Engineering Commons^™

An Assessment Framework For First-Year Introduction To Engineering Courses, Senay Purzer, Kerrie A. Douglas, Jill A. Folkerts, Taylor V. Williams

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

In this evidence-based practice paper, we describe an assessment framework that applies to first-year introductory engineering courses. First-year engineering courses cover a variety of learning objectives that address both technical and professional outcomes outlined in ABET. These courses also often involve open-ended design and modeling projects. The assessment of multiple competencies along with open-ended design can be a challenging task for educators. In this paper, we describe a framework that guides instructional processes for effective assessment for student learning. This assessment-centered teaching and learning framework helps connect specific learning objectives to broader learning goals or competencies and on-going formative feedback …

Board # 114 : Progress Toward Optimizing Student Team Skill Development Using Evidence-Based Strategies, Matthew W. Ohland, Daniel M. Ferguson, Misty L. Loughry, David Jonathan Woehr

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The broad goal of this work is to study the effectiveness of various teamwork training interventions. This research requires the use of a common model of teamwork and a system for training, collecting ratings data, and providing feedback. We will leverage the NSF’s prior investment in the CATME system, which meets the research criteria and automates some of the data collection and feedback, which will aid in executing the research protocol consistently. Seven empirical studies will determine the effect sizes of training, practice in teams, practice rating, and feedback interventions on cognitive development (improvement of team skills) and metacognitive development …

A Content Analysis Of How Engineering Is Assessed In Published Curricula, Kerrie A. Douglas, Tamara J. Moore, Hillary Merzdorf, Tingxuan Lee, Amanda C. Johnston

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

A Content Analysis of How Engineering is Assessed in Published Curricula (Fundamental)

The purpose of this proposal is to present research findings concerning how and what about engineering is commonly assessed in well-known engineering or integrated STEM published curriculum. Two of the major shifts brought about by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are an increased emphasis in students’ capabilities to perform higher-level reasoning skills and integrate content understanding into science practices. At the same time, NGSS has made engineering integration into science education a priority, and it is an exciting time of reform as schools are exploring curriculum resources and …

A Learning Trajectory For Developing Computational Thinking And Programming, Sean B. Brophy, Tony A. Lowe

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

A learning trajectory for developing computational thinking and programming This research study identifies the relationship between students’ prior experiences with programming and their development of computational thinking and programming during their first year engineering experience. Many first year programs teach students basic programming constructs using languages like MATLAB or LABView. The reason for this is because the disciplinary schools expect students to transform the constitutive properties that model a system’s behavior into a computer model they can use to analyze a system’s performance. Some undergraduate engineering students are entering college with strong computational backgrounds, while others are not. Peer learning …

Approaches To Coaching Students In Design Reviews, Robin Adams, Tiago R. Forin, Cole H. Joslyn

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Design reviews offer a unique window into understanding how design teachers help their students develop as designers. They are a prevalent practice for helping students develop design thinking expertise, although their structure and content may vary across disciplines. Understanding the teaching that occurs during design reviews can illuminate the ways teachers support students in becoming design thinkers. In this paper, we extend prior work to illustrate disciplinary perspectives of how design teachers help their students develop as design thinkers. The guiding framework is design pedagogical knowledge (PCK), the content-specific and practice-based specialized knowledge of teaching design. We analyzed five sets …

Main Campus And Remote Campus Engineering Technology Students: How Are They Different?, Anne M. Lucietto, Sarah E. Leach

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Engineering Technology students are underrepresented as compared to other Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors. In particular, they are a very small, often neglected population of which little is known to those outside their field of study. One large Midwestern University is studying their engineering technology student population to further understand how best to serve these students. The intent is to improve student services, learning opportunities, and environments with a goal of improving student skills and knowledge. The ultimate objective is to send them into the workplace more fully prepared for the challenges they will encounter. Due to the …

Initial Survey Of Engineering Technology Capstone Courses And Teamworkbuilding Using Catme, Anne M. Lucietto, Andrew Simon Scott, Kenneth A. Connor, Frederick C. Berry

