Conference Session

New Learning Paradigms I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nora Siewiorek, University of Pittsburgh; Larry Shuman, University of Pittsburgh; Mary Besterfield-Sacre, University of Pittsburgh; Kara Santelli, University of Pittsburgh

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

AC 2010-1586: ENGINEERING, REFLECTION AND LIFE LONG LEARNINGNora Siewiorek, University of Pittsburgh Nora Siewiorek is a graduate student in the Administrative and Policy Studies department in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh where she also received her MS in Information Science. Her research interests include: engineering education and educational assessment and evaluation. Her K-12 outreach activities are organizing a local science fair and a hands on workshop in nanotechnology. Her other research interests are: higher education administration, comparative and international education.Larry Shuman, University of Pittsburgh Larry J. Shuman is Senior Associate

Conference Session

Special Session: Impacts of Service in Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Linda Barrington, University of Massachusetts, Lowell; John Duffy, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified communityneeds and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of coursecontent, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility."(Bringle & Hatcher, 1995). Many past studies (e.g. Eyler and Giles, 1999) have shown service-learning to result in positive outcomes in cognitive and affective measures for students as well asbenefits to the community, faculty, and institution.Different embodiments of service-learning have developed in engineering in recent years. Directplacements in the community are utilized in the first year programs, such as at Cornell andVirginia Tech, for example. More often

Conference Session

Engineering Design: Implementation and Evaluation

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shanna Daly, University of Michigan; Seda Yilmaz, University of Michigan; Colleen Seifert, University of Michigan; Richard Gonzalez, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

designers use to generate multiple, diverse design concepts? What heuristics are evident in their concepts? ≠ How did the heuristics impact design outcomes? ≠ What level of conscious reflection do designers have about the use of these heuristics within their own cognitive processes?Research MethodsThe methodology for the study included think-aloud protocol during the design task, followed byretrospective interviews. Data from engineers of various levels of experience were collected toilluminate decisions made in generating and developing concepts. Atman and Bursic19 noted thatresearchers have effectively used verbal protocol studies to identify how designers introduce

Conference Session

Measurement Tools

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patricia Ralston, University of Louisville; Cathy Bays, University of Louisville

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, orcommunication, as a guide to belief or action.” The three key elements of critical thinking thusare reason, reflection, and judgment. Fundamentally, critical thinking is thinking about thinking,a meta-cognitive process. The combination of reflection and reason leads to the final element,belief in the validity of a premise, process or solution to a problem, which also can lead to action.Critical thinking develops conclusions by deducing or inferring answers to questions and thenreflecting on the quality of the reasoning; the end result is conviction, and in many cases action,based on those conclusions.Bailin et al.4 point out that much literature to that point characterized critical thinking simply

Conference Session

Engineering Design: Implementation and Evaluation

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cameron Denson, Utah State University; Matt Lammi, Utah State University; Kyungsuk Park, Utah State University; Elizabeth Dansie, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

challenge? 2. What additional understanding can be gained about the study’s methodology and its capacity to measure engineering design thinking from conducting reflective interviews?Literature Foundation The methods and design thinking constructs measured in this study were built on afoundation of previous work which emerged from the University of Washington led by CindyAtman. This study is differentiated from the Washington work in two distinct ways. First, thiswork extended the continuum of novice to expert to include high school students whereasprevious work employing these methods focused specifically on college students and practicingexperts. Second, our study attempted to explore design thinking in dyads

Conference Session

Student Attitudes and Perceptions

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Atchison, Drexel University; Dorothea Holmes-Stanley, St. Cyprian's School; Adam Fontecchio, Drexel University; Eli Fromm, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

made sketches. Each set of blocks on the graphic organizer represented onecomplete panel for the novel. Most students ended up with between 20-30 panels in theirfinal novel. A post activity writing reflection was used to assess the student’s opinion of thegraphic novel activity, attitudes towards science/engineering and what they thought theylearned from the activity. The rubric used to analyze the writing reflection (Appendix 4)and the students’ self-assessment is compared to the assessment of the final product.Results: Initially all four grades were assigned the project but the 5th grade class was notable to complete the assignment in time for inclusion in the results. However compliancewas 83% for the rest of the population. Table 1

