Collaborative Research: Assessing Engineering Students' Mathematical Preparation to Create Engineering Solutions

合作研究：评估工科学生创建工程解决方案的数学准备情况

• 批准号: 0536785
• 负责人: PK Imbrie
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Purdue University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-06-01 至 2010-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0536785&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Assessing; Engineering; Students

Reserach (91), Engineering (59) The goal of this project is the development of a prototype assessment instrument to evaluate how well engineering students are mathematically prepared for core engineering courses. The instrument is addressing the following related questions:1) What are the strengths of their preparation? 2) In what areas is improvement required?3) To what extent does any lack of mathematical preparation relate to the ability of the students to carry out well-defined computational procedures, e.g., solve a single equation in one unknown, solve a set of linear simultaneous equations, differentiate a symbolic expression, integrate a symbolic expression? 4) To what extent does any lack of mathematical preparation relate to the ability of the students to transfer their understanding of computational procedures to engineering contexts that they may not have seen in their mathematics and/or science courses? And 5) To what extent does any lack of mathematical preparation relate to the ability of the students to formulate a clear plan to solve problems? This project is benefiting from participation by engineering faculty members at Purdue University and Texas A&M University in electrical and mechanical engineering and a prominent mathematics educator from a third university.Intellectual MeritGiven the broad importance of mathematics in engineering, designing an effective assessment instrument requires a careful and rigorous development process. Engineering faculty who teach the core classes are contributing their expertise in the form of problems that characterize their expectations for the mathematics preparation of their students. The investigators are contributing their expertise in engineering education and assessment to refine these problems into a set of learning objectives and a prototype instrument. Careful analysis of student performance on the prototype instrument is being used to gauge the reliability and validity of the instrument. Both the development processes and the prototype instrument will be a foundation for future collaborations that will broaden the applicability of the instrument.Broader ImpactEngineering design requires prediction of the performance of a proposed design before its actual construction and mathematics skills are central to making accurate predictions. Thus, understanding the degree to which engineering students are mathematically prepared to enter their core engineering classes is critical to efforts to improve engineering education. A review of existing research has revealed the lack of instruments with which to assess the quality of mathematics preparation. By filling this void this project is providing the foundation for renewal in engineering and mathematics courses in engineering curricula.

研究（91），工程（59）这个项目的目标是开发一个原型评估工具，以评估工程专业学生在数学上为核心工程课程做好了多少准备。该文书正在解决以下相关问题：1）其编制的优势是什么？ 2)在哪些方面需要改进？3)在何种程度上缺乏数学准备与学生进行明确定义的计算程序的能力有关，例如，解一元方程，解一组线性方程组，对一个符号表达式求微分，对一个符号表达式求积分？4)在多大程度上缺乏数学准备涉及到学生的能力，他们可能没有看到在他们的数学和/或科学课程的计算程序的理解，以工程环境？5）缺乏数学准备在多大程度上与学生制定解决问题的明确计划的能力有关？这个项目是受益于参与工程教员在普渡大学和得克萨斯州A M大学在电气和机械工程和一个著名的数学教育家从第三university.Intellectual Meritgiven广泛的重要性，数学在工程，设计一个有效的评估工具需要一个仔细和严格的开发过程。教授核心课程的工程教师以问题的形式贡献他们的专业知识，这些问题是他们对学生数学准备的期望。研究人员正在贡献他们在工程教育和评估方面的专业知识，将这些问题细化为一组学习目标和原型工具。正在仔细分析学生在原型仪器上的表现，以衡量仪器的可靠性和有效性。开发过程和原型仪器都将成为未来合作的基础，从而扩大仪器的适用性。更广泛的影响工程设计需要在实际建造之前预测拟议设计的性能，而数学技能是做出准确预测的关键。因此，了解工程专业的学生在数学上准备进入他们的核心工程课程的程度是至关重要的努力，以改善工程教育。对现有研究的回顾表明，缺乏评估数学准备质量的工具。通过填补这一空白，该项目为工程课程中的工程和数学课程的更新提供了基础。