leadership course with otherECSEL participants. This course was designed to promote professional development, communityamongst the scholars, and connection to the campus community at large while enhancing theiridentity as ECSE majors. As a part of the course students were required to volunteer on campus,share current events with their fellow scholars, participate in in-class activities centered onleadership practices, participate in faculty mentor meetings and complete a reflection paper aboutthat experience, and present to the class an artifact reflective of one’s background. Theseactivities were designed to cultivate an environment of support and connection among scholarswhile also engaging participants in an active learning experience. Such
of EER&I research, audiences that need to be aware of the impact onengineering education, potential systematic processes for documenting impact, and plans forpiloting some processes for documenting impact. Metrics ranged from the relativelystraightforward measures of the number of engineering education programs and productivity ofthose programs and individual researchers, which could be expected to have impact, to the moresubtle changes in attitude toward EER&I and extent of implementation of the results of EER&Iresearch, which would reflect the impact. Some of those subtle changes include attitudes towardwho can/should be an engineer and how the engineering culture, and courses, can change tobroaden participation in engineering
product. Another problematicassumption made in the students’ economic proposal was that what works under consumercapitalism in the U.S., where a high percentage of the population has expendable income, wouldwork in the very different economic circumstances of Nicaragua. The project was ultimatelystalled at the proposal stage because of disagreement about this point.By the time they reach their senior capstone, engineering students have often had few- if any-courses that require them to consider empathic approaches to designing for a client orcommunity whose racial, ethnic, national, socioeconomic, or other demographic backgrounddiffers from their own. This experience gap is reflected when students don’t have the tools tounderstand the needs of
which provides a historical contextof not only the Inca people, but also the generations from as early as 3000 BC in that region.Cultural activities are followed by formal discussion and guided reflection to create additionalcontext regarding the technical project and the cultural and geographical influences that areimportant for consideration. Also in country, the students made an initial presentation tocommunity leaders to ensure project objectives were in alignment with community expectations.Course Content – TechnicalThe technical portion of the course is determined by the scope of the project that is identified.During the first two years of the program, using semi-structured interviews, the communityidentified water loss of the crumbling
. Describe contemporary challenges caused by or related to energy resources, such as economic impacts, sociopolitical tensions, and environmental impacts 5. Explain how various methods of both passive (e.g. evaporative cooling) and active (e.g., electric, fuel-powered, heat pumps) heating and cooling in buildings work 6. Analyze how the natural environment (e.g., tree shade, sun angles) and built environment (e.g., windows, insulation) impact heat transfer into and out of buildings, with consideration for cultural and climatic contexts 7. Apply concepts from class to inform decisions about energy consumption or conservation in your everyday lifeThese learning outcomes reflect several salient aspects from our research
development.Science Content Description of the problem that students are presented with inFocus/Grade the unitLevel ofimplementationLight and Laser Secure, Inc., designs security systems to protect valuableWaves assets, and the company is seeking help from students to design a laser security system to protect the artifacts in a traveling6th grade museum exhibit. Students investigate properties of light, including reflection, refraction, absorption, and transmission. Their solutions must protect the artifacts by having an intruder cross the laser light at least three times between entering the door and encountering the artifact using
all four courses were compared to determine if student grades reflect a differencewith the addition of a humanitarian engineering project. The goal of this study is to betterunderstand whether humanitarian engineering projects may be used to improve the motivation,retention and educational outcomes of female engineering students.IntroductionHistorically, there has been a discrepancy in engineering between the retention rates of thosestudents who identify as male versus those identifying as female, with women earning 21.9% ofall engineering bachelor’s degrees [1]. Different engineering disciplines have been moresuccessful in increasing representation of women than others, specifically in the fields ofenvironmental, biomedical, and biological
