Collaborative Research: Liberal Studies in Engineering - Broadening the Path to the Profession: Feasibility Study

这一改善本科STEM教育(IUSE)的项目将为建立一个名为工程通识教育的本科、预科、文学士学位课程建立一个框架。该项目旨在建立一条进入工程学的替代途径，并吸引与现有方法不同的学生群体的兴趣。该计划将利用传统本科工程课程的实质性内容--工程科学、实验室活动和设计项目--并从人文、艺术、社会科学和工程学的角度进行研究。传统上，工科教育强调初学者的数学和科学必修科目，并在课程中较晚的时候解决更广泛的社会、经济、文化和伦理方面的问题，而且往往是间接的。计划中的工程学学位通识课程设想逆转这一过程，为学生提供一种从人文、艺术和社会的角度来学习这门学科的方法。预计工程学通识教育方法将吸引一部分本科生的兴趣，这些本科生认为他们的目标和关切没有体现在该学科目前的数学优先的先决条件结构中。此外，对背景的关注和对分析思维、多重框架、批判性反思和实践推理的重视，这些都是文科学习的关键方面，可能会更好地让学生为当前和未来的工程实践现实做好准备。这个项目代表了工程学通识教育学位发展的一个初步阶段。将进行一项可行性研究，以确定必须到位的体制政策和程序，所需的资源，以及学生应具备的工程通识教育学位课程的先决条件。作为这项工作的一部分，将努力促进和支持项目参与者开发学习单元，从人文科学和社会科学的角度说明示范工程内容的教学方法。将为模块开发提供同行审查和技术支持。这项研究将包括选定机构的教职员工和管理人员的意见，以获得不同和广泛的观点。这项研究代表着一个多阶段过程的开始，该过程旨在探索和发展一个潜在的变革性步骤，通过提供一条进入该学科的途径和一条与传统途径明显不同但仍包含可比内容的途径，扩大对工程学的参与。

This Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project will develop a framework for establishing an undergraduate, pre-professional, Bachelor of Arts degree program called Liberal Studies in Engineering. This program intends to establish an alternative pathway into engineering and attract the interest of a different group of students than existing approaches. The program will utilize the substantive content of the traditional undergraduate engineering program - the engineering sciences, the laboratory activities, and design projects - and subject this to study from the perspectives of the humanities, arts, and social sciences as well as engineering. Traditionally engineering education emphasizes mathematics and science prerequisite topics for beginning students and addresses the broader social, economic, cultural and ethical aspects much later in the curriculum and often in an indirect manner. The planned liberal studies in engineering degree envisions reversing the process, offering students an approach to the discipline from a humanistic, artistic, and social perspective. It is expected that the Liberal Studies in Engineering approach will attract the interest of a segment of undergraduates that do not find their goals and concerns represented in the current mathematics-first prerequisite structure of the discipline. Additionally the attention to context and emphasis on analytical thinking, multiple framing, critical reflection and practical reasoning, key dimensions of learning in the liberal arts, may better prepare students for the realities of current and future engineering practice. This project represents an initial phase in the development of a Liberal Studies in Engineering degree. A feasibility study will be carried out to identify the institutional policies and procedures that must be in place, the resources needed, and prerequisites students should have for a Liberal Studies in Engineering degree program. As part of this, efforts will be made to promote and support the development by project participants of leaning units that illustrate the approach of teaching exemplary engineering content from the perspective of the humanities and social sciences. Peer review, and technical support will be made available for module development. The study will include input from faculty and administrators at selected institutions to obtain diverse and broad-based perspectives. This study represents the beginning of a multi-phase process to explore and develop a potentially transformative step in broadening participation in engineering by offering a pathway into the discipline and a route to a degree that is markedly different from the traditional path but still encompasses comparable content.