Crossing the Threshold by Supporting Writing Transfer as Engaged Learning in Introductory Engineering Laboratories

这个在华盛顿州立大学温哥华进行的提高本科生STEM教育（IUSE）项目将有助于提高工科学生的写作能力。该项目将侧重于促进在第一年的英语写作课发展到工程课程的写作技巧转移。写作是工程师所需的一项关键技能，也是工业界经常提到的毕业生需要提高的一项能力。这个探索性的项目的目的是调查如何一种专注于写作迁移的方法来提高学生在技术课程中的写作能力。该项目将调查工程专业学生的写作实践，因为他们从第一年的组成（FYC）课程进入介绍工程实验室课程。该项目将采用一种强调体裁意识的写作方法，而不是传统的模式方法。 还将包括对教师和助教的培训，介绍修辞方法的写作和教学转移。 分析将包括定量和定性数据，以告知教学模块作为支持学生学习的有效干预措施的影响。关键问题包括识别的证据转移工程专业学生的修辞写作知识从第一年的组成到介绍工程实验室课程;以及如何转移机制的知识可以告知教学方法和策略，以提高写作。该项目是基于初步的结果表明，相当比例的工程专业的学生没有提高任何修辞方面（发明，修辞意识，安排和风格），除了公约，这是更相关的学科知识，而不是修辞知识。 这表明，熟悉修辞特点的体裁可能比传统的案例研究方法更有效，经常采用工程写作教学。 鉴于一年级英语作文课的普遍存在，这项工作的结果有可能广泛适用于本科STEM教育。

This Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project conducted at Washington State University Vancouver will help to improve the writing ability of engineering students. The project will focus on facilitating transfer of writing skills developed in first-year English composition classes into engineering courses. Writing is a critical skill needed by engineers and an ability frequently cited by industry as area in which graduates need improvement. The goal of this exploratory project is to investigate how an approach focusing on writing transfer enhances students' writing in technical courses. The project will investigate the writing practices of engineering students as they move from first-year composition (FYC) courses into introductory engineering laboratory courses. The project will utilize a writing approach that emphasizes genre awareness rather than a traditional modes approach. Also included will be training for faculty and teaching assistants that introduces rhetorical approaches to writing and teaching for transfer. Analysis will include quantitative and qualitative data to inform the impact of the instructional modules as an effective intervention to support student learning. Key questions include identification of evidence of transfer of engineering students' rhetorical writing knowledge from first year composition into introductory engineering laboratory courses; and how knowledge of transfer mechanisms can inform pedagogical approaches and strategies to improve writing. The project is based on preliminary results which indicate a substantial percentage of engineering students do not improve in any rhetorical aspects (invention, rhetoric awareness, arrangement, and style) except convention, which is more related to disciplinary knowledge rather than rhetorical knowledge. This suggests that familiarity with the rhetorical characteristics of genre may be more productive than the traditional case study approach often employed in engineering writing instruction. Given the ubiquity of first-year English composition classes, the results of this work have the potential to be broadly applicable across undergraduate STEM education.