faculty in engineering educationresearch, regardless of institution type. While only a small fraction of CAREER proposals arerecommended for funding, former EEC deputy director Sue Kemnitzer frequently remindedapplicants that the process of applying for a CAREER award has value in itself. By this claim,she included the self-reflection on a faculty member’s research agenda, a plan to integrate theresearch and education activities throughout the individual’s career, and the discussions heldbetween the early career faculty member and their department chair, senior mentors, and, insome cases, deans and other constituencies. These key activities provide many opportunities forfaculty development and encouraging growth in all aspects of faculty life
. Hence, the key components of this review focus onlearning and pedagogy based on Computational Thinking. We develop a synthesis of suggestionsand explanations to answer the proposed questions based on literature from recent research incomputational thinking. As for the instructional implication, based on our initial analysis wepropose that a constructionism-based problem-solving active learning environment, withinformation processing, scaffolding and reflection activities, could be designed to enhancelearning through computational thinking.IntroductionIn recent years, Computational Thinking research has bloomed. Computational thinking is a 21stcentury way of problem-solving and is also a competency that has enduring outcomes given weare in the
support were also used to help students engage more deeply with course materials.Content was managed by a separate instructor who coordinated with the face-to-face instructor to ensurealignment of activities and learning outcomes. Weekly, students were required to post and respond toquestions on the online discussion board, which required them to demonstrate conceptual mastery oftopics (rather than procedural problem solving). In addition, students completed weekly journalsubmissions, which required critical reflection of course preparation, performance, and application to civilengineering. Twice per week the instructor was available for tutoring sessions via an online platform.Sample discussion board questions and journal prompts are provided in
to reflect on three areas of learning. Theirresponses are presented as case studies.IntroductionEngineering schools with predominantly undergraduate enrollments traditionally emphasizeresearch opportunities for upper level undergraduates working in conjunction with facultymembers. At such institutions, the level of faculty research is often congruent with what a highlymotivated rising senior can contribute to in a meaningful way. Consequently, accommodation isoften made through offering independent study courses taken during the academic year for credit,or focused summer research stints of variable length, or even a combination of the two, to enablethese experiences for students, especially those who may be thinking of going to graduate
possible actions, then chooses to act in a particular way.Their choice determines what they pay attention to following the action. To make sense of theresults of their action, at least the ones they paid attention to, they develop mental representationsor perspectives of the result of the action. There are many possible perspectives that can bedeveloped based on the actor’s attention and interests. Regardless of how they interpret theresults of their own actions, they leave the field of action with new knowledge which informsfuture intentions, thus starting the cycle again. Thus in Macmurray’s system one’s interactionwith, or coupling to, the world is defined iteratively through action that is reflectively informedby knowledge gained through one’s
learner actively engages in the process of sense-making and knowledgeconstruction [4]. Carefully selected content knowledge [5] and reciprocal interactions with others(i.e., instructor, peers)[6, 7] will mediate and facilitate learning. This perspective challenges thetraditional view of teaching and learning that portrays a learner as a passive individual simplyreceiving the knowledge provided by an authority figure. Experiential learning, a concept andpedagogical practice inspired by Constructivist learning theory also upholds the learner’s activerole and focuses on “learning through reflection on doing” [8]. Experiential learning isrepresented as a cycle of four stages, a) Concrete experience, b) Reflective observation of the newexperience, c
for the field as a whole of this recent growth using the Australian case as anexample to reflect on the growth of the area and its current status. This is in order to encouragefurther discussion nationally and internationally, to further expand the capability and capacity ofthe engineering profession to respond to increasingly complex, large, and more frequenthumanitarian and human development challenges and responses in the 21st century.Humanitarian Engineering in AustraliaEmergenceThe first organisation in Australia to bring specialist engineering expertise to bear onhumanitarian and development challenges was RedR Australia, founded in 1992. Working underthe same model as RedR-UK, it maintained a register of experienced engineers who could
toundertake, evaluate, and communicate about our work as educators, and to imagine newpossibilities. Concluding, we reflect on the ethical “wellness” of a whole engineer–and, indeed,whole communities in which engineers live and work—to frame questions about what ethicseducation could mean if we approached it differently.IntroductionDeveloping effective ethics training for engineers is an important but challenging proposition.When engineering educators teach ethics, we hope we are doing so in ways that will havepowerful effects for our students: not just familiarizing them with tools they can use to navigateworkplace legal structures, but also changing how they perceive engineering as a field for ethicalaction. Indeed, while only ABET outcome 4 deals
