Cognitive Strategies in STEM Education: Supporting the Development of Engineers’ Multi- and Cross-Disciplinary Competence
- Conference
- Location
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Newark, New Jersey
- Publication Date
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April 22, 2022
- Start Date
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April 22, 2022
- End Date
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April 23, 2022
- Page Count
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20
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--40044
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/40044
- Download Count
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390
Paper Authors
Laramie Potts New Jersey Institute of Technology
Dr. Laramie Potts’ is an associate professor of Engineering Technology at NJIT and serves as the program coordinator of the Surveying Engineering Technology (SET) program at NJIT. He has been working as an educator, consultant, and researcher in geoinformatics for over 20 years. Dr. Potts has worked with state and local governments as well as industry in providing technical input for geospatial mapping problems. His research focuses on surveying, geodesy, integration of multi-sensor remote sensing, navigation and geospatial mapping technologies, and hydro-acoustic signal processing for hydrographic mapping. His research interest covers a wide range of geophysical modeling, space weather, and real-time Geospatial Infrastructure Information Management Systems (GIIMS). He has authored and co-authored more than 40 refereed journal articles on these areas of interest and more than 30 conference presentations on real-world applications. He is a member of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), the New Jersey Society for Professional Surveyors (NJSPLS) and of the Hydrographic Society of America (THSOA).
Huiran Jin New Jersey Institute of Technology
Dr. Huiran Jin is an Assistant Professor in the School of Applied Engineering and Technology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology with a joint appointment with the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science of NJIT's College of Science and Liberal Arts. Her research focuses on spatiotemporal analysis and modeling of environmental changes at local to regional and global scales, taking advantage of airborne and satellite data, state-of-the-art data fusion and machine learning and deep learning techniques, and big data analytics.
Abstract
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) ushers accelerated pace of innovation with the digital technologies and computing advances that requires urgent upskilling and reskilling the workforce. An educational response to this urgent need compels Higher Education Intuitions (HEIs) to re-evaluate their programs to develop a STEM-literate workforce capable of making informed decisions given the complexities of today’s world and to open up opportunities to fill the growing need for STEM professionals. The objectives of combining multiple engineering approaches and technologies are to resolve real world problems, to provide different perspectives on real word complex problems, to create comprehensive research questions, to develop consensus definitions and guidelines, and to promote improved engineering services that address 21st century problems.
Reasoning modalities have been the subject of interest and debate for the past decades in engineering education and for STEM in general. This study attempts to understand the various thinking modalities for multi-disciplinary engineering students. We also question the appropriate thinking strategy for cross-disciplinary engineering technology students given the 4IR-induced evolving workplace. A comprehensive literature review of empirical articles is also provided, which is aligned with the research questions published in scholarly journals over the past two decades and reveals the state of scientific thinking on these topics. Preliminary results informs instructional pedagogies on multidisciplinary engineering and cross-disciplinary engineering technology programs to exploit the capabilities of the 4IR innovations.
Potts, L., & Jin, H. (2022, April), Cognitive Strategies in STEM Education: Supporting the Development of Engineers’ Multi- and Cross-Disciplinary Competence Paper presented at 2022 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference, Newark, New Jersey. 10.18260/1-2--40044
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