Understanding the intersection of student motivation and approaches to learning in an engineering Problem Solving Studio

工程师的价值在于他们解决问题的方式，其中遵循使用简化，理想化，图表和数学模型以及定量分析的策略。学生们发现这种策略很难学。这个项目将调查一个创新的学习环境，称为问题解决工作室（PSS），以前的试点研究建议帮助学生学习工程思维方式。本项目将建立在这些试点研究，以回答以下问题：1）PSS如何影响学生采取的学习方法，相比更传统的讲座为基础的课程？2)PSS如何影响学生的授权感？和3）学生的学习方法、他们的赋权感和他们的学习之间有什么关系？该项目将确定创建有效翻转教室所需的关键原则和设计标准，这是一种以学生为中心的新教学方法，在工程部门迅速流行。该项目的成果将提高对如何有效教授入门级工程课程的理解，并将阐明为什么大多数但不是所有学生都能在翻转的课堂学习环境中茁壮成长。该项目有可能改变工程学院如何配置他们的网关课程，以提高学生的积极性，更有效的学习方法，最重要的是，在学生如何学习像工程师一样思考方面有更大的收获。该项目有望为教师提供一个成功翻转课堂的路线图，从而增加从事这种有效教学法的STEM教师的数量。

Engineers are valued for the way they solve problems where a strategy is followed that uses simplified, idealized, diagrammatic and mathematical models, and quantitative analyses. Students find this strategy very difficult to learn. This project will investigate an innovative learning environment, called the problem solving studio (PSS), that previous pilot studies have suggested help students learn engineering ways of thinking. This project will build on these pilot studies to answer the following questions: 1) How does PSS affect the approaches students take to learning, as compared to more traditional lecture-based courses? 2) How does PSS affect students' sense of empowerment? and 3) What are the relationships among students' approaches to learning, their sense of empowerment, and their learning? The project will identify the key principles and design criteria that are needed to create an effective flipped classroom, which is a new student-centered approach to instruction that is rapidly gaining popularity in engineering departments. Outcomes from this project will improve understanding of how to effectively teach entry-level engineering courses, and will shed light on why most, but not all, students thrive in flipped classroom learning environments. The project has the potential to transform how engineering faculty configure their gateway courses for greater student motivation, more effective approaches to learning, and most importantly, greater gains in how well students learn to think like engineers. The project holds promise for providing instructors a road map to success for flipping their classrooms, thus increasing the number of STEM faculty who are engaged in this effective pedagogy.