reflect a technocentricmindset that may be a prevailing attitude in other areas of basic sciences, especially when therole of science and scientists is exclusively viewed in context of search for truth about mattersand energy and discoveries about natural phenomena. This approach pays little or no attention tounearthing the truth about the connection between scientific knowledge and the impact ofscientific discoveries on human life. However, a sociotechnical perspective offers an alternativeapproach by connecting technical skills with social impact, as described by Leydens and Lucena[3]. Our motivation for introducing “user innovation” is in part to provide an example forimplementing a science and engineering course based on a sociotechnical
understand and reflect upon its valueto each component of STEM. A significant emphasis was placed on the teaching methods andapproaches used in math to prepare participants for sessions 2 and 3. Math was implemented, notas rote memory and use/re-use of given formulas, but as a form of project-based learning; as thelanguage of science, technology, and engineering; and, as a place of critical thinking anddiscovery [8].Because the theme of the camp was sustainability, the authors titled the first math activity “TrashMath.” To begin the activity, seven participants and six instructors formed three groups of fourto five individuals and collected roadside trash at three sites near the TMCC campus. The goal ofthis activity was to have participants
Experimenting Figure 2. Key innovative behaviorsAssessing re-framingWe conducted one pivoting reflection survey in April 2019. With this instrument, we collecteddata on problem framing and re-framing. We analyzed final project reports and projectpresentations from the junior design course (BME390) in spring 2019 for problem framing andre-framing.Data Collection Process/TimelineThe research team collected data on framing and re-framing, innovation tendencies, innovationpotential, and innovation tendencies from 60 – 70 BME undergraduate students betweenFebruary 2019 and December 2019.We designed another ideation workshop in November 2019 in which we asked the students, inpairs, to provide solution ideas on a biomedical
designed considering theEbbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve, to provide students with learning opportunities in 6-day cycles:(i) day 1: a pre-class learning activity (reading or video) and a quiz; (ii) day 2: in-class Kahootlow-stakes quiz with discussion, a short lecture with embedded time for problem-solving anddiscussion, and in-class activities (labs, group projects); (iii) day 4: homework due two days afterthe class; (iv) day 6: homework self-reflection (autopsy based on provided solutions) two daysafter homework is due. The assessment of course performance is based on the well-characterized force concept inventory (FCI) exam that is administered before the intro tomechanics course and both before and after the Physics I course; and on student
learning is an experiential learningapproach to foster students’ deeper understanding of academic contents and expected learningoutcomes of courses through activities involving community partners to address social problemsand community needs. An essential part of service learning is “structured opportunities forreflection” [4]. While some aspects of service learning are similar to other community-basedactivities, such as community service, and experiential learning approaches, such as internship,there are some important distinctions. The difference between service learning and communityservice can be described primarily by highlighting two words in the above definition of servicelearning: structured learning and reflection. While community service
as availability of instructional resources to support this initiative.The course involves a 10-week project, along with weekly engagement and reflection activitiesthat are designed to promote critical thinking and collaboration. Students were required toparticipate in a moderated discussion forum at least twice every week.• Discussion Forum: Each student was required to initiate a new topic of discussion (initiation thread) related to the overall theme of the week as well as engage in a discussion with posts from one or more peers (engagement thread). Both initiation and engagement threads were meant to allow for weekly reflection among students and low-stakes assessment by course facilitators. Measures such as number of posts
, organizing, and integrating new information.MethodologyAligned with these constructivism principles, the research questions are addressed throughseveral exercises that took place with 130 third-year undergraduate engineering students in acourse called Engineering Design VI, as it is the sixth in an eight-course Design Spine sequence.The assessment tools include concept mapping exercises, in-class market simulation workshops,open-ended written reflections, and surveys, as well as the students’ term project reports. Thesetools are summarized with their connections to one another, the research questions, and theconstructivism principles in Figure 1. Figure 1: Research activities (white boxes) mapped to the research questions (grey boxes) that they
