Engineering Education Commons^™

Leading Large-Scale Change In An Engineering Program, Cheryl Allendoerfer, Rebecca Bates, Jennifer Karlin, Ron Ulseth, Dan Ewert

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

While many efforts have been made to improve technical and professional skills in engineering graduates, there has been little comprehensive change in the pedagogy of most engineering education institutions in the U.S. Many of these efforts involve changing only one or two aspects of the curriculum, and therefore are less likely to make significant changes in the student learning outcomes. For better success, engineering curricular changes will need to address the entire education system. In order to see real, sustainable improvement in engineering education practice, both the behaviors of the participants and the systems within which these participants act must …

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 …

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, …

Academic Outcomes Of Cooperative Education Participation, Nichole Ramirez, Joyce Main, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Academic Outcomes of Cooperative Education ParticipationOutcomes and benefits of cooperative education (co-op) participation have been welldocumented; however, they have focused primarily on grade point averages (GPA) and careeroutcomes. Previous work on predictors of participation shows no significant differences bygender in the aggregate, but there are significant differences by ethnicity and major. Women inMechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering (especially Hispanic women) persist athigher rates than men, possibly indicating that gender becomes significant in academicoutcomes. One reason students may not participate in co-op is the perception of increased time tograduation; however, other benefits may outweigh that. This research furthers the literature byexamining …

Mathematics As A Gatekeeper To Engineering: Preliminary Findings From The Interview Data, Delean Tolbert, Monica Cardella

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Mathematics as a Gatekeeper to Engineering: Preliminary Findings from the Interview DataResearch suggests that students’ pre-college experience may support or hinder future success inengineering. The experiences that students have had with engineering may shape their perceptionof engineering curriculum at the college level. It may also cause cognitive and learningdissonance, when the ways that a student engaged with engineering activities at the pre-collegelevel do not align with the student’s experiences in the engineering classroom. At a largeMidwestern University with a unique first-year engineering program, first-year engineering andsenior mathematics, engineering, and design students were invited to participate in an openended design task. …

Virtual Peer Teams: Connecting Students With The Online Work Environment, Thalia Anagnos, Alicia Lyman-Holt, Sean Brophy

Faculty Publications

This study examined the potential of online collaboration tools to develop team cohesiveness and research skills of undergraduates participating in Virtual Peer Teams (VPTs) in a geographically distributed research experience for undergraduates (REU). The VPTs mimic geographically dispersed virtual teams that are now common in industry. VPTs consisted of four to six students from multiple REU sites around the United States who were asked to experiment with various collaboration and social network technologies to complete specified research-based and social tasks. Surveys were used to collect formative and summative feedback. Students agreed their VPT experiences were significant in their professional development …

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 …

Tensions Of Integration In Professional Formation: Investigating Development Of Engineering Students' Social And Technical Perceptions, James L. Huff, Brent Jesiek, W. C. Oakes, Carla B. Zoltowski, Kavitha D. Ramane, William Graziano

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Tensions of Integration in Professional Formation: Investigating Development of Engineering Students' Social and Technical PerceptionsTwenty-first century engineers face incredible challenges and opportunities, many of which aresocially complex, transcending the traditional “technical” boundaries of engineering. Thetechnology produced by engineers must not only function as predicted by mathematical andtheoretical models but must also operate beneficially and seamlessly in complex social contexts.In this sense, engineers must embody an integrated social and technical – or sociotechnical –identity rather than a dualistic social/technical one.A growing body of scholarship has discussed how dominant cultures of engineering shapestudents’ and professionals’ understandings of social and technical dimensions of …

Experiential Learning: Student Participation And Future Engagement, Twila Ortiz, Beth M. Holloway, Michael Harris, Andrea Pluckebaum, Leah H. Jamieson

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Experiential Learning: Understanding our Students’ PerspectivesIn 2014, the Gallup-Purdue Index Report examined the relationship between certain collegiateexperiences and workplace engagement. It found that experiences or experiential learningopportunities such as participating in a co-op program, internship or working on projects thatdeveloped over one semester more deeply affect the level of a graduate’s workplace engagementand therefore productivity and overall well-being. While it is apparent how importantexperiential learning can be to the future success and well-being of students, it is more difficultto measure all of the activities that can be labeled as experiential learning and to define whatconstitutes a meaningful experiential learning opportunity.This …

Understanding Diverse Pathways: Disciplinary Trajectories Of Engineering Students: Year 3- Nsf Ree Grant 1129383, Susan M. Lord, Matthew Ohland, Richard Layton

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Engineering as a whole continues to suffer from a low participation of women of all races andBlack, Hispanic, and Native American men. To diversify pathways for students to and throughengineering and to improve student success, we must first know how to measure success andprovide baseline data describing the current situation for all students. Our previous work hasshown that persistence or success varies by race and gender, and how we measure persistencematters in understanding this variation. Once women matriculate in engineering, they graduate insix-years at the same or better rates than their male counterparts of all races. This finding,however, shows considerable …

