guidelines onwhat should take place at a hackathon or how to host one because every hackathon is unique.Hackathons are often tailored for achieving specific goals. These goals range from focusing on aspecific computing disciplines to promoting the inclusion of certain groups within technology.Traditional hackathons have, however, frequently come under discussion for lacking inclusivityand diversity. Technology is a crucial component of contemporary society, and those whodevelop it should consider the varied viewpoints and experiences of the consumers they serve.Inclusive hackathons are a crucial step in developing a more diverse and equitable IT sector.These events assist in ensuring that the goods and services we use daily reflect the needs
this first cohort,and we met that goal. Ten proposals, representing 11 different institutions, were received, vettedfollowing NSF practices (e.g., teams responded to clarifying questions to ensure alignment withthe Hub goals), and selected. We met our overarching objectives of having a set of grantrecipients that reflect the S-STEM program diversity. Recipients include small privateinstitutions, large research institutions, minority-serving institutions, community colleges, andregionally focused institutions that represent a wide geographic footprint. Campus-specificprojects being advanced by this budding community of practice focus on how to recruit low-income students from different institutional contexts, topics with a community college
curriculum (four days). Figure 3 shows changes in these measurespre- and post- implementation. Figure 3. Pilot data collected on day 1 and day 4 of a soft robotics implementation (n=10 students).Reflections on Pilot Study, ChangesImplementation Student participants were focused and engaged in the activities. We received feedbackon the survey in a prompt asking, “Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?”. One student commented,“I really enjoyed all of the activities from the week. They were very engaging and informative.” Anotherstudent noted the desire for similar activities at their school, saying, “I really enjoyed the class, wereally need something like this at [school name].” In addition to students generally being interested inthe
questions. Table 1: EIs and Associated Themes Engagement Indicators Themes Higher-Order Learning Academic Challenge Reflective and Integrative Learning Learning Strategies Quantitative Reasoning Collaborative Learning Learning with Peers Discussions with Diverse Others Student-Faculty Interaction Experiences with Faculty Effective Teaching Practices Quality of Interactions Campus Environment Supportive EnvironmentAfter EI scores
Thinking into a Neural Engineering High School CurriculumAbstractEngineering design and computational thinking are critical to contemporary STEM research.This is reflected in the Next Generation Science Standards, which call for broadly exposingK-12 students to engineering design and computational thinking as core practices. Thedevelopment and investigation of pathways to successfully integrate these practices in all sciencedisciplines are presently limited. Here, we propose a framework for efficiently connectingcomputational thinking practices with engineering design, and describe a four weekNGSS-congruent module that strategically weaves opportunities for high school life sciencestudents to apply engineering design and
use all the tools acquired in their undergraduateprograms. Simultaneously, students can contribute to one of the goals of society through researchand development of emergency housing in Puerto Rico [4] The paper presents the instructionaldesign, results, and evaluation of the Design-Build course, and finally reflects about lessons learnedand relevance of this type of interdisciplinary learning scenario.2. Methods and Results. 2.1. Method / Semester Project.The design project consisted of conceptualizing a group of emergency houses. Four smallliving units with the same floor plan, interconnected by a central open space where thepersons will be able to interact and develop a sense of community. These small units areexpected to be self
et al., 2008; Christensen and Schunn, 2007;Davis and Sumara 2006; Grinter, 1956; Jonassen, 2000; NAE, 2004; Silk and Schunn, 2008).Proposed ApproachThe central idea in this proposed approach is to have students work on two parallel projects, oneis the technical redesign of simple kitchen appliances (e.g., a toaster), and the other the design oftheir academic path (i.e., courses to take, extracurricular activities, habits, skills, etc.). While thestudents work on these two parallel projects, a periodical intervention will help them connect thetechnical approaches to their academic project. For example, using journals and reflection tounderstand how students had to frame a problem, ask for help, evaluate options, and decide toimprove a toaster
Jared Markunas who assisted in the development of the survey that will inform the engagementguide prototype.References[1] D. R. Fisher, A. Bagiati, and S. Sarma, “Developing Professional Skills in Undergraduate Engineering Students Through Cocurricular Involvement,” J. Stud. Aff. Res. Pract., vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 286–302, Jul. 2017, doi: 10.1080/19496591.2017.1289097.[2] G. Young, D. B. Knight, and D. R. Simmons, “Co-curricular experiences link to nontechnical skill development for African-American engineers: Communication, teamwork, professionalism, lifelong learning, and reflective behavior skills,” in 2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Proceedings, Madrid, Spain, Oct. 2014, pp. 1–7. doi: 10.1109/FIE
