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Research Initiation: Why do students decide to get involved in co-curricular engineering projects?

研究启动：为什么学生决定参与课外工程项目？

基本信息

批准号：
1738154
负责人：
Chance Hoellwarth
金额：
$ 18.81万
依托单位：
California Polytechnic State University Foundation
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-08-15 至 2020-10-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1738154&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Research Initiation Why do students

项目摘要

Co-curricular team projects in engineering - such as design projects, experimental assignments, or national project-based competitions or challenges - can be key experiences for students in forming personal and professional skills and traits. They may also play a strong role in retention and degree completion among underrepresented student groups (for instance women, minorities, those with disabilities). While the benefits of participation are relatively well established, the reasons why students choose to participate or not in the first place are very poorly understood, as they may span a wide spectrum and may not involve fully informed or rational foundations for decision-making. Failure to understand student choices limits our ability to address barriers to participation, and to structure campus programs and their funding to achieve outcomes that include improved diversity and a higher quality of technical and interpersonal learning in project teams. This research involves generating significant new insight into why students choose to participate in co-curricular engineering projects, through use of a mixture of surveys and more detailed interviews with students in different types of universities. The research is designed to yield insight into whether influential decision-making factors and attitudes are consistent across demographic groups or if there are unique gender, ethnicity, social, or socio-economic -related responses that may in turn influence the makeup of co-curricular student project teams. The results will improve the understanding of student motivations and perceptions, including to what extent students consciously evaluate potential trade-offs and consequences of making one choice over another. The survey of students, complemented by interviews for richer depth, uses a Q-Methodology and phenomenological interpretation of student motivations and perceptions when choosing to join (or leave) such projects. The research applies well-established social science approaches to investigate a highly under-studied area in engineering formation. Recent survey tools - developed with NSF funding - designed to explore student co- and extra-curricular engagement are being adopted for the Q Methodology. The Theory of Planned Behavior is being applied to analyze and contextualize the student responses and link them to key underlying attitudes, factors, and processes that influence student participation in co-curricular engineering projects. It is anticipated that predictions of future student involvement can be made based on characteristic responses that will emerge. Students who chose to participate, students who participated and left, and students who never decided to participate in co-curricular projects will be sampled. The project brings together a team with extensive experience in the co-curricular engineering project arena, including engagement on issues of underrepresentation, self-efficacy, and professional formation. Both undergraduate and graduate students, including those from engineering and teaching, are receiving valuable research training in engineering education as part of this research. It is anticipated that the outcomes could help guide campus culture, structure, and funding decisions to enhance the number and diversity of students gaining valuable co-curricular project experience before entering the STEM workforce.

在工程的课外团队项目-如设计项目，实验作业，或基于项目的全国比赛或挑战-可以为学生在形成个人和专业技能和特质的关键经验。他们也可以发挥强大的作用，在保留和学位完成人数不足的学生群体（如妇女，少数民族，残疾人）。虽然参与的好处已相对明确，但人们对学生选择参与或不参与的原因却知之甚少，因为这些原因可能涉及面很广，可能没有充分知情或理性的决策基础。不了解学生的选择限制了我们解决参与障碍的能力，并构建校园计划及其资金，以实现包括改善多样性和更高质量的项目团队技术和人际学习的成果。这项研究涉及到产生显着的新见解，为什么学生选择参加课外工程项目，通过使用的混合调查和更详细的采访，在不同类型的大学的学生。该研究旨在深入了解有影响力的决策因素和态度是否在人口统计学群体中是一致的，或者是否有独特的性别，种族，社会或社会经济相关的反应，这些反应可能反过来影响课外学生项目团队的组成。结果将提高学生的动机和看法的理解，包括在多大程度上学生有意识地评估潜在的权衡和作出一个选择的后果。对学生的调查，辅以更深入的访谈，使用Q方法和现象学解释学生的动机和看法时，选择加入（或离开）这样的项目。本研究应用成熟的社会科学方法来研究工程形成中一个高度欠研究的领域。最近的调查工具-与NSF的资金开发-旨在探索学生的合作和课外参与正在通过的Q方法。计划行为理论被应用于分析和情境化学生的反应，并将其与影响学生参与课外工程项目的关键基本态度，因素和过程联系起来。预计未来的学生参与的预测可以根据将出现的特征响应。选择参加的学生，参加并离开的学生，以及从未决定参加课外项目的学生将被抽样。该项目汇集了一个团队，在课外工程项目竞技场，包括参与代表性不足，自我效能和专业形成的问题上具有丰富的经验。本科生和研究生，包括那些从工程和教学，正在接受宝贵的研究培训工程教育作为这项研究的一部分。预计这些成果可以帮助指导校园文化，结构和资金决策，以提高学生的数量和多样性，在进入STEM劳动力之前获得宝贵的课外项目经验。