Classrooms

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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

Educational Research and Methods Division Poster Session

Tagged Division

Educational Research and Methods

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

5

DOI

10.18260/1-2--27855

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/27855

Download Count

503

Paper Authors

biography

Christine Allison Gray Northern Arizona University

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Christine Allison Gray is a doctoral student in the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. She also serves as a graduate assistant on the Reshaping Norms project in the College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences. Her research focuses on the influence of classroom climate on the development of undergraduate students' professional engineering identity.

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biography

Robin G. Tuchscherer Northern Arizona University

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Dr. Tuchscherer currently serves as an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University where he has taught since 2011. Prior to academia, he accumulated eight years of professional experience as a practicing structural engineer and brings a practitioner's perspective to the academic and research setting. He teaches core undergraduate engineering courses, structural analysis, and reinforced concrete design. His primary research focus is related to improving our understanding of the design and behavior of concrete structures; and he is actively involved within the professional engineering community. Furthermore, Dr. Tuchscherer has also supervised sponsored research and educational reform initiatives related to the improvement of student learning.

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biography

Ron Gray Northern Arizona University

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Ron Gray, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of science education in the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University. He graduated from Oregon State University with a doctorate in science education. His work largely focuses on providing secondary science teachers the tools to design and implement learning experiences for their students that are effective and authentic to the discipline. Much of this work has been centered on model-based inquiry and the integration of scientific practices in a supportive and structured way. He has been funded by NSF and other agencies to conduct research on preservice teacher education, undergraduate engineering education, and community partnerships in secondary education.

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Abstract

This work-in-progress paper describes a study that examines small-scale interventions to improve the classroom climate of an introductory engineering course to impact the attrition rate of students in the major. Part of a larger project on engineering major attrition rates, this exploratory study implemented “micro-interventions,” or small actions that instructors can implement to create significant effects in the ways that students view, and feel about, engineering. These micro-interventions center around impacting the norms of the introductory engineering classroom. In this ongoing study, data sources include the Classroom Community Scale, the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS), and semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of students. The study is being conducted using a quasi-experimental design that includes two sections of the same introductory engineering course. Results reveal similarities across the initial measures for the two sections. Additional data is being collected throughout the term to identify possible changes in students’ sense of community in the control and treatment sections and the factors associated with that change. Possible implications are discussed.

Gray, C. A., & Tuchscherer, R. G., & Gray, R. (2017, June), Board # 43 : WIP: Examining Micro-interventions to Improve Classroom Community in Introductory Engineering Classrooms Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27855

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