Engineering Students' Attitudes and Threshold Concepts Towards Sustainability and Engineering as Environmental Career

该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。普渡大学工程教育研究奖将研究一年级和二年级工程学学生对环境可持续性和工程学之间关系的态度和门槛概念。这项研究采用了一种创新的研究设计，因为研究人员通过让学生以参与式模式共同设计一款教育游戏来调查学生的观念和态度(以及两者的变化)。该项目的成果，包括“严肃游戏”或学习游戏以及学术出版物，将通过研究会议和出版物以及互联网门户网站广泛传播。其目标是通过开发工具来加强对环境可持续性的理解，为学生的工程实践做好更好的准备。这些技术预计将提高学生对工程学的兴趣，并将增加完成工程学学位并准备填补工程工作岗位的人数。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)This engineering education research award to Purdue University will study the attitudes and threshold concepts of first and second year engineering students towards the relationship between environmental sustainability and engineering. The study employs an innovative research design because the researchers investigate students' conceptions and attitudes (and change of both) by asking students to co-design an educational game in a participatory mode. The results of the project, including a "serious game" or game for learning as well as scholarly publications will be broadly disseminated through research conferences and publications as well as through internet portals. The goal is to better prepare students for the practice of engineering through developing tools to enhance understanding of environmental sustainability. These techniques are expected to increase students' interest in engineering and will enhance the number who complete engineering degrees and are ready to fill engineering jobs.