The Empathy Project: An Interdisciplinary Research Effort to Develop a Transferable Theory of Empathy in Engineering

同理心项目：一项跨学科研究工作，旨在发展工程中可转移的同理心理论

• 批准号: 1463829
• 负责人: Joachim Walther
• 金额: $ 33.97万
• 依托单位: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1463829&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Empathy; Project; Interdisciplinary; Research; Effort

The field of engineering will play a key role in addressing the complex, societal challenges of the 21st century that are characterized by technical aspects interwoven with social dimensions. In order for the profession to fully assume this expanding responsibility, universities and engineering educators are working towards transforming engineering programs so that they prepare students to effectively engage in these broad, multi-disciplinary challenges. This project contributes a crucial component to the social aspects of these qualifications through a focus on empathy that will allow future engineers to meaningfully consider social facets of engineering work, engage with a broad range of stakeholders, and understand the perspectives and needs of members of society. In this interdisciplinary educational research project, engineering education researchers are collaborating with social work education researchers. The field of social work contributes a longstanding history of purposefully developing empathy as part of students' professional formation. The outcomes of this project will provide the evidence-base necessary to inform future efforts to broadly infuse empathy into engineering education. Responding to a growing recognition of the socially situated nature of 21st century engineering challenges, scholars have begun to explore the role of empathy in preparing future engineers. However, the impact of these efforts is impeded by a lack of conceptual clarity and a dearth of evidence-based theory regarding the role of empathy in engineering. This project develops a transferable theory of empathy in engineering learning and professional formation. The inquiry leverages an interdisciplinary initiative that fosters an empathic orientation and skills in students as a window through which to investigate their broader experiences of empathy in engineering education contexts. The research builds on a prior pilot study and entails the collection of data in environmental and mechanical engineering design courses through classroom observations, focus groups, written reflections, and project artifacts. Narrative interviews are conducted to further explore students' accounts as situated in their broader educational or life experiences. Data is analyzed using two complementary interpretive lenses. First, a constructivist grounded theory approach is used to develop a model of empathy formation in terms of its role in students' overall educational experience and resultant impacts on their professional way of being. Second, a narrative analysis is used to contextualize these findings in students' diverse lived experiences through the use of constructed narratives. In the long term, this project will enable the systemic, evidence-based integration of empathy into engineering programs - making the field accessible to a more diverse range of students and providing a more meaningful educational experience.

工程领域将在解决 21 世纪复杂的社会挑战方面发挥关键作用，这些挑战的特点是技术方面与社会层面交织在一起。为了让该行业充分承担起这一不断扩大的责任，大学和工程教育工作者正在努力改变工程课程，以便让学生做好准备，有效地应对这些广泛的、多学科的挑战。该项目通过关注同理心，为这些资格的社会方面做出了重要贡献，这将使未来的工程师能够有意义地考虑工程工作的社会方面，与广泛的利益相关者互动，并了解社会成员的观点和需求。在这个跨学科教育研究项目中，工程教育研究人员正在与社会工作教育研究人员合作。社会工作领域在有目的地培养同理心作为学生专业形成的一部分方面有着悠久的历史。 该项目的成果将为未来将同理心广泛融入工程教育的努力提供必要的证据基础。为了响应人们对 21 世纪工程挑战的社会情境性质的日益认识，学者们开始探索同理心在培养未来工程师方面的作用。然而，由于缺乏概念清晰度和缺乏关于同理心在工程中的作用的循证理论，这些努力的影响受到阻碍。该项目开发了工程学习和专业形成中可转移的同理心理论。该调查利用了一项跨学科举措，培养学生的同理心取向和技能，作为调查他们在工程教育背景下更广泛的同理心经验的窗口。该研究建立在先前的试点研究的基础上，需要通过课堂观察、焦点小组、书面反思和项目工件来收集环境和机械工程设计课程的数据。进行叙述性访谈是为了进一步探索学生在更广泛的教育或生活经历中的叙述。使用两个互补的解释镜头来分析数据。首先，使用建构主义扎根理论方法来开发同理心形成模型，了解同理心形成在学生整体教育经历中的作用以及对其职业生活方式的影响。 其次，叙述分析用于通过使用构建的叙述将这些发现融入学生多样化的生活经历中。从长远来看，该项目将使同理心能够系统地、基于证据地融入工程项目中，从而使更多样化的学生能够接触到该领域，并提供更有意义的教育体验。