Conference Session

Stakeholder Perspectives on Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nathan E. Canney, University of Colorado, Boulder; Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

should be inherent in the engineering profession suchthat any project can be seen as service to a community. Academic institutions carry theresponsibility of teaching engineering students not only technical skills but also professionalskills that relate to social responsibility, such as an understanding of professional and ethicalresponsibility and of the global and societal impacts of engineering decisions. Teachingtechniques such as project-based service learning (PBSL) could increase a student’s awareness ofsocial responsibility due to the community engagement (typically with underserved populations)and the reflective aspect inherent in PBSL. This study presents pre-post data from an assessmentof engineering students’ development of social

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephan A. Durham, University of Georgia; Wesley E. Marshall, University of Colorado, Denver

Tagged Divisions

Student

Join Student Organizations in USUniversities? How Many to Join? What Kind of Student Organizations to Join?http://redbus2us.com/8-reasons-why-should-you-join-student-organizations-in-us-universities-how-many-to-join-what-kind-of-student-organizations-to-join/. AccessedMarch 10, 2012.Nadler, M.K. (1997). The Value of Student Organizations and the Role of FacultyAdvisors. Journalism and Mass Communications Educator. 52(1), 16-25.Vogt., C. (2008). Faculty as a Critical Juncture in Student Retention and Performance inEngineering Programs. Journal of Engineering Education. January 2008. pp 27-37Wang, J. and Shiveley, J. (2009). The Impact of Extracurricular Activity on StudentAcademic Performance. http://www.csus.edu/oir/Assessment/Non-academic

Conference Session

Stakeholder Perspectives on Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Bull, Brown University School of Engineering; Maureen Kay Sigler, Brown University; Michael Lye, Rhode Island School of Design

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

,structured and frequent reflection, dialogue, and problem-solving opportunities should beintegral to course design.One tacit assumption throughout CBL is that there is a positive impact on the community but achallenge is to demonstrate that learning and working with the community are synergistic ratherthan at odds. In many cases it is just that, an assumption, with too few concrete and specificinstances of positive change, and no clear way to value the changes. While we have shown that itis valuable on many levels for many students, we think there will be great reward in developingand using tools that give reliable insight on how the community is affected.Although we use the phrases “engaged scholarship” and “community based learning”, they havesome

Conference Session

Community Engagement in Engineering Education: Program Models

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shoba Krishnan, Santa Clara University; Tonya Lynn Nilsson P.E., Santa Clara University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

; providesinterdisciplinary projects of the students’ choice; and includes structured reflection as a keycourse component.This paper presents a case study on a global project where the students gained experienceworking for real world clients on problems with real world constraints and insight on howengineers impact and influence the world around them. The project was developed by theEngineers Without Borders (EWB) Student Chapter. The EWB students involved in this projectenrolled in the course to prepare for the non-technical components of the task including ethics,communication, and leadership. The course also addresses the engineering design process toassist students in applying their technical skills on the project.Through the use of study surveys and student

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kurt Paterson P.E., Michigan Technological University; Chris Swan, Tufts University; Kristine Louise Guzak, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

-year students, Great Ideas, and graduate students, Discover Design Delight. At the intersection of these two fields, Pa- terson leads several national initiatives for learning engineering through service, recently taking the reins for the American Society for Engineering Education’s newest division startup, Community Engagement in Engineering Education. He is PI, or co-PI, on several large projects assessing the impacts of learning through service on students, faculty, and communities around the world.Dr. Chris Swan, Tufts University Chris Swan is an Associate Professor of civil and environmental engineering with additional appointments in the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and the

Conference Session

Lessons Learned through Community Engagement of Engineering Students

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lynne A. Slivovsky, California Polytechnic State University; James M. Widmann, California Polytechnic State University; Brian P. Self, California Polytechnic State University; J. Kevin Taylor, California Polytechnic State University; David W. Hey, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

. Page 25.1479.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012 Why the Human Connections Formed through Service-Learning MatterAbstractAs one of Kuh’s high-impact educational practices, service-learning fosters deep learning andpromotes both personal and practical gains. As a pedagogy, service-learning is often used as thecontext in another high-impact practice: capstone design. Together, the two offer students theopportunity to integrate and synthesize their knowledge in a new, and often diverse, setting. Theexperience has students working on real world problems for very tangible real people, withwhom they interact to understand and define the scope and objectives of their design projects. Amixed method

