Collaboratively Developing Research-Based Curricular Materials to Improve Conceptual Understanding in Engineering Education

该项目通过太平洋西北地区不同学院和大学的20名教育研究人员和工程讲师的合作，促进了教育研究成果的传播，他们正在创造和实施新的方法来教授工程课程材料力学。具体来说，这个项目的重点是更深入地理解基本的工程概念，如应力、应变和平衡。合作者正在努力发现和改变学生的先入之见，这些先入之见可能是基于他们之前的课程和生活经验对材料性能的错误假设。这个项目解决了工程教师目前在课堂上遇到的一个现实问题。由于工程教育工作者从一开始就参与到项目中，他们更有可能继续使用他们开发的课程材料，并鼓励其他人使用它们。这种合作也确保了这些发现在被发现后很快在课堂上得到实施。更多的互动，以概念为导向的教室，如在这个项目中实施的，将改善学生的学习，提高学生对工程的兴趣和记忆力。

This project is boosting the dissemination of findings from education research through collaboration of 20 educational researchers and engineering instructors at different colleges and universities in the Pacific Northwest, who are creating and implementing new approaches to teaching the engineering course Mechanics of Materials. Specifically, this project is focusing on deeper understanding of fundamental engineering concepts such as stress, strain, and equilibrium. The collaborators are working to discover and change students' preconceptions, which may be incorrect assumptions of how materials behave, based on their prior coursework and life experience. This project is addressing a real problem that engineering instructors are currently experiencing in their classrooms. Since the engineering educators have been involved in the project from the beginning, they are more likely to continue to use the curriculum materials they develop, and to encourage others to use them. This collaboration is also ensuring that the findings are being implemented in classrooms soon after they are discovered. More interactive, conceptually oriented classrooms, such as those being implemented in this project, will improve student learning and increase student interest and retention in engineering.