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

This paper represents a first step in what is to become a multi –institutional initiative focused on identifying best practices for developing and improving teamwork skills within the Capstone experiences of engineering, technology and computing programs. Teamwork in this paper is defined and measured as the dimensions measured by the CATME Peer Review [1], which is currently used by thousands of technology and engineering instructors and institutions worldwide. The CATME Peer Review measurement tool is used to collect self and peer evaluations of team members’ contributions on five different teamwork dimensions [2]. These teamwork dimensions are 1) pose the knowledge, …

A Survey Of Women In Academia And The Role Of A Multidisciplinary Professional Society, Daniela Faas, Anne M. Lucietto, Gretchen L. Hein, Lucy Lenhardt, Christi Patton Luks, Beth A. Myers

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a global professional society of over 30,000 members with a mission to “Stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity”1. SWE is an organization that is deeply rooted in industry. The founding members were employed by firms that are a result of the industrial revolution, and thus the focus of its membership is on those that work for industry, consultants, and often themselves. This focus has …

Engineering Technology Graduate Students: Roles Professional Societies Havein Their Formation, Anne M. Lucietto, Diane L. Peters

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

In recent years, there have been several research projects focused on returning graduate students in engineering, those who have significant industry experience before beginning their graduate studies. These projects have focused on both the masters and doctoral levels and have looked at research, coursework, benefits of attending graduate school, and the cost of going back. One of the existing papers has looked at the ways in which professional organizations look on returning students, and how their membership policies affect these students. The issue of how returning students see themselves within professional societies was not addressed. As of yet, none of …

Engineering Technology Students - How Do They Compare To Other Stem Students?, Anne M. Lucietto

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

For many years, students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors were easily identified. However, since the realization that the US has a low number of students enrolled in STEM programs, great effort has been expended to encourage youth to pursue careers in these areas. Because of these broad-based efforts, the demographics of students moving into STEM are different from those in the past. There is a noted lack of diversity in students majoring in engineering technology; this is not as prevalent in other STEM fields.

Engineering technology students belong to a unique group. They are formally trained …

Examining Engineering Technology Students: How They Perceive And Ordertheir Thoughts, Anne M. Lucietto, Jennifer Drapinski Moss, Mark French

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The lack of rigorous research focused on engineering technology students leaves administrators and practitioners in this area without adequate resources to advise and guide this unique population. This absence of research can most likely be attributed to smaller student populations as compared to other related fields, receiving attention, such as engineering. A preliminary systemic review reveals that research defining whom the engineering technology students are and how they think is largely unavailable. This study is expected to further improve our understanding of engineering technology students and how they change over time. Both freshman and senior engineering technology students were asked …

Pushing And Pulling Sara: A Case Study Of The Contrasting Influences Of High School And University Experiences On Engineering Agency, Identity, And Participation, Allison Godwin, Geoff Potvin

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

This manuscript reports on a longitudinal case study of how one woman, Sara, who had previously considered dropping out of high school authored strong mathematics and science identities and purposefully exhibited agency through her experiences in high school science. These experiences empowered her to choose an engineering major in college; however, her introductory university engineering experiences ultimately pushed her out of engineering. Drawing on critical agency theory, we argue that by paying careful attention to how and why women author their identities and build agency through their experiences in high school, we may gain insight into why women may choose …

Self-Efficacy As A Long-Term Outcome Of A General Education Course On Digital Technologies, Renata A. Revelo, Christopher Schmitz, Duyen Le, Michael C. Loui

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

This study investigates the long-term outcomes of a general education course on digital technologies. Through cross-sectional and longitudinal interviews with students, the authors find that self-efficacy is a long-term student outcome. The primary sources of self-efficacy in the course for students were verbal persuasion and mastery experience. Faculty and teaching assistants were key sources for verbal persuasion. Some students experienced a success paradox: they felt successful in the course even though they failed to meet all of their initial expectations. This study can guide faculty in designing a course to promote student self-efficacy.

