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，他们遵循使用简化、理想化、图解和数学模型以及定量分析的策略。学生们发现这个策略很难学。该项目将研究一种创新的学习环境，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。本项目将以这些试点研究为基础，回答以下问题：1)与更传统的以讲座为基础的课程相比，PSS如何影响学生的学习方法？2) PSS如何影响学生的赋权感？3)学生的学习方法、自主意识和学习之间的关系是什么？该项目将确定创建有效的翻转课堂所需的关键原则和设计标准，翻转课堂是一种以学生为中心的新教学方法，在工程部门迅速流行起来。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（但不是全部）学生在翻转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入门课程，以提高学生的积极性，更有效的学习方法，最重要的是，在学生如何学会像工程师一样思考方面获得更大的收益。该项目有望为教师提供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.