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

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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?