What is Engineering Knowledge: A Longitudinal Study of Conceptual Change and Epistemology of Engineering Students and Practitioners

这个工程教育研究项目的目标是了解年轻的本科生和早期职业实践工程师之间的概念和认识论的差异，并了解导致这些差异的过程。过去的研究表明，工程、科学和数学专业的学生不理解其学科的基本概念，但研究人员并不完全理解早期职业实践工程师使用的概念和认识论框架。 由于本科工程教育的目标之一是培养学生实践工程，因此必须了解实践工程师如何知道和知道什么。 该项目侧重于土木工程的特定背景，将模拟学生和职业早期工程师认识论的发展以及对土木设计概念的概念理解，并确定挑战职业早期工程师的关键概念和认识论变化。 为了了解学生在成为实践工程师时的认知变化，本研究项目基于两个外部基础研究来源：（1）关于概念变化的理论认知研究，为概念理解的价值提供了广泛的证据，并为研究工程思维和认知提供了方法论基础。(2)认识论研究提供了明确的证据，证明了认识论对多样性，保留和学习的重要性，并为理解工程师如何使用不同于其他学科的知识提供了框架。这个项目的更广泛的影响可以直接通知工程教学和学习提供路线图，代表如何概念变化和认识论不同性别和种族背景。 这些知识可以帮助理解，从而提高记忆力。为了最大限度地发挥这项研究的影响，该项目的结果将与工程教育工作者分享。

The goal of this engineering education research project is to understand the conceptual and epistemological differences between young undergraduates and early-career practicing engineers and to understand the processes that result in these differences. Past research has shown that engineering, science, and mathematics students do not understand concepts fundamental to their discipline, but researchers do not fully understand the conceptual and epistemological frameworks used by early-career practicing engineers. Since one of the objectives of undergraduate engineering education is to prepare students to practice engineering, it is essential to understand how and what practicing engineers know. This project, focused on the specific context of civil engineering, will model the development of student and early-career engineer epistemology and conceptual understanding of civil design concepts, and identify key conceptual and epistemological changes that challenge early-career engineers. To understand how students' knowing changes as they become practicing engineers this research project is based on two external sources of foundational research: (1) Theoretical cognitive research on conceptual change that provides extensive evidence of the value of conceptual understanding and a methodological basis for researching engineering thinking and knowing. (2) Epistemology research that provides clear evidence of the importance of epistemology to diversity, retention and learning and a framework for understanding how engineers use knowledge differently than other disciplines. The broader impacts of this project can directly inform engineering teaching and learning by providing roadmaps representing how conceptual change and epistemology vary across gender and ethnic backgrounds. This knowledge can help understand, and thus improve retention. To maximize the impact of this research, the results of this project will be shared with engineering educators.