Measuring the Effects of Precollege Engineering on the Experience of Engineering Students

这一工程教育研究项目旨在探索大学预科工程课程如何影响那些进入本科工程学位课程的学生。该项目将使用定性和定量两种方法，定性部分的结果将用于开发调查工具。这个工具可以用来了解这些项目在全国范围内产生的影响。这个项目更广泛的意义和重要性将帮助工程管理人员、本科生和大学预科课程的教师和设计师适应学生不断变化的需求和能力。研究参与者的人口统计数据将显示，谁可以参加或正在利用大学预科工程课程，以及大学预科工程课程的影响是否在不同的人口群体中有所不同。该项目与NSF的战略目标相重叠，即通过投资于新兴的工程新领域或转移现有领域来改造边界。此外，NSF为社会创新的目标是通过创造对社会有用的结果和研究来实现的，这些成果和研究通过为教育政策和实践提供信息来实现。

This engineering education research project seeks to explore how pre-college engineering programs affect those students who enroll into undergraduate engineering degree programs. The project will use both qualitative and quantitative methods, with the results from the qualitative component used to develop a survey instrument. This instrument then can be used to understand the impact such programs have at a national scale.The broader significance and importance of this project will help engineering administrators, instructors and designers of undergraduate and pre-college curricula adapt to students' changing needs and abilities. Examining the demographics of the participants will demonstrate who has access to or is taking advantage of pre-college engineering programs, and if the effects of pre-college engineering vary across different demographic groups. This project overlaps with NSF's strategic goals of transforming the frontiers by making investments that lead to emerging new fields of engineering, or shifting existing fields. Additionally NSF's goal of innovating for society is enabled by creating results and research that are useful for society by informing educational policy and practices.