Understanding The Communicative And Social Processes Of Engineering Ethics In Diverse Design Teams, Carla B Zoltowski, Patrice Buzzanell, William Charles Oakes, Megan Feister, David Torres

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Understanding the Communicative and Social Processes of Engineering Ethics in Diverse Design Teams As engineering, and specifically engineering design, is increasingly understood to be asocial activity, engineering education’s understanding of ethics needs to reflect this developingawareness. Within engineering and design teams, engineering educators are concerned not onlywith how individual students develop ethically, but also how everyday ethical decision-makingemerges during team interactions and becomes integrated in design solutions. The everydayethics approach calls on engineering educators and students to pay closer attention to the natureof design, how values are embedded in design through micro decision-making processes, andhow these values are reintegrated into …

Engineering / Faculty / Sapp Nelson / Purdue University / 2015, Megan R. Sapp Nelson

Data Information Literacy Case Study Directory

These materials were developed to assist a cohort of early career engineering education faculty to critically consider aspects of data management that they may implement in their developing research groups. These materials were used in the context of a two hour workshop and one hour brownbag. In the brownbag, the results of the Data Information Literacy research grant were discussed as they may be relevant to the early career faculty. The faculty then completed a self-assessment to identify their weak areas of data management and their personal priorities for data management. The two hour workshop was then conducted to assist …

Focus Groups For Informing Awpa’S Engineering Workforce Study 2014: Final Report, Daniel Edwards, Jacob Pearce, Kate Perkins, Justin Brown

Dr Jacob Pearce

This report highlights the findings of a project undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for the Australian Workplace and Productivity Agency (AWPA) that will contribute to a wider study of the Engineering Workforce. The project involved the development, coordination, implementation of focus groups and the reporting of outcomes in a way that generates first-hand information about the experiences and attitudes of specific groups of people in relation to the engineering labour market – women, mature-age workers and new graduates. The work here also explored the views of the next generation of engineers, gathering information from school students …

Teaching Engineering, Second Edition, Phillip C. Wankat, Frank S. Oreovicz

Purdue University Press Books

The majority of professors have never had a formal course in education, and the most common method for learning how to teach is on-the-job training. This represents a challenge for disciplines with ever more complex subject matter, and a lost opportunity when new active learning approaches to education are yielding dramatic improvements in student learning and retention.

This book aims to cover all aspects of teaching engineering and other technical subjects. It presents both practical matters and educational theories in a format useful for both new and experienced teachers. It is organized to start with specific, practical teaching applications and …

Evaluation Of Static Vs. Dynamic Visualizations For Engineering Technology Students And Implications On Spatial Visualization Ability: A Quasi-Experimental Study, Petros Katsioloudis, Daniel Dickerson, Vukica Jovanovic, Mildred Jones

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The benefit of using static versus dynamic visualizations is a controversial one. Few studies have explored the effectiveness of static visualizations to those of dynamic visualizations, and the current state of the literature remains somewhat unclear. During the last decade there has been a lengthy debate about the opportunities for using animation in learning and instruction. More specifically it has been shown that dynamic visualizations often provide no advantages over static visualizations. If they had shown advantages, it was due to the fact that more information was available in the animated than in the static version. Given this result, the …

Using Computer-Aided Design Software And 3d Printers To Improve Spatial Visualization, Petros Katsioloudis, Millie Jones

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Many articles have been published on the use of 3D printing technology. From prefabricated homes and outdoor structures to human organs, 3D printing technology has found a niche in many fields, but especially education. The education of technology and engineering students has come a long way from traditional instruction using hand drawings. Although drawings may still be a part of a students learning, computer technology has been embraced in this field for several years. With the introduction of AutoCAD technical drawing programs and now 3D printing, learners can use 3D printed models to develop their spatial abilities in technology and …

The Epistemological Basis Of Engineering, And Its Reflection In The Modern Engineering Curriculum, Mike Murphy, William Grimson

Books/Book chapters

Perhaps unlike other professions, engineering is strangely difficult to define or describe. This is nowhere as evident as when an attempt is made to articulate its epis-temological basis. Engineering has a rich and complex ‘gene pool’ which goes back to when people first built shelters and shaped implements for agricultural purposes. Throughout the ages one constant characteristic of engineering has been its readiness to avail of whatever material is on hand together with whatever knowledge or skill is available to meet the challenge of enhancing an object or making something which nev-er previously existed. On occasion engineers have created new …

Engaging Community College Students Using An Engineering Learning Community, James Maccariella Jr.

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The study investigated whether community college engineering student success was tied to a learning community. Three separate data collection sources were utilized: surveys, interviews, and existing student records. Mann-Whitney tests were used to assess survey data, independent t-tests were used to examine pre-test data, and independent t-tests, analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), chi-square tests, and logistic regression were used to examine post-test data. The study found students that participated in the Engineering TLC program experienced a significant improvement in grade point values for one of the three post-test courses studied. In addition, the analysis revealed the odds of fall-to-spring retention were …