Conference Session

Lessons Learned through Community Engagement of Engineering Students

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Malinda S. Zarske, University of Colorado, Boulder; Derek T Reamon, University of Colorado, Boulder; Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Daniel W. Knight, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

, andretention of its students in engineering. One goal of this paper is to examine the impact of acommunity-based context in first-year projects courses. Specifically, we compared five sectionsof the FYEP course who engaged in service-based projects with five sections of the course whoengaged in non-service based projects, all during the same semester. Using multiple methodsinformed by current education research, we analyzed how the context of service-basedengineering impacts students’ technical and professional skills, attitudes towards communityservice, and intent to complete their incoming major. We also examined any differential impactson students by gender and retention into the next year of engineering courses for all the studentswho enrolled in

Conference Session

Lessons Learned through Community Engagement of Engineering Students

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John J. Duffy, University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Linda Barrington, University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Emmanuelle Reynaud, University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Manuel A. Heredia, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

each semesterhave a required course in which S-L projects are mostly required but in some cases optional. Lastacademic year (2010-2011) 1267 students were engaged in service-learning projects in theengineering college. The total enrollment for the college was 1600 the same year. An estimated49,500 hours were contributed to the community. One way to illustrate the number of courseswith S-L integrated into the curriculum is depicted in Figure 1. Each column represents anacademic year under its department. Within each column, dots with deeper shading indicate thatthe S-L was required for everyone in the course that semester. Lighter shading indicates that theS-L was a choice, or elective, opted by only some of the students in the course, usually

Conference Session

Lessons Learned through Community Engagement of Engineering Students

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Robert Foster, George Fox University; Gary E. Spivey, George Fox University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

-learning context, the intention was to emphasize service, however academic demands dominated.Because of the hands-on design-and-build curriculum, the instructors felt that students couldperform effectively as engineers without additional “academic” material overhead. Thus, muchof the documentation requirements were curtailed.When the requirements eased, student passion returned; yet, the instructors soon discovered thatwith this excitement came reduced project performance. Though the faculty was teaching thedesign process and engaged students with multiple projects throughout the curriculum, studentshad not effectively learned how to develop project requirements and specifications. Therefore,the instructors revamped the approach and implemented a

Conference Session

Stakeholder Perspectives on Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Kurt Paterson P.E., Michigan Technological University; Chris Swan, Tufts University; John J. Duffy, University of Massachusetts Lowell; Olga Pierrakos, James Madison University; Nathan E. Canney, University of Colorado Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

engineering through service, recently taking the reins for the American Society for Engineering Education’s newest Division startup, Community Engagement in Engineering Education. He is PI, or Co-PI, on several large projects assessing the impacts of learning through service on students, faculty, and communities around the world.Dr. Chris Swan, Tufts University Chris Swan is an Associate Professor of civil and environmental engineering with additional appointments in the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and the Center for Engineering Edu- cation and Outreach at Tufts University. He has served as Chair of Tufts CEE Department (2002-2007) and has been active in the ASEE since 2001, currently

Conference Session

Global Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aditya Johri, Virginia Tech; Akshay Sharma, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

. Page 25.882.10Finally, students commented on their positive team work experience. Barring a couple ofstudents, all students engaged highly with their team members. There was good communicationbetween the groups as well as with mentors at the field sites in India and Kenya. There weresome issues with communicating with field mentors, but they were resolved by engaging throughdifferent communication media. Students mentioned that interdisciplinary team work enforcedcreativity as brainstorming among students was common. Bigger and better ideas came fromtheir group work and slowly they learned about the expertise of each member which helped themmaximize their productivity. Overall, the students’ responses were also reflected in the surveythat was

Conference Session

Global Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristine Louise Guzak, Michigan Technological University; Kurt Paterson P.E., Michigan Technological University; Alexandra Archer, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

for Engineering Education’s newest division startup, Community Engagement in Engineering Education. He is PI, or Co-PI, on several large projects assessing the impacts of learning through service on students, faculty, and communities around the world.Alexandra Archer, Michigan Technological University Alexandra Archer is an environmental engineering master’s student in the Peace Corps Masters Interna- tional program at Michigan Tech. She holds a master’s in biological systems engineering from Kansas State University. Her research interests include sustainable engineering and international community en- gagement