Conference Session

Student Attitudes and Perceptions

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dazhi Yang, Purdue University; Aidsa Santiago Roman, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Ruth Streveler, Purdue Universtiy; Ronald Miller, Colorado School of Mines; James Slotta, University of Toronto; Michelene Chi

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Procedure Experimental Group Control Group Pre-Test Heat transfer concept questions Sequential and Emergent The Nature of Science (with Processes (with reflection reflection prompts); prompts); Diffusion example with no Training Module Diffusion as an example of mention of emergent processes an emergent process (with (with reflection prompts) reflection prompts) Diffusion concept questionsTest for

Conference Session

Engineering Design: Implementation and Evaluation

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Pembridge, Virginia Tech; Marie Paretti, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

participation. Novice teachersoften ignore or fail to recognize student misconceptions. Most of their actions are rationalizedand they view this time in their development as means to gain real world experience.The second phase, advanced beginner, is closely related to novice. It typically occurs during the2nd to 3rd years. In this phase verbal, episodic, and case knowledge are added to the knowledgegained during the novice stage.3 As a result, the use of reflection is important: teachers in thisphase frequently reflect on their experiences and how those experiences contribute to theirknowledge; based on these reflections, they then begin to make alterations to their teachingpractices. Moreover, their experiences, particularly in powerful or memorable

Conference Session

Classroom Engagement

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sarah Parikh, Stanford University; Helen Chen, Stanford University; Kenneth Goodson, Stanford University; Sheri Sheppard, Stanford University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

?” Answering this question wouldallow educators to make more informed decisions about how to encourage learning.There is an extensive history of pedagogical research on student engagement, much of which hasmade progress on defining the concept of engagement. There are many different aspects ofstudent engagement in university courses as engagement stands at the crossroads of interest,involvement, excitement, choice, attitude, behavior, and opportunity. Pace used the term qualityof effort and, in his view, “quality of effort describes voluntary behavior. It reflects initiative. Itdescribes the strength and the scope of personal investment that students are making for theirown higher education.”[3] Astin used the term involvement and considered the

Conference Session

Student Attitudes and Perceptions

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Justin Micomonaco, Michigan State University; Jon Sticklen, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

can be better understood by examining the studentexperience holistically.Theoretical Framework Veenstra et al. proposed a few minor changes to Tinto’s model to reflect the departuredecision of undergraduate engineers (See Figure 1).23 In their retention model, pre-collegecharacteristics affect how students experience college both academically and socially. Thestudent experience in turn impacts two broad commitments and academic success that influencea student’s decision to persist in the discipline. Thus the student experience is a critical variableand is defined by the student’s academic and social integration. Accordingly students’ academicand social integration is a key predictor of persistence in the Model of Engineering

Conference Session

Conceptual Learning

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bill Brooks, Oregon State University; Milo Koretsky, Oregon State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

-choiceconceptual question to the class. Students answer individually at first and next are shown a ―poll‖of the class responses. They then form groups and discuss the problem with peers, and finallyanswer again individually. Peer instruction encourages students to reflect on the problem andthink through the arguments being developed and put them into their own words. Just asimportantly, it provides both student and instructor with feedback regarding studentunderstanding of the concept.This study uses the Web-based Interactive Science and Engineering (WISE) Learning Tool as aplatform to investigate the effectiveness of Peer Instruction on the explicit understanding ofundergraduate students in chemical engineering thermodynamics. WISE is designed to utilize

Conference Session

Special Session: Impacts of Service in Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Trevor Harding, California Polytechnic State University; Lynne Slivovsky, California Polytechnic State University; Nina Truch, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

communicating their design solutions through engineering reports, presentations and design reviews; 4. Improve students’ life-long learning confidence and skills, particularly meta-cognition via reflection; 5. Provide students with ample opportunities to build lasting interpersonal relationships with classmates, as well as Materials Engineering students and faculty. 6. Encourage students to consider their commitment to social justice and being a socially responsible engineer; 7. Make students aware of the importance of support courses through direct application of science and math in real-world problems.To meet these objectives several experiences are presented to the students throughout the first-year sequence. The

