CAREER: Using Portfolios to Promote Knowledge Integration in Engineering Education

所建议的工作的中心思想是探索作品集创建作为促进（和研究）工程学生知识整合的一种手段。作品集活动将建立在工程课程现有优势的基础上，为学生提供机会来反思他们的成就，看到并阐明工程与他们的成就之间的联系，并发展与工程相关的更完整的概念结构。三个目标是：(1)记录工程专业学生在其工程学科中的概念结构的性质，特别注意概念结构是如何整合的；(2)利用已知的教育组合来开发一种干预措施，使工程专业学生有可能记录和完善他们在工程中的概念结构；(3)确定与干预相关的学习能力和认知挑战。这项工作将通过纵向研究和一系列课堂研究来完成。在纵向研究中，将建立两个学生队列，每个学生每年将开发一个参与组合。纵向研究的参与者将构建作品集，作为参与课外项目的一部分。在课堂研究中，将在个别课程的背景下探讨作品集建设的效果。教育计划以工作的组合和知识整合重点为基础。该计划包括以下承诺：a)继续在PI的课程中使用作品集作业；b)支持对作品集感兴趣的教师和学生开发作品集；c)为本科生提供指导/研究经验；d)创建基于作品集的教学模块。就该项目的广泛影响而言，在现有的学生群体中，代表性不足的少数民族将被过度抽样。这些作品集将为雇主、学生和其他对工程教育感兴趣的人提供独特而有用的信息来源。此外，这项工作的影响将对工程毕业生谁是更好地准备为工程专业做出贡献。工程教育与中心部（ENG/EEC）已同意共同资助该项目。

The central idea of the proposed work is to explore portfolio creation as a means of promoting (and studying) knowledge integration by engineering students. The portfolio activities will build on existing strengths of the engineering curriculum by providing students with opportunities to reflect on their accomplishments, see and articulate connections between engineering and their accomplishments, and develop more integrated conceptual structures associated with engineering. Three objectives are to (1) document the nature of engineering students' conceptual structures in their engineering discipline, with specific attention to how integrated the conceptual structures are, (2) use what is known about portfolios in education to develop an intervention that makes it possible for engineering students to document and refine their conceptual structures in engineering, and (3) identify the learning affordances and cognitive challenges associated with the intervention. The work will be accomplished through a longitudinal study and a series of classroom studies. In the longitudinal study, two student cohorts will be set up in which each student will develop one portfolio per year of participation. Longitudinal study participants will construct portfolios as part of participation in an extracurricular program. In the classroom studies, the effects of portfolio construction will be explored in the context of individual courses. The education plan builds on the portfolio and knowledge integration emphases of the work. The plan includes commitments to: a) continue using portfolio assignments in the PI's courses, b) support portfolio development by faculty and students interested in portfolios, c) provide mentoring/research experiences for undergraduates, and d) create teaching modules that build on the portfolios.In terms of the broader impacts of the project underrepresented minorities will be over-sampled from the available student populations. The portfolios will represent a unique and useful information source for employers, students, and others with interest in engineering education. Also, the impact of the work will be on the engineering graduates who are better prepared to contribute to the engineering profession.The Division of Engineering Education & Centers (ENG/EEC) has agreed to co-fund this project.