Longitudinal Evaluation of Project-Based Professional Development Institute: Mixed Method Assessment with MBTI Type Correlations

Austin Talley; Richard H. Crawford; Christina Kay White; Kristin L. Wood

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Conference: 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Vancouver, BC
Publication Date: June 26, 2011
Start Date: June 26, 2011
End Date: June 29, 2011
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Robot Mania!
Tagged Division: K-12 & Pre-College Engineering
Page Count: 18
Page Numbers: 22.1024.1 - 22.1024.18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--18297
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/18297
Download Count: 274

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Paper Authors

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Austin Talley University of Texas, Austin

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Austin Talley is a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin, a Cockrell Fellow, and a licensed Professional Engineer. His research focus is in design methodology with Universal Design and engineering education. He has received his B.S. from Texas A&M University and M.S.E. from The University of Texas at Austin. Contact: Austin@talleyweb.com

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Richard H. Crawford P.E. University of Texas, Austin

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Christina Kay White Columbia University

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Engineering Education for Social and Environmental Justice is a passion in Christina’s scholarship and profession. She facilitates K-16 engineering experiences towards actively engaging in democratic practices. This is done through her interdisciplinary and international curriculum development and teaching. Her dissertation research is entitled “Taking HEED: Intersections of Women’s Lives in Humanitarian Engineering Experiences and Design.” From her U.S. patented Automated Assistive Guitar Playing Device to leading the Design, Technology, Engineering for All Children (DTEACh) program to co-facilitating LSU’s High School Teachers Engineering Awareness Program summer institute, Christina’s practices and research inform ways that we understand engineering education and innovation in our diverse and dynamic ecology.

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Kristin L. Wood University of Texas, Austin

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Kristin Wood is the Cullen Trust Endowed Professor in Engineering and the University Distinguished Teaching Professor at The University of Texas, Austin, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Wood’s current research interests focus on innovative product design, development, and evolution. The current and near-future objective of this research is to develop design strategies, representations, and languages that will result in more comprehensive design tools, innovation processes, innovative manufacturing techniques, and design teaching aids at the college, pre-college, and industrial levels. Contact: wood@mail.utexas.edu.

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Abstract

Longitudinal Evaluation of Project-Based Professional Development Institute: Correlating MBTI Types with Assessment The ____________ Professional Development Institute (PDI) at ________ Schoolof Engineering, seeks to provide K-8 teachers with engineering design pedagogy andhands-on activities for teaching applied mathematics and science. Over the past 18 years,more than 700 educators and 60,000 students have been impacted by the program, whichfeatures integration of engineering design challenges into lessons ranging from literatureto science and mathematics to art. For the past 12 years, the PDI has focused on teachingautomation and control concepts within the context of robotics. This paper describes anevaluation of recent modifications to the institute implementation and advancements inthe design methodology. In particular, changes to the institute feature: (1)contextualization of the design problems within the Grand Challenges of Engineering; (2)guided self-exploration of engineering concepts using manipulatives; and (3) increasedfocus on the pedagogy of design-based teaching and learning. These changes wereimplemented in response to: (1) research that shows females and underrepresentedminorities are more attracted to and interested in design challenges that have arelationship to broader impacts on humanity; (2) a desire to demonstrate alternativeapproaches to more traditional, lecture-based approaches to delivery content; and (3)indications that participants need more insight into how engineering can be integratedinto their classrooms. The evaluation is based on teachers’ responses to daily surveys on the design-based/project-based aspects of the PDI. The evaluation also includes open-ended questionassessment throughout the institute and end-of-institute assessment. The mixed-methodsevaluation methodology includes correlation of responses with the Myers-Briggs TypeIndicator (MBTI) personality types of the participants. Data for the 2010 institute werecollected using the same instrument employed in the 2004 institute, allowing alongitudinal analysis of the effects of changes to the institute. The analysis indicates thatthe modifications to PDI have had meaningful impacts across MBTI personality types.The teachers, on average and across the all MBTI types, mostly agreed or totally agreedthat the instruction and laboratory aspects of the PDI were relevant to them each day. Inthese same questions there were measurable percentile differences between thinking andfeeling personality types that were observed in both measurement years. Multipleteachers commented that they enjoyed the “tag-team” effort of multiple instructors withdifferent specialties. This opportunity to look at the institute with the same surveyinstrument in different years of the PDI provided an opportunity to analyze how theevolution of the program impacted teachers that participated in the institute.

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Talley, A., & Crawford, R. H., & White, C. K., & Wood, K. L. (2011, June), Longitudinal Evaluation of Project-Based Professional Development Institute: Mixed Method Assessment with MBTI Type Correlations Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18297

TY - CPAPER
AB - Longitudinal Evaluation of Project-Based Professional Development Institute: Correlating MBTI Types with Assessment The ____________ Professional Development Institute (PDI) at ________ Schoolof Engineering, seeks to provide K-8 teachers with engineering design pedagogy andhands-on activities for teaching applied mathematics and science. Over the past 18 years,more than 700 educators and 60,000 students have been impacted by the program, whichfeatures integration of engineering design challenges into lessons ranging from literatureto science and mathematics to art. For the past 12 years, the PDI has focused on teachingautomation and control concepts within the context of robotics. This paper describes anevaluation of recent modifications to the institute implementation and advancements inthe design methodology. In particular, changes to the institute feature: (1)contextualization of the design problems within the Grand Challenges of Engineering; (2)guided self-exploration of engineering concepts using manipulatives; and (3) increasedfocus on the pedagogy of design-based teaching and learning. These changes wereimplemented in response to: (1) research that shows females and underrepresentedminorities are more attracted to and interested in design challenges that have arelationship to broader impacts on humanity; (2) a desire to demonstrate alternativeapproaches to more traditional, lecture-based approaches to delivery content; and (3)indications that participants need more insight into how engineering can be integratedinto their classrooms. The evaluation is based on teachers’ responses to daily surveys on the design-based/project-based aspects of the PDI. The evaluation also includes open-ended questionassessment throughout the institute and end-of-institute assessment. The mixed-methodsevaluation methodology includes correlation of responses with the Myers-Briggs TypeIndicator (MBTI) personality types of the participants. Data for the 2010 institute werecollected using the same instrument employed in the 2004 institute, allowing alongitudinal analysis of the effects of changes to the institute. The analysis indicates thatthe modifications to PDI have had meaningful impacts across MBTI personality types.The teachers, on average and across the all MBTI types, mostly agreed or totally agreedthat the instruction and laboratory aspects of the PDI were relevant to them each day. Inthese same questions there were measurable percentile differences between thinking andfeeling personality types that were observed in both measurement years. Multipleteachers commented that they enjoyed the “tag-team” effort of multiple instructors withdifferent specialties. This opportunity to look at the institute with the same surveyinstrument in different years of the PDI provided an opportunity to analyze how theevolution of the program impacted teachers that participated in the institute.
AU - Austin Talley
AU - Richard H. Crawford P.E.
AU - Christina Kay White
AU - Kristin L. Wood
CY - Vancouver, BC
DA - 2011/06/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Longitudinal Evaluation of Project-Based Professional Development Institute: Mixed Method Assessment with MBTI Type Correlations
UR - https://peer.asee.org/18297
DO - 10.18260/1-2--18297
ER -