Conference Session

Modeling Student Data

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gisele Ragusa, University of Southern California

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

research questionsaddressed in this paper are: How can we best measure the global preparedness of graduate andundergraduate engineering and business students? What are the differences in preparednessbetween the two domain specific student groups? Which elements of student profiles best predictglobal preparedness within and across the two student groups? In designing both the engineering global preparedness index (EGPI) and the businessglobal preparedness index (BGPI), similar subscales of the previously described generic globalcitizenry instrument were utilized as these subscales have been closely aligned to global theory.To make the instrument domain/field specific, the individual survey items were altered withinthe subscales to reflect

Conference Session

Knowing our Students, Faculty, and Profession

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tershia Pinder-Grover, University of Michigan; Chris Groscurth, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. First, we conducted anexhaustive review of the literature on Millennial students, and identified three strikingcharacteristics of Millennial students (i.e., their preferences for collaborating with peers,connecting with one another, and creating for social change). Second, we followed up thisliterature review by reporting survey and focus group data collected from the select sample ofengineering graduate students. Specifically, the survey includes demographic information aboutthe cohort including birth year, gender, race/ethnicity, and semesters of teaching experience. In Page 15.948.2addition, we asked participants in the study to reflect on

Conference Session

Conceptual Learning

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aidsa Santiago Roman, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Ruth Streveler, Purdue Universtiy; Paul Steif, Carnegie Mellon University; Louis DiBello, University of Illinois at Chicago

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. For the purpose of this study, we are going to referto facet as cognitive attributes (CA). Figure 1 – Minstrell’s framework - Facets of Students’ Thinking: The ProcessMethodsInstrument CATS is a concept inventory designed as a diagnostic instrument for statics-related concepts.The questions of the instrument have the intention of detecting errors reflecting on incorrectconcepts, instead of errors in mathematical analysis4. Results for unidimensional reliability (KR-20 alphas) have fluctuated between 0.70 and 0.90, which is highly desirable for CI’s. Theinstrument consists of 27 questions that test nine different concepts (refer to Appendix 1). Eachof the questions in CATS reflects on a specific concept but also for each question

Conference Session

Classroom Engagement

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brianno Coller, Northern Illinois University; David Shernoff, Northern Illinois University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

mathematical models and computer simulations of the systems. Theydeveloped and implemented controllers for the systems. We required them to reflect and toexhibit other metacognitive traits.Recently, we began replacing many of the physical laboratory experiments and textbookexercises with a new type of learning experience. Students experimented on, and developedcontrollers for virtual dynamic systems within a virtual game-like simulated environment. Theywere learning dynamic systems and control by playing a video game. Page 15.157.2Our motivation for this unorthodox approach came from our experience of using a video game inteaching a different

Conference Session

Special Session: Impacts of Service in Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kurt Paterson, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

AC 2010-2028: SPECIAL SESSION: DEVELOPING INTERCULTURALENGINEERS THROUGH SERVICEKurt Paterson, Michigan Technological University Page 15.1083.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Developing Intercultural Engineers Through ServiceAbstractThis paper reports on recent efforts to understand the cultural awareness among engineeringstudents. A standard assessment program has been instituted across the various programs atMichigan Technological University with pre-, during-, and post-project phases. The mixed-methods assessment plan consists of surveys, reflection statements, journaling, a wellnessindicator, the Intercultural Development Inventory, and project

Conference Session

Measurement Tools

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura L. Pauley, Pennsylvania State University; Jonna M. Kulikowich, Pennsylvania State University; Nell Sedransk, National Institute of Statistical Sciences; Renata Engel, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. ________________________________________________________________________ Figure 6. Example of a testlet for Construct (M2).The Psychometric Evaluation of Dimensionality and Score AssignmentTypically, classical exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic and Item Response Theorymethods are used to determine the dimensionality and precision of score assignment.13,14 Thesetechniques are useful primarily when each distribution represents a single dimension and scores areassigned dichotomously. For several of the measures administered in our research (e.g.,mathematical or spatial reasoning), scores are likely to reflect multidimensionality. For instance,Construct (M2) designed to measure understanding of mathematical information includes as muchscientific content as mathematical information. From a theoretical

