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

本资助项目旨在研究工程专业本科生与其他专业本科生之间的学科文化差异，以更好地了解工程专业学生的学科文化认同与学业成果之间的关系。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。这项资助适用于Hofstede？5个文化维度（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）来解释学生如何培养在一个学科内和跨学科操作的技能。此外，该资助还探讨了学科文化与工程专业学生招聘和保留之间的关系，特别是在代表性不足的群体方面。调查人员吗?先前跨学科设计团队的工作表明，不确定性规避的维度尤其重要：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了。这种模式反过来又可能影响工程专业学生群体的多样性。因此，该资助解决了五个研究问题：1)Hofstede如何？文化的维度映射到学科？2)文化维度与(a)学生对专业的选择和(b)学生在专业上的成功之间有什么关系？3)随着时间的推移，学生在学术课程中的文化维度是如何变化的？4)哪些因素会影响这些变化，例如课程、教师？5)上述关系是否因人口统计指标（如种族或性别）而有所差异？为了调查这些问题，该资助包括一项多所大学的研究，该研究考察了整个大学的文化维度，然后跟踪了工程专业学生的发展。该资助的智力价值包括发展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教学法。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教学方法方面进展甚微。这项拨款的结果可以被工程项目用来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收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。这项拨款为工程设计在培训美国工程师以应对21世纪技术挑战中的作用的辩论提供了信息。

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.