A Longitudinal Study of the Dimensions of Disciplinary Culture to Enhance Innovation and Retention among Engineering Students

加强工科学生创新力和保留力的纪律文化维度的纵向研究

• 批准号: 1329224
• 负责人: Thomas Martin
• 金额: $ 43.56万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1329224&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Longitudinal; Study; Dimensions; Disciplinary; Culture

This grant studies differences in disciplinary culture between undergraduates in engineering and in other disciplines to better understand the relationship between disciplinary cultural identity and academic outcomes of engineering students. The goal of the study is to identify aspects of disciplinary culture that are major factors in addressing issues that a critical for engineering education in the future, such as innovation, creativity, and diversity. The grant applies Hofstede?s dimensions of culture (power distance, collectivism/individualism, femininity/masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance) to explain how students develop skills to operate within a discipline and across disciplines. Furthermore, the grant explores the relationship between disciplinary culture and student recruitment and retention in engineering programs, particularly with respect to underrepresented groups. The investigators? prior work with interdisciplinary design teams indicates that the dimension of uncertainty avoidance is especially critical: the ability to tolerate and even embrace uncertainty supports innovative interdisciplinary design practice. In addition, while many engineering students may be less likely to tolerate uncertainty, those engineers who do embrace uncertainty may find themselves alienated from engineering curricula. This pattern, in turn, may impact diversity in engineering student populations.Consequently, the grant addresses five research questions: 1) How do Hofstede?s dimensions of culture map to academic disciplines? 2) What are the relationships between the dimensions of culture and (a) student choice of major and (b) student success with a major? 3) How do students change over time in their academic programs with respect to the dimensions of culture? 4) What factors affect those changes, e.g., curriculum, instructors? 5) Do the relationships in above show any variation by demographic indicators, e.g., race or gender? To investigate these questions, the grant includes a multi-university study that examines the dimensions of culture across the university, and then follows the development of students within engineering. The intellectual merit of the grant includes developing an actionable theory of disciplinary culture that can support pedagogies of inclusive and collaborative innovation. Despite widespread agreement that engineers for the 21st century must be more creative and innovative, there has been little progress in developing engineering pedagogies that support those goals. The results of the grant can be used by engineering programs to better design curricula that support innovation and creativity. The broader impacts include having a better understanding of the role of disciplinary culture in recruiting and retaining students, particularly with respect to groups that are currently underrepresented in engineering. This grant informs the debate about the role of engineering design in training U.S. engineers to meet the technical challenges of the 21st century.

本研究旨在研究工科本科生与其他学科本科生之间的学科文化差异，以更好地了解工科学生的学科文化认同与学术成果之间的关系。本研究的目标是确定学科文化的各个方面，这些方面是解决未来工程教育关键问题的主要因素，如创新，创造力和多样性。 拨款适用于霍夫施泰德？的文化维度（权力距离，集体主义/个人主义，女性气质/男性气质和不确定性规避），以解释学生如何发展技能，在一个学科和跨学科的操作。此外，该补助金还探讨了学科文化与工程项目学生招聘和保留之间的关系，特别是对于代表性不足的群体。调查员？与跨学科设计团队的先前工作表明，避免不确定性的维度尤其重要：容忍甚至拥抱不确定性的能力支持创新的跨学科设计实践。此外，虽然许多工程专业的学生可能不太可能容忍不确定性，但那些接受不确定性的工程师可能会发现自己与工程课程疏远。这种模式，反过来，可能会影响工程学生群体的多样性。因此，赠款解决了五个研究问题：1）如何霍夫施泰德？文化的维度映射到学科？2)文化维度与（a）学生专业选择和（B）学生专业成功之间的关系是什么？3)学生如何随着时间的推移在他们的学术课程方面的文化维度的变化？4)哪些因素影响这些变化，例如，课程，教师？5)上述关系是否显示出人口统计指标的任何变化，例如，种族或性别？为了调查这些问题，该补助金包括一项多大学研究，该研究考察了整个大学的文化维度，然后跟踪学生在工程领域的发展。 该补助金的智力价值包括开发一种可操作的学科文化理论，可以支持包容性和协作创新的学科。尽管人们普遍认为21世纪的工程师必须更具创造性和创新性，但在开发支持这些目标的工程学方面却进展甚微。赠款的结果可用于工程项目，以更好地设计支持创新和创造力的课程。更广泛的影响包括更好地理解学科文化在招聘和留住学生方面的作用，特别是对于目前在工程领域代表性不足的群体。该补助金通知有关工程设计在培训美国工程师以应对21世纪世纪技术挑战中的作用的辩论。