Conference Session

Measurement Tools

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adam Carberry, Tufts University; Matthew Ohland, Purdue University; Chris Swan, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

external authorities (experts) OR can most people become better at or learn the ability to construct knowledge Justification for Knowing - Does learning consist mainly of absorbing information OR does it rely crucially on constructing one's own understanding by working through the material actively, by relating new material to prior experiences, intuitions, and knowledge, and by reflecting upon and monitoring one's understandingEngineering EpistemologyAccording to Grimson, “It is important that engineers understand the nature and provenance

Conference Session

New Learning Paradigms I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kendra Seniow, Oregon State University; Eric Nefcy, Oregon State University; Christine Kelly, Oregon State University; Milo Koretsky, Oregon State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

quantitative (box) Primary Model Components, which sit on the center line, while part (b) shows Secondary Model Components, which in addition to Operationalized (in green) and Abandoned (in red) can be Not Engaged (in black and with a dashed connecting arrow) and are connected to the center line.Since notebooks provide a location for brainstorming as well as for results and discussion theyoften reflect those ideas which are never fully realized amongst those that are implemented.Additionally, student groups occasionally include in their memoranda, reports or presentationsthose ideas which they feel should be relevant or correct, as indicated by, among other sources

Conference Session

Educational Research & Methods Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Denise Grant; Julie Trenor

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. Constructivism, the perspective used by this study, embracesthe idea that the participants can actively make meaning of their various critical experiences withfamily members and relate how those experiences influenced their academic decisions aboutengineering.17Methodology Once the research questions were formed, a methodology was selected. Strauss andCorbin state that qualitative methods can be used to better understand any phenomenon aboutwhich little is yet known.18 FGC students, especially those majoring in engineering, are not wellstudied and are known to face unique academic challenges.19 Further, qualitative studies yieldresults that are reflective of the descriptive experiences and feelings of the participants.20 To better

Conference Session

Modeling Student Data

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jordana Hoegh, Purdue University; Alice Pawley, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

metaphors fit or do notfit their career experiences. We ask new faculty to reflect on their interviewing and hiringexperiences, look ahead to their third-year reviews, discuss their departments’ workingatmosphere, and reflect on their interviewing and hiring processes. We ask third-year faculty toreflect on their interviewing and hiring experiences, their experiences as faculty at their currentuniversity, and satisfaction with their productivity and accomplishments in their careers so far.Additionally, we ask third-year faculty to discuss what they feel their next professionalaccomplishments will be. All interviews conclude with general career path reflections.Data collectionData are collected for research conducted for an ADVANCE grant, a National

Conference Session

Student Learning

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maya Trotz, University of South Florida; Ken Thomas, University of South Florida; Jeffrey Cunningham, University of South Florida; Qiong Zhang, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

requirements. 4 The writer addresses each aspect of the assignment. The writer addresses and develops each aspect of the assignment and goes 5 beyond the assignment prompt to address additional related material.For each of the 16 traits listed in Table 1 a score of 1-5 is given according to the level ofthe writing. From Table 2 it shows that a score of 5 reflects writing that exhibits keyunderstanding of the writing assignment while that of 1 is for work that does not addressthe requirements of the assignment. Thus the assigned level is the score for the trait andthis is done in 0.5 level increments. This is the scoring used by instructors to obtainresults shown below in Tables 4 and 5.Flateby and Fehr1 report that CLAQWA

Conference Session

New Learning Paradigms II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ming-Chien Hsu, Purdue University; Monica Cardella, Purdue University; Senay Purzer, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

like this might be used both as instructional activities or asanother means for assessing problem scoping ability.Implications for the instrumentThe significant difference in total score suggested that the instrument were able to reflect theteachers’ gained experience during the workshop. To further validate the instrument, we plan tohave a second coder apply the rubric to the data and have another group of teachers who do notgo through professional development workshop perform the task twice within the time frame of aweek.Although the total scores showed significant differences, the effect size represented only a smallto medium difference. Because the difference is small, it is possible that the instrument needs tobe refined. It could be that