differences could be driven by other factors, such as characteristics ofparticipants in these groups, different environments or context that they face, among other things.Tech companies have for decades favored A/B tests to understand adoption choices bycustomers. They also conduct experiments to determine the most effective approaches formanaging people and maintaining a productive environment. An example is Lazear (2000) whostudied the impact of piece rates on productivity. The study estimated a 44% overallimprovement in productivity due to piece rates by gradually implementing a new compensationscheme. Around 22% of this was due to greater effort (the incentive effect), and the remaining22% reflected sorting (better new hires) or potentially some
and computing. We began our work by designing a computational thinkingdiagnostic that can be administered to students as they enter the engineering program in order todetermine student's ability to use the principles and practices that are learned by studyingcomputing. We can report that 3584 students were participants during the development of theEngineering Computational Thinking Diagnostic (ECTD) and the last 469 were involved inexploratory and confirmatory analysis.Engineers use computing to design, analyze, and improve systems or processes. ABET citescomputing as a foundational skill for engineering proficiency [1], [2]. The Taxonomy for theField of Engineering Education Research also reflects the importance of computational thinkingas a
submit student feedback, reflections onstudent performance, and proposed action for course improvements.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Each ToolEach assessment tool has advantages and disadvantages. Table 2 shows the strengths of eachtool. Excel, Google Forms, and Canvas are readily available to the university community. Whilethe spreadsheet-based methods are easy to use, they are tedious for the coordinator to compile.Spreadsheet tools and SearchLight require faculty to submit an outcome score for each student atthe conclusion of the course. While these scores are linked to signature assessment instruments,it is not clear how faculty aggregate performance and determine the scores. Canvas overcomesthis limitation by clearly linking the
visualdemonstration, to bring their words to life; 2) To connect an accompanying narrative describingeach lived experience, thus, expressing the world as they see and experience it. Throughphotography, reflection, and critical dialogue, five undergraduate students at a large southeasternPWI shared their stories and agreed on actionable measures to improve Black engineeringstudents’ experiences at their university. During semi-structured interviews, participants describedthe images they captured related to the research prompts. Using an inductive approach, weconducted a reflexive thematic analysis, and six themes emerged related to the students’experiences: (1) finding comfort, (2) building community, (3) fitting in, (4) experiencingfrustration, (5
a specific topic. Each module has stated learningoutcomes aligned with the program mission and the training needs of the STEM outreachprograms. Each module also provides skill development under the Future Skills framework.Within the module, participants are provided with key information and theory, participate inshort active learning activities, and are provided with reflection opportunities to self-assess onwhat they’ve learned. Modules topics are as follows: 1. Organizational Introduction 2. Anti-Racism in STEM 3. Classroom Management 4. Communicating with Parents 5. Conflict Resolution 6. Future Skills 7. Gender Equity 8. Inclusion and Accessibility 9. Indigenous Worldviews 10. Managing Stress/Mental Health
, the study abroad program was given the green light, and the projectimplementation period in Costa Rica was three weeks. During the program, each student was required to write two journals: a technical one to detailtheir daily work and accomplishments and a second to reflect on their international and culturalexperience. Writing a technical journal can be a valuable way for students to reflect on their daily workand progress. It can also serve as a record of their accomplishments, which may be helpful whenpreparing resumes or applications in the future. Students can use the technical journal to describethe tasks they performed, the challenges they faced, and the strategies they used to overcomethose challenges. They can also reflect on
design as a result of feedback), and reflection (reflecting on design aspects ordesign decisions). The study also examined parent facilitation techniques during the engineeringexperiences and the ways in which older children demonstrated moments of agency duringinteractions with a parent at an interactive engineering exhibit [29].Moving beyond the designed informal learning context [30] of the museum, more recent work aspart of the Head Start on Engineering (HSE) Project and Research Exploring ActivityCharacteristics and Heuristics for Early Childhood Engineering (REACH-ECE) Project has goneon to explore how families engage in engineering across a number of different settings, includingcommunity programs, early education programs, and the home