Conference Session

Relevance of and Models for Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James L. Huff, Purdue University; Dulcy M. Abraham, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Carla B. Zoltowski, Purdue University, West Lafayette; William C. Oakes, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

identify, develop, and deliver projects that meet the community partner’s needs.Examples of such community needs (in addition to the case studies already mentioned) includedesigning assistive technology for people with disabilities, developing database software forhuman services agencies, and developing engaging science-educational technology forelementary students.An EPICS team is defined by its relationship with a community partner rather than being definedby a specific project. Consequently, a single EPICS division typically supports multiple projectsconcurrently, with students working on individual projects on smaller sub-teams. The teamsidentify the needs in conversations with the community partner and will often continue theproject across

Conference Session

Relevance of and Models for Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan McCahan, University of Toronto; Holly K. Ault, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Edmund Tsang, Western Michigan University; Mark R. Henderson, Arizona State University, Polytechnic; Spencer P. Magleby, Brigham Young University; Annie Soisson, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

world in which they work. And finally, they must be lifelonglearners who continue to update their knowledge base and skills throughout their careers.A decade ago ABET’s Engineering Criteria 20003 formalized the incorporation of professionalskills into the undergraduate curriculum. The ABET Criterion 3, Student Outcomes, requiresprograms to demonstrate among other things competency in teamwork, communication andunderstanding the impact of technology on society and the environment. Through adoption ofthe Washington Accord, other countries have followed suit and learning outcomes similar tothose expressed in ABET 2000 Criterion 3 are becoming universal.Responding to the need to develop the skills and competencies outlined above, many

Conference Session

Relevance of and Models for Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lindsey Anne Nelson, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

failure toachieve wellbeing objectives.63, 67 This integrated definition provides students with analyticalframeworks for contextually informed design. The wellbeing approach incorporates threeprimary design elements. First, it focuses on the important expertise of people living povertyrather than on externally-based “expert” opinion ungrounded in the local context.23 Second, itilluminates the community dynamics.70 Third, the breadth of wellbeing objectives facilitatesinteraction with policy makers and enables a rich combination of wellbeing objectives thatmight inform creative design brainstorming.71Development professionals working with wellbeing frameworks seek to understand change atboth the household and community level. These frameworks

Conference Session

Relevance of and Models for Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karinna M. Vernaza, Gannon University; Theresa M. Vitolo, Gannon University; Barry J. Brinkman, Gannon University; Scott Steinbrink, Gannon University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

-profit andcommunity organizations in need of engineering assistance are contacted by the faculty aspotential sources of projects. Gannon University serves as a secondary source of projects which,while performed nominally for Gannon, have a broader impact on the community. Page 25.1147.4Paired with a community non-profit organization, the team of SEECS scholars identifies anddesigns solutions to STEM-related problems to aid the organization. Junior and senior scholarspeer-mentor sophomores and freshmen, respectively, using what they learned in the classroom tosolve a real-world problem. The mentoring-learning paradigm adopted and the structure of

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ana T. Torres-Ayala, University of South Florida; Geoffrey L. Herman, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Student

AssistantsAbstract Although motivation in the classroom is often neglected in graduate student training,most instructors and TAs intuitively understand that motivation is critical for effective learning.These intuitions are corroborated by the research on motivation and learning that consistentlyshows that students do not learn well unless they are motivated to learn. In this paper, we present the basics of motivation theories, their impact on studentlearning and their implications for teaching engineering. It is a primer of motivation theories andhow they can be used to inform and direct TAs work with engineering students. This primer wasdeveloped from the perspectives of a researcher of the preparation of future faculty and adeveloper of

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Carl Becker P.E., Iowa State University; Joel K. Sikkema, Iowa State University; Nicole Lynn Oneyear, Iowa State University; Shashi S. Nambisan P.E., Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Student

encouraged to disseminate research is to host student postercompetitions. These competitions allow students a reasonably comfortable forum in which topractice their professional communication skills, which may lead to presentation of the sameresearch at other professional events. The following sections address the format of typicalstudent poster events, unique ideas of certain events, common barriers faced in running asuccessful event, and other topics not addressed in the current literature. Page 25.289.3Typical EventsStudent poster competitions and showcases on college campuses involve undergraduate students,graduate students, or a combination of

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adam Neale, University of Waterloo; Oliver Grant, University of Waterloo; Manoj Sachdev P.Eng., University of Waterloo