Conference Session

Innovative Teaching and Assessment Tools

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald McEachron, Drexel University; Fred Allen, Drexel University; Elisabeth Papazoglou, Drexel University; Mustafa Sualp, Untra Corporation; David Delaine, Drexel University; David Hansberry, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

body and maximizelearning outcomes.Figure 3: Relative proportions of Active and Reflective Learners among Current BiomedicalEngineering Students at Drexel (Active learners prefer to learn through engaging in a physicalactivity or discussion while reflective learners are more comfortable using introspectivetechniques11)Initial results from the proof-of concept trials have begun to provide insight into the depth ofinformation available from these suggested practices. Data from the Myers-Briggs showed thatas the students progress through the program, they become more satisfied with how and whatthey are learning. An approximate rating of 1.75 satisfaction for freshmen develops intoapproximately 3.0 for upperclassmen on a scale 1 to 4. The

Conference Session

Educational Research & Methods Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Ryan; Nhut Ho; Shelley Bartenstein

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Page 15.413.8higher scores for only three criteria (one criteria was the same, and R1 had to leave thepresentation early and was not present for the Q/A session, and thus did not respond with respectto Criterion 7). This is consistent with scores from the HPV presentation, and appears to reflect asystematic difference between these two reviewers.With respect to the comparison of faculty and alumni scores, the most significant differencesoccur for Criteria 1, 7, and 9 (Organization, Questions and Answers, and Problem Definition).The alumni’s familiarity with the FSAE competition may help to explain their more generousevaluation of Criteria 1 and 9. The higher alumni score given to the Question and Answercriterion is consistent with the student

Conference Session

Measurement Tools

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lindsey Nelson, Purdue University; Alice Pawley, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Page 15.1343.2investigated the culture of design firms,10,16-17 global partnerships within high-tech industry,18and socialization of professional engineers19 all with the goal of making recommendations forpractice. The purpose of this paper is to use techniques from applied anthropology to illustratehow domain analysis2 can be used to advance research in engineering education.As a methodology, domain analysis is well suited to answer complex questions. Complexquestions feature “a community” as a crucial element of study, and reflect activities within asocial environment. Different people can answer these very open-ended questions differently.Moreover, complex questions connect together with other questions. Indeed, the benefit toconducting

Conference Session

Educational Research

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cindy Waters, North Carolina A&T State University; Helen Chen, Stanford University; Sheri Sheppard, Stanford University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

based learning as well as co-op and internship experiences that students have had by their senior year. The perceivedimportance of these skills was comparable for each group.Local Findings:The local findings seem to contradict the national results because all of the students either agreeor strongly agree that their skills have improved since coming to the university. The manyopportunities for teamwork and collaboration in the engineering curriculum and in outsideinternships made possible through university–industry collaborations at North Carolina A&Tappear to have bolstered the students’ initial strong confidence in this area. A sample ofstudents’ free responses to a reflection question is shown in Table 6. These responses

Conference Session

Special Session: Impacts of Service in Engineering

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Olga Pierrakos, James Madison University; Eric Pappas, James Madison University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

ones that I knew would not be practical.”and Creativity “I’ve learned more about the design process and problem solving and have developed more cognitive skills that help with creativity.” “I learned about some of my strengths and weaknesses, especially in comparison toSelf-awareness my peers.”Students were also asked to reflect on what aspects of the project were most and least valuable.Overall and in agreement with responses on learning outcome gains (Table 1), students felt thatthe most valuable aspects during the project were learning and applying the design process (e.g.,developing ideas, meeting customer needs, generating concepts, sketching and drawing concepts

Conference Session

Special Session: Next Generation Problem-Solving

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Larry Shuman, University of Pittsburgh; Mary Besterfield-Sacre, University of Pittsburgh; Brian Self, California Polytechnic State University; Ronald Miller, Colorado School of Mines; Tamara Moore, University of Minnesota; John Christ; Eric Hamilton, Pepperdine University; Barbara Olds, Colorado School of Mines; Heidi Diefes-Dux

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods