Understanding the Formation of Sociotechnical Thinking in Engineering Education

将社会和技术元素整合到统一的社会技术思维方式中的能力是专业工程师的一项重要技能，因为工程是在涉及人的环境中进行的。不幸的是，工科学生在许多工程学院和大学遇到的课程并没有提供足够的社会技术思维方面的教育。在这个项目中，研究小组在先前研究的基础上，将社会技术教育扩展到两所大学的额外教室，以更好地了解学生如何学习社会技术思维。这两门新课程的结果将与最初的研究项目的结果进行比较，以更好地了解这种教育实践在这一更广泛的背景下的障碍和机会。项目的三个主要目标是：1)增加对学生发展其社会技术工程能力的过程的理解；2)促进对社会技术思维如何影响工程思维习惯的理解，包括具体的工程价值观、态度和技能；以及3)增加对社会技术整合方法在课程和机构之间的可转移性的理解。主要贡献包括对学生学会从社会角度思考的过程产生新的理解，以及评估从一门课程和讲师到另外两门课程的教学要素和结果的可转移性。据估计，未来三年将有1000名学生受益于新技能，本科生研究助理将进一步学习如何进行工程教育研究。这项研究建立在早先的一项资助的基础上，旨在调查学生在机械和电气工程课程中获得社会技术思维的过程，以及社会技术整合对他们的工程思维习惯的影响。数据将从三年的评估前和评估后、作业、焦点小组和教师反思日志中收集和分析。这项研究的智力价值集中在对过程的新理解上，通过这种理解，学生形成社会技术工程态度和技能，通过结合定量和定性方法使用三角测量来提高有效性。与以前的研究相比，评估可转移到不同班级和大学的计划是一项重大的新贡献。在更广泛的影响方面，通过更好地了解大约1000名学生在三年内如何形成、挣扎和受益于社会技术思维，研究可以确定不同的学生获得与专业实践相一致的社会技术工程属性的方法。这项研究还将确定具体的可转移性机制，以指导工程教育中的社会技术学习。多元化的研究团队将相互学习，提高对学生如何发展社会技术思维的集体理解。长期的影响是在工程科学核心课程中激发更广泛的社会技术工程创新，从而打破在工程教育中优先考虑以技术为中心的思维的人为鸿沟。

The ability to integrate social and technical elements into a unified sociotechnical way of thinking is an important skill for professional engineers since engineering takes place in settings that involve people. Unfortunately, the curricula that engineering students encounter at many engineering colleges and universities do not provide sufficient education in the area of sociotechnical thinking. In this project, the research team builds on prior research to extend sociotechnical education into additional classrooms at two universities to better understand how students learn to think sociotechnically. The results from the two new courses, one each in electrical and mechanical engineering, will be compared to those from the original research project to better understand barriers and opportunities for such educational practices in this broader context. The three primary project goals are: 1) to increase understanding of the processes by which students develop their abilities to engineer sociotechnically; 2) to advance understanding of how sociotechnical thinking impacts engineering habits of mind, including specific engineering values, attitudes, and skills; and 3) to increase understanding of the transferability of sociotechnical integration methods between courses and institutions. Key contributions include the creation of new understandings of the process by which students learn to think sociotechnically and assessment of the transferability of teaching elements and results from one course and instructor to two others. An estimated 1000 students over three years will benefit from new skills, and undergraduate research assistants will further learn how to conduct engineering education research. This research builds upon an earlier grant to examine the processes by which students acquire sociotechnical thinking in mechanical and electrical engineering courses and the impacts of sociotechnical integration on their engineering habits of mind. Data will be collected and analyzed from pre- and post-assessments, assignments, focus groups, and faculty reflection logs over the course of three years. The intellectual merit of the research centers on the creation of new understandings of processes by which students form sociotechnical engineering attitudes and skills, using triangulation via a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to increase validity. The plan to assess transferability to different classes and universities represents a significant new contribution compared to prior research. In terms of broader impacts, by better understanding how approximately 1000 students over three years form, struggle with, and benefit from sociotechnical thinking, the research can identify the means by which diverse students acquire sociotechnical engineering attributes that align with professional practice. The research will also identify specific mechanisms of transferability to guide sociotechnical learning across engineering education. The diverse research team will learn from each other, improving collective understanding of how students develop sociotechnical thinking. A long-term impact is to inspire broader innovations in sociotechnical engineering within engineering science core courses and thereby to disrupt the artificial divide that prioritizes techno-centric thinking within engineering education.