Identifying As An Engineering Technology Graduate, Anne M. Lucietto

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Engineering graduates identify themselves as a person formally educated in engineering, who belongs to a group of people practicing engineering. How does the person holding an engineering technology degree career identify? The lack of differentiating research between engineering and engineering technology graduates results in less knowledge about self-identification by the engineering technology graduate. Many believe that the positions held by engineering technology graduates further define their self-identity, as they are titled either engineers or technologists. Identity research focuses on career trajectory in the graduate student population. This focus places research in academia. Methods used to analyze early influences and their …

The Changing Role Of Professional Societies For Academics, Gretchen L. Hein, Daniela Faas, Anne M. Lucietto, Jacquelyn Kay Nagel, Diane L. Peters, Rebecca M. Reck, Mary C. Vestraete, Deborah J. O'Bannon

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

This research paper describes how professional societies provide services to their members with a focus on the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Professional societies fulfill many roles for their members. For underrepresented groups, the different roles become more important. Despite increasing numbers of women and other underrepresented groups in engineering academia, retention rates of women are still below the national average. Professional societies such as the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) may close the retention gap through community building. Not only do professional societies provide opportunities for networking and career building, but they also provide affirmation that there are others …

Systematic Review Of Engineering Technology Education Literature, Anne M. Lucietto, Eddy Efendy

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Few engineering technology education research publications exist; those that do are often viewed through the lens of the engineering education researcher. More specifically, engineering technology education is examined in the same manner as engineering education. The lack of rigorous research focusing on the education of engineering technology students may be the result of diverse engineering technology programs, and smaller research populations as compared to engineering and other STEM fields. Educators in engineering technology programs are challenged by this lack of discipline-specific rigorous research. The lack of engineering technology education research may be attributed to smaller numbers of engineering technology students …

A Survey Of Types Of Industry-Academia Collaboration, Diane L. Peters, Anne M. Lucietto

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Collaborations between industry and academia are, when properly designed and managed, beneficial to both the industry partners and the academic institutions. Such collaborations may take place on both small and large scales, and may involve varying numbers of academic institutions and industry partners. They may also have different purposes, including both research-focused collaborative efforts and programs designed to connect undergraduate students with real-world projects to enhance their education. In this paper, the authors will provide a survey of different models of industry-academia collaboration in engineering and engineering technology. The paper will include both a survey of existing literature on the …

Identity, Critical Agency, And Engineering Majors: An Affective Model For Predicting Engineering As A Career Choice., Allison Godwin, Geoff Potvin, Zahra Hazari, Robynne Lock

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Prior to college, many students do not have experience with engineering, but some ultimately choose an engineering career. Additionally, women choose engineering at lower rates than men, which results in women’s underrepresentation. The framework of critical engineering agency (CEA) is utilized to understand student attitudes and beliefs for choosing engineering. We investigate the relationships among students’ math and physics identities in high school that predict choice of engineering careers; how students’ beliefs about science and technology predict a choice of engineering careers; whether these beliefs are different by gender; and how well CEA explains students’ engineering choice. The data were …

A Developmental Model Of Research Mentoring, Renata A. Revelo, Michael Loui

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

We studied mentoring relationships between undergraduate and graduate students in a summer undergraduate research program, over three years. Using a grounded theory approach, we created a model of research mentoring that describes how the roles of the mentor and the student can change. Whereas previous models of research mentoring ignored student roles and treated mentor roles as static, our model focuses on the development of the mentoring relationship over time. Our model explains how conflicts can occur if the mentor role does not match the maturity level of the student.

Evidence Of Students’ Engineering Learning In An Elementary Classroom, Kristina Tank, Tamara Moore, Bunmi Babajide, Anastasia M Rynearson

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Evidence of Students’ Engineering Learning in an Elementary Classroom Over the past decade there has been an increased emphasis on improving the teaching andlearning of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.With the publication of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013, whichcall for the integration of science and engineering concepts and practices in K-12classrooms, there has also been an increased emphasis on engineering education at the K-12 level. However, given that engineering integration at the elementary level is stillrelatively recent, there is a need for research in the area of engineering education toexamine how these national documents and …

Optimizing Student Team Skill Development Using Evidence-Based Strategies—Nsf Award 1431694, Matthew Ohland, Misty Loughry, David J. Woehr, Richard Layton, Daniel Ferguson

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Optimizing Student Team Skill Development using Evidence‐Based Strategies NSF Award 1431694 The broad goal of this work is to study the effectiveness of various teamwork training interventions. This research requires the use of a common model of teamwork and a system for training, collecting ratings data, and providing feedback. We will leverage the NSF’s prior investment in the CATME system, which meets the research criteria and automates some of the data collection and feedback, which will aid in executing the research protocol consistently. Seven empirical studies will determine the effect sizes of training, practice in teams, practice rating, and feedback …

The Rapid Adoption Of Smarter Teamwork Tools: The System For Management, Assessment, Research, Training, Education, And Remediation For Teamwork, Matthew Ohland, Misty Loughry, Richard Layton, David Jonathan Woehr, Daniel Ferguson

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The Rapid Adoption of SMARTER Teamwork Tools: the System for Management, Assessment, Research, Training, Education, and Remediation for TeamworkThe rapid adoption of Team-Maker and the Comprehensive Assessment of Team MemberEffectiveness (CATME) tools for team formation and peer evaluation make it possible to extendtheir success to have a significant impact on the development of team skills in higher education.As of October 19, 2014, the web-based systems have been used by more than 300,000 studentsof more than 6000 faculty at more than 1100 institutions in 59 countries—the figure belowshows the growth of the user base at the end of September.This paper and …

Measuring The Effects Of Pre-College Engineering Experiences, Year 2, Noah Salzman, Matthew Ohland, Monica Cardella

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Measuring the Effects of Pre-College Engineering ExperiencesThe implementation of co-curricular and extracurricular pre-college engineering programs hasexpanded dramatically in recent years. Many states now include engineering as part of theireducation standards for both students and teachers, reflecting the increasing acceptance ofengineering at the K-12 level and its potential value to students. In addition to promotingoutcomes that benefit all students regardless of career aspirations such as increased math andscience achievement and greater technological literacy, K-12 engineering programs have beenidentified as a means of recruiting and retaining potential students in engineering.The growth of pre-college engineering programs means that increasing numbers of incomingengineering students …

Engineering Pathways Of Nontraditional Students—An Update On Nsf Award 1361058, Jaqi Mcneil, Matthew Ohland, Russell Long

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Engineering Pathways of Nontraditional Students—an Update on NSF Award 1361058 A large‐scale longitudinal study of nontraditional engineering students has provided descriptive information about the access, pathways, and success of nontraditional engineering students. Nontraditional students hold the potential to increase not only the number of engineering students, but also the diversity of the engineering student body. This descriptive study laid the groundwork for a larger study of nontraditional student pathways. The study of nontraditional student pathways will reveal patterns in how nontraditional students choose majors, how they migrate, and where they succeed. This study uses the Multiple‐Institution Database for Investigating Engineering …

Exploring Military Veteran Students’ Pathways In Engineering Education, Joyce Main, Catherine Brawner, Susan M. Lord, Catherine Mobley, Michelle Camacho

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Military Veteran Students’ Pathways in Engineering Education (Year 1: Award# 1428646)Military veterans hold tremendous promise for expanding and diversifying the engineeringworkforce. Given the diverse backgrounds of veterans, their increasing numbers, and thegrowing national demand for engineering professionals, the timing is ideal to study theconditions under which student veterans pursue engineering education and the factors that offerthem the greatest support for success. Increasing the participation of veterans in engineeringoffers the possibility of enhancing engineering’s diversity in many needed dimensions since,compared to civilian students, veterans are more likely to be older, first-generation collegestudents, disabled, African American, or Latino. Yet, little is known …