voluntary convenience samplesurvey. Over 2,000 respondents from 26 countries and 234 institutions responded, revealing anoverwhelming mental health crisis in the graduate student population [9], [10]. They reportelevated rates of anxiety (41%) and depression (39%) in the sampled community, suggesting thatgraduate students are six times as likely to experience depression and anxiety compared to thegeneral public. Likewise, students have not been passive in their dissatisfaction with the state ofthe academy. In recent years, student labor organizing [11], labor strikes, and general protestmovements have become common reflecting the general themes of modern politics including themultiple epidemics of sexual harassment [12], [13], racism [14], [15
; (iv) Student voice and choice; (v)Reflection; (vi) Critique and revision; and (vii) Public product. The public product in this instancewas this publication.The four graduate student members of this project came from two different institutions, three fromthe University of Massachusetts Lowell, majoring in Biomedical Engineering, ElectricalEngineering and Mechanical Engineering and one from the University of the District of Columbia,majoring in Mechanical Engineering. The group co-created the material for this research withfeedback from three faculty mentors in the two participating institutions. Faculty and studentinteraction is crucial in the co-creation process, and it has been found to provide many benefits onstudents’ educational
and thinking styles, whereas higher analytical thinking scoresindicate more logical, rigid writing and thinking styles [9]. Lower clout scores indicate more of aself-focus, a “follower” not caring as much about relative social status, whereas higher cloutscores indicate a “leader” with more focus on dominating the others in a group [10]. While lowerauthenticity scores can reflect a measure of deception, they also indicate a prepared or sociallycautious response, whereas higher authenticity scores indicate more spontaneous, complex,honest, and unfiltered conversations [11], [12]. Lower emotional tone scores indicate a morenegative attitude, whereas higher emotional tone scores indicate a more positive outlook in thetext [13]. LIWC provides
Advisor to the leadership at Sisters in STEM. Sreyoshi frequently collaborates on several National Science Foundation projects in the engineering education realm, researching engineering career trajectories, student motivation, and learning. Sreyoshi has been recognized as a Fellow at the Academy for Teaching Excellence at Virginia Tech (VTGrATE) and a Fellow at the Global Perspectives Program (GPP) and was inducted to the Yale Bouchet Honor Society during her time at Virginia Tech. She has also been honored as an Engaged Ad- vocate in 2022 and an Emerging Leader in Technology (New ELiTE) in 2021 by the Society of Women Engineers. Views expressed in this paper are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those
-identified as part of a racial or ethnic minority; the remainder identified as White.Each of these seven students participated in one 60–90-minute semi-structured interview [54-55].Interviews were designed to create a space for the participants to reflect on their K-12experiences and how those K-12 experiences influenced their decision to major in engineering.The first three student participants were interviewed in-person in a private office on theuniversity campus. The remaining four students were interviewed via Zoom. As a first step to theinterview, all participants were asked to develop a timeline of their formative experiencesleading to becoming an engineering major. Timelines were developed initially by students at thebeginning of the
learned”. The reflective component is critical for students toconsider how elements of their design worked or failed to meet their design expectations.Likewise, as a pedagogical instrument, the reflective component of the presentation offers thestudent a formative opportunity to “rethink” how any future instance of similar design practicemight be enhanced.PedagogyCorrect content with fitting assessments can only have the greatest impact if aligned withstrategic and purposeful pedagogical approaches. The THTR59700 course is at the core activelearning-oriented and engages technical knowledge across students' academic advancement,keeping the developmental growth of students in mind. In particular, the pedagogicalframeworks that most clearly relay
; for example, Chen et. al. states that “[s]tudents from all backgrounds may find theexperience [of an unexpectedly poor academic performance] threatening to their competence, butstudents from minority groups must also contend with anxiety that this performance ‘confirms’negative academic stereotypes attributed to their group memberships”[10].Often, these biases and stereotypes reflect an automatic judgment without an awareness ofindividuals’ specific abilities or experiences [11] [12]. Thus, the format of assessment, rather thanthe rigor, quality, or intended learning can have undue effect on educational outcomes. Forexample, IGEN performed a case study on a top-ranked physics program which noticed its“passage rate [for a qualifying exam] had
Engineering Student Teams) program is a GVT programestablished in Canada. It was designed to create a realistic work experience for engineeringstudents within a virtual global team project. They were involved in active experiments whilelearning and reflecting on a new experience with a learning concept known as global competencymodules (GCMs), which is a key component of GVT that supports virtual learning andcollaboration activities globally, including intercultural competence, decision making,communication, and relationship building. The InVEST study showed that intercultural activitiesprovide a unique lens to students to exhibit intercultural sensitivities to virtual global teamprojects and can facilitate better collaboration with students from
involved framing of the BPC goals, assessingcurrent data systems for points of vulnerability and opportunity, a data request from the statesystems, data visualization, utilization and reflection.Data was drawn from reflective team journals; notes, collaborative materials and observationsmade during collaborative meetings; and the technical assistance requests made during theproject.When developing data infrastructure in support of BPC, diverse teams matter. Teams neededrepresentation from people who can access institutional or state data, understand the practicalcontext of the data to support interpretation, and help tie data to broader advocacy efforts.Ongoing team engagement, both within and across states, allowed the space to consider
consensus existing around certain categories. Negative identities tend to reflect elements that do not comply with societal expectations. Because of the multiple spaces where we develop identities, we have multiple social identities and they differ in their nature and strength [70]. An engineering
inclusion and equity are not. Some viewinclusion as a tool wielded by those in authority. Inclusion requires the group to include theindividual, rather than for the individual to take on that burden. An ideal DEI environmentencourages and hears authentic selves. People who want to improve DEI should engage inrepeated reflection to allow their ideas to evolve over time. Those at the top of the hierarchy,who are often not from minoritized groups, particularly need to reflect on their privileges andpositionalities in order to enact effective change [10].Engineers are still viewed by society as oblivious and antisocial, which lessens the appeal ofengineering to some. Others see engineering as heavily aligned with military and corporateinterests rather
, educators attemptingto address the Collingridge Dilemma by better training engineers and designers in ethics needto take a more comprehensive approach to ethics beyond one-off courses in professional ethicsor generic humanities ‘liberal arts’ curriculum requirements (i.e. ethics is nonfungible withlanguage, history, religion, etc.).Additionally, to account for value dynamism, an approach to ethics is needed that is not onlyfocused on legal standards, regulatory guidelines, or ethical checklists. These approaches of-ten grow stagnant if they are not updated regularly, uphold hegemonic societal values anddominant images of user groups (see [27] for additional examples), inhibit critical reflection,and settle for very narrow definitions and
third point of reference to reflect on and givea rich description of their experience in the US. Through qualitative analysis of these cases, wewill address the question: In what ways do Black students who are first- or second-generationimmigrants from Africa and have studied abroad leverage community cultural wealth inengineering in the US?We use Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework to highlight the strengths thesestudents leverage in engineering. CCW is an asset-based framework developed to highlight thestrengths of the students from Communities of Color. There are six assets used as a guiding lensto inform research in these communities: familial, social, aspirational, navigational, resistance,and linguistic capital that students
student populated surveyed consisted of 68% male and 32%female, of which 95% are Hispanic/Latino. The authors employed a qualitative research design,and the primary method of data collection was a self-developed survey instrument consisting of atotal five open-ended questions. The process for developing the survey items consisted ofquestions that sought to examine instructional and pedagogical strategies implemented to teachstudents rigorous engineering concepts based on students’ experiences in the course. As such, thequestions provided students the opportunity to delineate, reflect, and share valuable insight andexperiences that can help develop and refine effective and equitable engineering pedagogy.The data analysis consisted of an open
, and career traineeship inaerospace-centric fields. The streamlined process of recruitment and project-based learning incollaboration with NASA and other aerospace professionals has shown to be effective in trainingthe first cohort of undergraduate and graduate students during the first year of programimplementation.During the summer of 2022, 6 NASA interns and 6 summer Research Experiences forUndergraduate (REU) students participated in the 10-week summer program with professionaldevelopment (PD) program featuring project management, career planning, RCR training,self-reflection, and technical communication. Because research shows that STEM students citepositive mentoring experiences as the most crucial factor in their retention, we developed