Tagged Divisions

Student

, Junior)One student, adamant against such behaviour, went so far as to say“I find sleep deprivation has such a big impact on every aspect of my life that there’s never anysituation where it’s justifiable”. (Elliot, Engineering, Junior)Three of the four students that had recently pulled all-nighters had GPA’s in the 70%’s, whereas Page 25.1336.15the fourth student, who admitted to this behaviour only about once per term, has a GPA in the85-89% range. Two of the students that no longer pull all-nighters are now graduate studentswith GPA’s in the 90-94% range. These finding are in agreement with Thacher’s which showthat engagement in single night

Conference Session

Community Engagement in Engineering Education: Program Models

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelsey B. Hatzell, Pennsylvania State University; Marta C. Hatzell, Pennsylvania State University; Min Young Pack, Pennsylvania State University; Johanna Gretchen Hatzell, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Samir Narendra Patel, Pennsylvania State University; Tara Lynn Sulewski, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Amy L. Freeman, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Khanjan Mehta, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

andlearning strategies 3.The Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) program at Penn Stateengages students and faculty from various disciplines across the campus in technology-basedventures. These ventures take places in several developing countries as well as in resource-poor Page 25.1019.3communities in the United States. Each venture focuses on the development of technologysolutions that are technologically appropriate, environmentally benign, socially acceptable andeconomically sustainable. Students engage in context-driven design and develop businessstrategies in hands-on courses that lead to a 13-credit certificate in

Conference Session

Community Engagement in Engineering Education: Program Models

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carrie-Ann Miller LCSW, State University of New York, Stony Brook

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

was Faculty Director of the Community Service Learning, Living Learning Major, SUNY at Stony Brook. From 1997-Present, she is Adjunct Professor, School of Social Welfare, SUNY at Stony Brook . From 1997-2004, she was Executive Director of Suffolk Psychiatric Service, Clinical Instructor SUNY at Stony Brook. She was Co-PI for several years with Paul Siegel, on TechPREP and STEM Tech. Tech- PREP is a program that provides 90 hours of education in the areas of computer science, mathematics, and physics, and engineering to middle school girls from under-served school districts. It also provides college mentors for each student. STEM Tech is a collaborative program that engages community and industry partners and WISE

Conference Session

FPD II: Hands-on Curriculum in the First Year

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lacey Jane Bodnar, Texas A&M University; Magdalini Z. Lagoudas, Texas A&M University; Jacqueline Q. Hodge, Texas A&M University; Travis Austin Smith, Engineering Student Services and Academic Programs; Jesus A. Orozco; Joshua Grant Corso; Cristian R. Sanchez; Jillian Kathleen Freise, Texas A&M ELLC Children's Museum; Hannah Ringler, Texas A&M University; Ivan Cortes, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

office, and agreed to form engineering project partnerships with Texas A&M.Sponsors collaborated with ESSAP office to develop appropriate freshman projects. Theyserved as the “client” for whom the freshman students were working, and were professionalswho assisted teams with design and development. One of the goals of these projects was thatthey go beyond simply academic exercises. These projects were designed so that freshmanengineering students could see that they were having a real impact in the community. Projectsponsors helped achieve this goal.The ESSAP office administered the FEP program. Advertisement, recruitment, hiring,scheduling, and funding were handled through this office. Funding for the engineering mentorsand the freshman

Conference Session

Innovations in Promoting Technological Literacy I

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Isabel Huff, Smith College; Glenn W. Ellis, Smith College; Lucy McAuliffe, Smith College; Sonia K. Ellis, Smith College; Beth McGinnis-Cavanaugh, Springfield Technical Community College

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

Romantic narrative involving a tornado striking Springfield,Massachusetts—an extreme weather phenomenon that pushes the boundaries of reality andillustrates the binary contrast of safety and danger—was chosen to engage learners and frametheir learning. Tornadoes, while providing a connection to IE and to the engineering possibilitiesof evaluating their impact on structures and community, also brings up questions about how torebuild (and how to do so sustainably).As in each unit, the sustainability unit was connected to the characters in the Talk to Me novel.The sustainability activities are developed within a Mythic mystery context: “Catalina’s LittleBlack Book of Secrets.” Catalina, one of the most outspoken and hot-tempered characters in

Conference Session

Factors Impacting Engineering Career Choices, Including Engaging Families

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Massi, University of Central Florida; Charles H. Reilly, University of Central Florida; Diane Johnson, University of Central Florida; Leslie Castner, University of Central Florida

