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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
‘‘Can I Drop It This Time?’’ Gender And Collaborative Group Dynamics In An Engineering Design-Based Afterschool Program, Jessica Schnittka, Christine Schnittka
‘‘Can I Drop It This Time?’’ Gender And Collaborative Group Dynamics In An Engineering Design-Based Afterschool Program, Jessica Schnittka, Christine Schnittka
Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)
The 21st century has brought an increasing demand for expertise in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Although strides have been made towards increasing gender diversity in several of these disciplines, engineering remains primarily male dominated. In response, the U.S. educational system has attempted to make engineering curriculum more engaging, informative, and welcoming to girls. Specifically, project-based and design-based learning pedagogies promise to make engineering interesting and accessible for girls while enculturating them into the world of engineering and scientific inquiry. Outcomes for girls learning in these contexts have been mixed. The purpose of this study was to explore how …
The Empathy Project: Using A Project-Based Learning Assignment To Increase First-Year College Students’ Comfort With Interdisciplinarity, Micol Hutchison
The Empathy Project: Using A Project-Based Learning Assignment To Increase First-Year College Students’ Comfort With Interdisciplinarity, Micol Hutchison
Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning
Empathy and interdisciplinarity are both concepts that are current and relevant—across professions, in research, and in academia. This paper describes a large, interdisciplinary, project-based assignment, the Empathy Project, which allows students to delve into and increase comfort and skill with interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative learning, while improving the core college skills of written and oral communication, ethical and quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking. As I revised the assignment based on student feedback and results, I found that group conferences and time in class to work collaboratively were beneficial. Additionally, building increased scaffolding into the assignment, including greater student and group …