Identifying Key Factors Of Engineering Innovativeness, Kathryn Jabloklow, Senay Purzer, Daniel Ferguson, Matthew Ohland, Jessica Menold

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Identifying key factors of engineering innovativenessSignificant resources are spent nationally and locally to foster innovation, yet limited research exists onthe personal characteristics of innovators, especially those found in engineering. This three-yearcollaborative research project, currently in its second year, has led to the identification of specificattributes associated with engineering innovators, with the potential to inform a broad range of people,from engineering students to engineering educators to practicing engineers and their managers. Throughthis project, we have developed a socially constructed set of key engineering innovativenesscharacteristics based on the views of a diverse group of engineering innovation experts. We have alsodetermined which characteristics …

Informal Pathways To Engineering: Interim Findings From A Longitudinal Study, Christine Paulsen, Monica Cardella, Tamecia Jones, Marisa Wolsky

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Informal Pathways to Engineering: Interim Findings This study, based on social cognitive career theory, seeks to investigate the effect of informal, out­of­school activities, as well as other factors (self­efficacy, outcome expectations, and personal interests, and intrapersonal factors) on students’ interest in engineering and decisions to engage in engineering­related activities. The study uses a longitudinal design in which children, parents, and educators (classroom teachers, school principals, and informal educators) are interviewed and surveyed over a period of three years (corresponding with the middle school years). Thirty families from Massachusetts and 30 families from Indiana were enrolled in the study in Year …

Large-Scale Research On Engineering Design In Secondary Classrooms: Big Learner Data Using Energy3d Computer-Aided Design, Senay Purzer, Robin Adams, Molly Goldstein, K. Anna Douglas

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Large-scale Research on Engineering Design in Secondary Classrooms: Big Learner Data Using Energy3D Computer-Aided Design Through a five-year collaborative project, the Concord Consortium and PurdueUniversity are applying a data-intensive approach to study one of the most fundamental researchtopics in learning sciences: “How do secondary students learn and apply science concepts inengineering design processes?” We have collected more 2GB of structured data from secondaryschool students in Indiana and Massachusetts through automatic, unobtrusive logging of studentdesign processes enabled by a unique CAD tool that supports the design of energy-efficientbuildings using Earth science and physical science concepts. Data includes fine-grainedinformation of student actions, …

Characterizing And Modeling The Experience Of Transfer Students In Engineering—Progress On Nsf Award 0969474, Matthew Ohland, Clemencia M. Cosentino, Catherine E. Brawner, Catherine Mobley, Russell A. Long

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Characterizing and Modeling the Experience of Transfer Students in Engineering— Progress on NSF Award 0969474Quantitative analysis of MIDFIELD databaseOur analysis used records for 94,732 undergraduate students from the Multiple-InstitutionDatabase for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD). MIDFIELDcomprises a census of undergraduate students who attended 11 public institutions between 1988and 2008. MIDFIELD institutions represent public universities that educate large numbers ofengineering students.From the 977,950 records available, we restricted our sample to those who (1) were domesticstudents (927,350), (2) were in the data set early enough for us to observe the possibility ofgraduation within six years (677,691), and (3) declared a major in …

Developing And Advancing A Cyberinfrastructure To Gain Insights Into Research Investments: An Organizing Research Framework, Ann Mckenna, Jeremi London, Aditya Johri, Mihaela Vorvoreanu, Cm@Purdue.Edu Krishna Madhavan

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Developing and Advancing a Cyberinfrastructure to Gain Insights into Research Investments: An Organizing Research Framework Although the National Science Foundation (NSF) funds approximately 24% of basic research conducted in America’s colleges and universities (NSF), there is little we know about how NSF-­‐funding decisions have resulted in the current research landscape. This gap was the impetus for a project –Deep Insights Anytime, Anywhere (DIA2)— that begins to address this problem by focusing on NSF investments in undergraduate STEM education research, and how education innovations make an impact and diffuse throughout the STEM education community. The project team has designed an information …