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

AC 2012-3204: EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS: THE IMPACT OF A ONE-DAY STEM CONFERENCE ON MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS’ AND PAR-ENTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARD STEM CAREERSDr. Lisa Massi, University of Central Florida Lisa Massi is the Director of Operations Analysis in the UCF College of Engineering & Computer Sci- ence. Her primary responsibilities include accreditation, assessment, and data administration. She is a Co-PI of a NSF-funded S-STEM program at UCF entitled the ”Young Entrepreneur & Scholar (YES) Scholarship Program.” Her research interests include factors that impact student persistence to graduation and STEM career intentions.Dr. Charles H. Reilly, University of Central Florida Charles H. Reilly is the Associate Dean

Conference Session

Retention of Women Students II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Heidi M. Steinhauer, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

development and assessment of students’ spatial visualization skills, effective integration of 3D modeling into engineering design, and women’s retention in engineering. Page 25.1311.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012 The Impact of Contextualized, Hands-On, Collaborative Learning on Women’s Persistence in Professional Engineering: Preliminary Findings from a Mixed Methods Study Heidi M. Steinhauer Embry-Riddle Aeronautical UniversityAbstractAs many of our female students desire to develop a

Conference Session

Embedded Control and Instrumentation

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gerald Thomas Ruch, University of Saint Thomas

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

the desired tolerance. This project had a multi-faceted impact on the students involved. First, they gainedknowledge and experience in an area completely new to them. More significantly, however, theylearned how to independently research a new topic and develop a detailed understanding of theproblem that they were asked to solve. Leveraging this understanding, they went beyond mereimplementation of a stock procedure and instead developed a procedure tailored to the specificequipment and requirements of our observatory. In addition to performing research andsynthesis in problem solving, these students gained valuable experience distilling andcommunicating the results of their research in the form of a written document. Finally, they

Conference Session

Global Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph East, Michigan Technological University; Genevieve Gierke, Michigan Technological University; Mary Raber, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

as education, waterpurification, electricity supply, and agricultural improvements. The biggest challenge in theseprojects has been to understand how to design and incorporate them into the communities in away that will be beneficial for the community, and thus have a lasting impact. Thinking abouthow to implement projects in a sustainable way in which the community takes ownership overthe projects encourages the students to spend time developing not only the technical solution tothe problem, as is often the case in traditional engineering projects, but also to consider all thestakeholders in the project and how it will impact the recipients.Effect of the Pavlis Leadership Program on Student Growth and DevelopmentMany programs and

Conference Session

Global Community Engagement in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yan Tang, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach; Marc Compere, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach; Yung Lun Wong; Jared Anthony Coleman, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Matthew Charles Selkirk, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

in this team spent a lot of their spare time in designing, communicating with end users,and trouble-shooting problems. None of the students had worked on the similar project, so theycould easily get overwhelmed by the above design challenges. All students were motivated bythe meaning of the project, and their hard work and perseverance made the project successful.As explained above, any logistics issue could easily become a failing factor if not resolved. Onefaculty member’s past experience of traveling in Haiti as a volunteer helped us achieve a hassle-free trip to Haiti, despite the danger of violent crime. Without the Haitian translator and theaccommodation and dining we received from the NVM and the orphanage, our health, and evensafety

Conference Session

Broadening Participation

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine M. Cunningham, Museum of Science, Boston; Cathy P. Lachapelle, Museum of Science, Boston

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

-solving have also shown benefits for the achievement and attitudes ofurban minority students, particularly African-American boys [45]. With open-ended activities,students can more readily make connections with their interests and prior experiences, and theyhave more reason to listen to and respect the views of others [46].In the real world, engineering problems rarely have one unique solution—much depends oncontext and constraints. To communicate this feature of engineering to children; to fostercreativity, problem solving, and innovative thinking; and to engage children who may havechecked-out of rigid school activities that must result in one answer, EiE creates designchallenges that afford a myriad of solutions. The challenges identify a set

Conference Session

Research in Engineering Education I

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sandra Loree Dika, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Jae Hoon Lim, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

relatively unchanged between 2005 and20092. It is now estimated that only about one half of the college students who matriculatedinto an engineering program will actually earn an engineering degree 3. For many years, researchers have highlighted the critical role of social engagement incollege student retention and academic success. Astin 4 emphasized that the single mostinfluential factor in college student development was the peer group, a factor that links a sense ofcommunity with overall satisfaction in college. To increase student retention, Tinto 5 suggestedthat freshman students should be integrated into social and academic communities early in theirfreshman year. Several subsequent studies provided empirical evidence that social