Engineering Education Commons^™

From The Editor

International Journal of Nuclear Security

No abstract provided.

Iron Range Engineering Pbl Experience, Ron Ulseth, Bart Johnson

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

A new PBL model started in 2010 in Minnesota, United States. The PBL model is upper-division (the last two years of four-year bachelor’s of engineering degree). Entering students are graduates of Minnesota’s community colleges. The Aalborg PBL model served as an inspiration for the program’s development. Unique attributes of the program include industry clients, semester-long projects, emphasis on development of self-regulated learning abilities, dedicated project rooms, technical competence learned in one-credit, small (3-4 student) groups with one academic staff called learning competencies, and an emphasis on continuous improvement. The program has earned ABET accreditation. Seventy-five students have graduated and are …

Professional Competency Development In A Pbl Curriculum, Bart Johnson, Ron Ulseth

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

Substantial dialogue exists regarding the needs of the engineering profession and the changes in engineering education necessary to meet them. Important to this change is an increased emphasis on the professional competencies as identified by the Washington Accord and the ABET professional skills for engineering graduates and how to educate for them. This paper will explore the potential for a project based learning engineering curriculum model to meet this need. It will summarize a newly developed upper-division undergraduate project-based learning (PBL) engineering program in the U.S. engineering educational system and its approach to professional competency development. Based on the ABET …

Priming Middle School Females’ Engagement In Engineering And Technology, Mary Bonk Isaac

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to validate data collected between 2009-2013 via an instrument used to assess middle school girls’ identification with and interest in engineering and technology following the Society of Women Engineers’ WOW events. Recognizing the importance of measuring the impact of such mentored E & T activities on young females’ attitudes about and interest in STEM, and more specifically, engineering and technology, SWE outreach experts developed a participant survey based on event objectives and domain knowledge, but never rigorously examined whether it produced statistically valid data that could be used to draw inferences about girls’ propensity …

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.

Using Thermocouple, Thermistor, And Digital Sensors To Characterize The Thermal Wake Below Ascending Weather Balloons, Erick Agrimson, Kaye Smith, Rachel Newman, Kassandra Surma, Maggie Singerhouse, Britany Craig, Marilyn Mcnamara, James Flaten, Alex Pratt, Stephanie Wegner, Joe Dillon

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

In this paper we present additional results from our on-going research effort to characterize the thermal wake that trails below ascending latex weather balloons on flights into the stratosphere; a wake which interferes with the ability of temperature sensors in payload boxes hanging from the balloon (and hence enveloped by the wake) to correctly measure the ambient temperature of the atmosphere through which the balloon is ascending. A “wake boom” is used to measure temperature variations up to 1.5 m horizontally from varying distances directly below the neck of the balloon. Results to date agree with the literature that especially …

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 …

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 …

Identifying Sources Of Information That Students Use In Deciding Which Engineering Major To Pursue, Héctor E. Rodríguez-Simmonds, Juan D. Ortega-Alvarez, S. Zahra Atiq, Stephen R. Hoffmann

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This study explores the sources of information that first year engineering students use to decide which engineering major to pursue for their undergraduate studies. The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to understand how students make an informed decision of which engineering major to pursue and (2) to help the First Year Engineering (FYE) program administration improve the informational resources they provide the students. This study was framed within the FYE population of a large Midwestern university and was commissioned by the FYE program.

FYE administration conducts regular student surveys for feedback and improvement purposes. We analyzed different survey …

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. …

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 …

Evolution Of A First-Year Engineering Course, Noah Salzman, Janet Callahan, Gary Leroy Hunt, Carol Sevier, Amy J. Moll

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The first-year engineering course at Boise State University has evolved significantly over the past decade as a result of continuous improvement with a particular focus on student retention. The course was originally created in 1999-2001 as an “Introduction to Engineering” course in order to recruit students to one of the fields of engineering, by introducing those fields of engineering as topics across the semester. Over the first ten years, the course continued that introductory-to-field focus while also introducing a significant design element solving openended engineering problems. As a result of a five-year grant aimed toward improving first-year retention, the first-year …

Perspectives Of Pedagogical Change Within A Broadcast Stem Course, Angela L. Minichiello, Ted Campbell, James T. Dorwand, Sherry Marx

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

As calls for pedagogical transformation of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction intensify, the pace of change remains slow. The literature shows that research-based instructional strategies transfer only sporadically into STEM instructional practice. Difficulties associated with implementation and sustainment of instructional change may appear daunting— if not insurmountable—to many STEM change agents and teaching faculty. Subsequently, the path towards systematic and lasting pedagogical transformation in post-secondary STEM stands largely uncharted.

To understand how challenges faced by STEM educators engaged in pedagogical change may be overcome, this paper uses qualitative inquiry to explore an emergent process of teacher change. …

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 …

Developing And Advancing A Cyberinfrastructure To Gain Insights Into Research Investments: An Organizing Research Framework, Ann Mckenna, Jeremi London, Aditya Johri, Mihaela Vorvoreanu, [email protected] 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 …

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 …

Factors Associated With Student Participation In Cooperative Education Programs (Co-Ops), Joyce Main, Matthew Ohland, Nichole Ramirez, Trina L. Fletcher, Jake Davis

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Factors that Influence Student Participation in Co-OpsA cooperative education program (co-op) in engineering is a partnership between an academicinstitution and an employer designed to engage students in practical engineering experiencethrough rotations of full-time employment and course study. Co-op employment providesstudents with discipline-relevant professional experience, financial support, and early entry intothe engineering labor force while serving as a recruitment tool for co-op companies. Using asequential mixed-methods approach, this research aims to identify factors that influence studentaccess to and participation in cooperative education programs.The quantitative analysis of co-op participation uses comprehensive, longitudinal academicstudent records from six partner institutions that comprise the Multiple-Institution …

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 …

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 …

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, …