, and software developer drive his research exploring how humans can better understand, build, and use software. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Google, Microsoft Research, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Wallace’s Agile Communicators project, supported by an NSF IUSE award, seeks to build an en- hanced curriculum for computing programs that emphasizes inquiry, critique and reflection, grounded in authentic software development settings. Tools in this project include process oriented guided inquiry learning, automated feedback to students through an intelligent tutoring system, case studies in software communication, and guided reflective exercises on team communication. As part
& Poth, 2018). One of the challenges in qualitativeresearch is to convince the reader that the analytical process is focused, clear, and defined. Todemonstrate this, the data analysis spiral was utilized as a guiding framework in the analysisprocess. This structured format guided the analytic process and allowed for a high level of focusand attention towards the participants’ account and reflection of their experiences.ResultsThe IPA approach provided an in-depth and interpretative investigation into the personalexperiences of the participants and allowed the participants to reflect on the significance of theirexperiences during their choice and persistence in engineering. The study’s in-depth analysisrevealed several recurrent themes from
’ reflection papers on use of SRL skills through “Design YourProcess For Becoming A World Class Engineering Student” project activities. In this paper, as ourstudy is focused on SRL skills on engineering design activities in extracurricular research projects,we adopt a relatively simple survey instrument [8] that was developed and validated particularlyfor assessment of use of SRL skills in engineering design. Derived from a widely-usedquestionnaire for assessment of SRL in general classroom settings [9][10], it captures student’sperception of metacognition along the cycle of engineering design which typically includesproblem definition, conceptual design, preliminary design, detailed design, and designcommunication. This survey instrument was
evaluation data are shown in Table 1 and listed in Fig. 1. They arerespectively about (a) the instructor had clear policies (e.g., grading, attendance, and assignments);(b) the instructor provided useful feedback on my progress within the course; (c) the instructor waswell prepared for in class meetings; (d) examinations and other assignments reflected stated courseobjectives and course material; (e) the instructor was successful in clarifying difficult concepts; (f)the instructor was well prepared for online class sessions and activities.Strongly disagree 1 ----- 5 Strongly agree INSTRUCTOR HAS CLEAR POLICIES INSTRUCTOR PROVIDED FEEDBACK 2018 Fall 2019 Spring
] Research question What is a way of experiencing What is the actual difference between two ways something (X)? of experiencing “the same thing” (X)? Data Collection Ask for experience with X. Ensure Ask to experience the same instance of X through that all participants a task Data People talking about their past Participant talking about what they can “see” of experiences with what they X while addressing the task identify as X (Since there is no Participant reflections on their way of addressing common experience, participants the task (Since they
, collaborate and build, monitor progress, and reflect on tasks. However, research onPBL engineering discourse has placed a stronger focus on self-regulation than shared regulationprocesses [6], [7]. Understanding how students jointly regulate efforts may help to structurecollaborative tasks and promote efficient regulatory and design processes—two critical learningoutcomes in PBL [1], [7].MethodsStudy setting & participants. The study is part of a series examining the relation betweenperceived social network and collaboration patterns in engineering design. We followed fourfirst-year student teams in a two-term project-based engineering course in California in the 2018-2019 academic year. The goal of this elective course is to introduce students
coding) and soft skills (such as problemconcept interpretation. solving and teamwork). Lastly, using these results, volunteers can enhance future opportunities. • Students were asked to reflect on their learning individually to provide an Individual indication of their progress interest level, and content knowledge. This was Reflection done through drawings, worksheets, and surveys. Conclusions & Future Work
gauging elements of students’ affect that can be immensely useful in encouraging students andhelping them succeed. However, simply gauging students’ feelings may also give insight intotheir experiences as an engineering student.In this work, we focus on data that resulted from a larger study investigating students’perceptions of engineering, sense of belonging, and sense of community as they participate in aCommon Read first-year program. In the study, incoming first-year students participated in apre- and mid-summer survey and a post-program survey. A subset of these students alsoparticipated in focus groups, held with students of all levels who were prompted to reflect ontheir experiences starting college and participating in first-year