CAREER: Framing and Reframing Agency in Making and Engineering (FRAME)

工程学课堂上的一个长期存在的问题是，学生看不到他们所学知识的价值，也不知道在面对现实世界的开放式设计问题时如何指导自己的学习。这个问题源于学生过去主要解决只有一个正确答案的问题的经验。学生很少有这样的机会的一个原因是，教师缺乏必要的教学工具，以切实支持学生承担开放式设计问题的所有权。制造与工程中的框架与重构代理（FRAME）项目调查了培养学生“框架代理”所需的一系列教学工具——定义为拥有并利用机会对设计问题做出相应的决定，以及继续学习和开发解决方案的方法。教师们有时不确定为什么有些活动支持学生掌握核心概念，而其他活动却没有。框架代理的构建将有助于澄清表面上看似相似的学习经历之间的关键差异。一系列教学工具——在一所为西班牙裔服务的机构的工程设置中开发、测试和完善——将帮助教师有效地支持学生掌握自己的学习。此外，FRAME项目位于一个少数民族占多数的国家，拥有丰富的文化。新墨西哥大学最近的研究揭示了这些学生带来的工程资产；FRAME项目将为教师利用这些资产提供新的支持。这些发现对指导其他未来人口结构预计与新墨西哥州相似的州具有重要意义。来自多个领域的研究表明，框架问题可以解释诸如学习和解决方案的创造力等结果，但这方面的实证支持仍然薄弱。FRAME项目填补了这一空白，提供了新的理论、经验支持、有效的测量工具和基于研究的教学工具。研究问题指导这项工作：(1)学生如何以及何时做出对他们的设计和学习有影响的决定？(2)哪些资源支持学生构建问题？(3)框架作用在多大程度上解释了关键结果的差异，如坚持工程的意图、专业工程身份发展、相关学习和创新设计？FRAME项目的第一阶段通过定性分析，对比了参与设计活动的学生表现出和不表现出框架行为的多个情境案例，明确了“框架行为”是一种建构。分析的重点是语言的使用和互动。第二阶段通过对学生设计师的采访来了解他们对框架机构的看法，以此为基础。这一分析为一项测量框架代理的调查的发展和验证提供了依据。第三阶段建立框架代理的理论，使用有效的调查来检验框架代理预测关键结果的假设：专业工程身份发展，坚持工程的意图和创新设计。阶段4和阶段5通过使用基于设计的研究将研究和教育目标整合起来，目标是共同发展框架机构如何支持关键成果的发展和开发教学工具的理论。这一阶段是由一个研究问题引导的：一系列教学工具——包括将学生明确定位为设计师，帮助学生理解和产生关于问题的新想法的“错误理论协议”，以及设计猜想/反射图，支持学生追踪他们对与问题相关的决策的理解随着时间的推移的发展——如何支持框架代理的发展，进而支持关键结果？

A persistent problem in engineering classrooms is that students don't see value in what they are learning and don't know how to direct their own learning when faced with real-world open-ended design problems. This problem stems from students' past experiences of predominantly solving problems that have a single correct answer. One reason students have few such opportunities is that faculty lack the constellation of instructional tools needed to feasibly support students to take ownership of open-ended design problems. The Framing and Reframing Agency in Making and Engineering (FRAME) project investigates the constellation of instructional tools needed to develop students' "framing agency" -- defined as having and taking opportunities to make consequential decisions about a design problem and ways to proceed in learning and developing solutions. Faculty members are sometimes uncertain why some activities support students to take ownership of core concepts, whereas other activities do not. The construct of framing agency will help clarify critical differences in what -- on the surface -- appear to be similar learning experiences. The constellation of instructional tools -- which are developed, tested and refined across engineering settings at a Hispanic-serving institution -- will help faculty to effectively support students to take ownership of their learning. Additionally, the FRAME project is set in a minority-majority state that is blessed with a rich tapestry of cultures. Recent research at UNM has uncovered engineering assets such students bring; the FRAME project will provide new supports for faculty to engage these assets. The findings have relevance for guiding other states whose future demographics are predicted to be similar to New Mexico's. Research from a number of fields suggests that framing problems may explain outcomes such as learning and the creativity of solutions, but the empirical backing for this remains weak. The FRAME project fills this gap, providing new theory, empirical backing, a validated measurement tool, and research-based instructional tools. Research questions guide this work: (1) How and when do students make decisions that are consequential to their designing and learning? (2) What resources support students to frame problems? (3) To what extent does framing agency explain variance in key outcomes, such as intent to persist in engineering, professional engineering identity development, relevant learning, and innovative design? Phase 1 of the FRAME project clarifies "framing agency" as a construct by conducting qualitative analysis, contrasting cases from multiple settings in which students engaged in design activities did and did not display framing agency. The analysis focuses on language use and interactions. Phase 2 builds on this work through interviews with student designers to understand their point of view on framing agency. This analysis feeds into the development and validation of a survey to measure framing agency. Phase 3 builds theory about framing agency, using the validated survey to test the hypothesis that framing agency predicts key outcomes: professional engineering identity development, intent to persist in engineering, and innovative designing. Phases 4 and 5 integrate research and educational goals by using design-based research with a goal of jointly developing theory about how framing agency supports the development of key outcomes and developing instructional tools. This phase is guided by a research question: How can a constellation of instructional tools -- including explicit positioning of students as designers, a "wrong theory protocol" that helps students understand and generate novel ideas about the problem, and design conjecture/reflection maps that support students to trace the development of their understanding of decisions related to the problem over time -- support the development of framing agency, and in turn, key outcomes?