CAREER: Exploring the Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Project-Based Learning Among Engineering Students

该奖项由2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(Public Law 111-5)资助。这个授予富兰克林·W·奥林工程学院的工程教育研究生涯奖将确定基于项目的学习课程在提高所有工程学学生的自我效能方面的影响，而不考虑背景和准备情况。低自我效能感通常与学生决定离开工程项目有关，更好地了解基于项目的团队导向学习组件的实施对学生的不同影响可以提高工程教育的质量以及留存和多样性。本研究将调查目前实施的这些课程中的活动是否能提高所有学生的自我效能感。项目团队中的个别学生将在不同的任务上花费时间，并可能选择不提供掌握体验的任务。一年级学生的自我效能感将根据在不同团队项目任务上花费的时间量来衡量。该项目将包括来自一所小型私立本科工程学院、一所中等规模的私立研究型大学和一所大型公立大学的学生，其中大部分是女性和代表性不足的少数族裔学生。作为这项研究的结果，将制定干预措施，以确保所有学生都参与被确定为最有可能提高自我效能的活动。这项研究可能会对理解工科学生基于性别的自信差异具有变革性意义，其结果将对所有学生都有价值。这项研究的结果将被广泛传播，并将为工程学教师举办研讨会。这项研究将对改善所有学科的工程教育和留住学生产生深远影响，并将增加完成工程学位并准备好填补工程工作岗位的学生数量。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)This engineering education research CAREER award to Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering will determine the impact of first year project-based learning courses on increasing self-efficacy in all engineering students, regardless of background and preparation. Low self-efficacy is often associated with student decisions to leave engineering programs, and better understanding differential impacts on students of implementations of project-based team-oriented learning components can improve the quality of engineering education as well as retention and diversity. This research will investigate whether the activities in these courses, as currently implemented, increase self-efficacy for all students. Individual students in a project team will spend time on different tasks and may select tasks which do not provide mastery experiences. Self-efficacy of first year students will be measured in relation to the amount of time spent on different team project tasks. The project will include students from a small private undergraduate engineering college, a medium sized private research university, and a large public university, with significant participation of women and underrepresented minority students. As a result of this research, interventions will be developed to ensure that all students engage in activities which have been identified as most likely to improve self-efficacy. This research may be transformative in understanding gender based self-confidence differences in engineering, and the results will be valuable for all students. Results of this research will be widely disseminated and workshops will be held for engineering faculty. This research will have profound impact on improving engineering education and retention in all disciplines, and will enhance the number of students who complete engineering degrees and are ready to fill engineering jobs.