Collaborative Research: Bridging the Writing Transfer Gap in Early Engineering Laboratory Courses

这个多机构项目旨在通过改善大学写作教学和工程专业学生的技术写作能力来服务于国家利益。虽然写作是工程师的一项关键技能，但雇主经常抱怨工程专业毕业生需要更好的写作技能。 本科工程课程通常需要各种通识教育写作课程在学习计划的早期。然而，工程教育工作者往往没有工具来连接学生的学习，从早期的写作课程，他们在工程课程的写作。本计画的目标是改善大学写作课程到工程课程的写作技巧转移。 为了实现这一目标，该项目将开发一个教学模块，以促进将写作技能从写作课程转移到工程课程的实验室部分。 它还将评估教学模块是否提高了学生的工程实验报告的写作。该项目扩展了以前的一个项目，该项目在一个机构证明了这种方法的成功。 在这一后续研究中，将进一步完善写作模块，并在多个机构实施。 之所以选择合作机构，是因为它们对工科学生的通识教育写作课程要求不同。 因此，本研究可以确定在不同类型的机构之间可转移的写作教学策略。 这个学生学习项目将确定学生从三个远迁移模型中带来了哪些可转移的知识：学生在一年级作文和技术写作课程的基础上进行的并行迁移;学生只完成一年级作文的垂直迁移;缺乏迁移，学生已经完成了文学课程，但缺乏技术写作和写作准备，这是第一年作文合作包括至少一个机构代表每三种模式，使两个关键的研究问题的探索：“如何写作转移是适应整个美国的范围广泛的写作课程在较低的司课程？以及“如何在由任何教师授课的不同工程实验室教室中有效地实施以迁移为中心的写作模块？”“通过绘制学生的集体近端发展区域，将通过调整多个支架来完善实验室报告教学模块，以支持学生作为参与式学科学习逐渐参与实验室报告写作。该模块将包括直接的指导材料和参考材料，作为撰写实验报告的支持。该项目将对学生的实验报告写作进行定量和定性评估，作为学科意义的形成，以及学生技术沟通技能的发展。从这种综合的混合方法的方法的结果有可能推进知识的影响，转移为重点的写作技巧对学生的实验室报告写作能力。该项目是基于一个探索性项目的结果，该项目在两个机构利用垂直迁移模型实施了以写作迁移为重点的实验报告模块后，工程专业学生的实验报告质量在统计上有了显着的改善。这些结果表明，以学生为中心的教学方法，明确加强写作知识和技能，从以前的中学后的写作经验，可以比传统的案例研究方法更富有成效的工程写作教学。有了这些令人鼓舞的先前结果，本项目的结果有可能适用于不同的工程实验室课程设置在不同的工程课程。 该项目由NSF改善本科STEM教育计划：教育和人力资源支持。 该计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This multi-institutional project aims to serve the national interest by improving college writing instruction and the technical writing abilities of engineering students. Although writing is a critical skill for engineers, employers frequently complain that engineering graduates need better writing skills. Undergraduate engineering curricula typically require various general education writing courses early in the program of study. However, engineering educators often do not have the tools to connect students' learning from early writing courses to their writing in engineering courses. The goal of this project is to improve the transfer of writing skills from college writing courses into engineering courses. To accomplish this goal, the project will develop an instructional module to facilitate transfer of writing skills from writing courses into the laboratory component of engineering courses. It will also evaluate whether the instructional module enhances student writing of engineering lab reports. This project expands on a previous project that demonstrated success in this approach at one institution. In this follow-on study, the writing module will be further refined and implemented at multiple institutions. The partnering institutions were chosen because of differences in the general education writing course requirements for their engineering students. Thus, this research study could identify writing instruction strategies that are transferable across different types of institutions. This Engaged Student Learning project will identify what transferable knowledge students bring from three far-transfer models: concurrent transfer in which students build on first year composition and technical writing courses; vertical transfer in which students have only completed first year composition; and absent transfer in which students have completed a literary course but lack both technical writing and the preparation in composition that is characteristic of first year composition. The collaboration includes at least one institution representing each of the three models, enabling exploration of two key research questions: "How can writing transfer be adapted across the US to a wide range of writing curricula in lower-division courses?" and "How can a transfer-focused writing module be implemented effectively in diverse engineering lab classrooms taught by any instructor?" Informed by a mapping of students' collective zone of proximal development, a lab report instructional module will be refined by adapting multiple scaffolds to support students' incremental engagement with lab report writing as engaged disciplinary learning. The module will include direct instructional materials and reference materials as supports for writing lab reports. The project will conduct quantitative and qualitative assessment of students' lab report writing as disciplinary meaning making, as well as students' development of technical communication skills. Results from this integrated mixed methods approach has the potential to advance knowledge about the impact of transfer-focused writing pedagogies on students' lab report writing competencies. This project is based on results from an exploratory project that showed statistically significant improvements in engineering students' lab report quality after implementing a writing transfer-focused lab report module at two institutions utilizing a vertical transfer model. These results suggest that a student-centered pedagogical approach that explicitly reinforces writing knowledge and skills from prior post-secondary writing experiences can be more productive than the traditional case study approach often employed in engineering writing instruction. With these encouraging prior results, the results of this project have the potential to be applicable to diverse engineering laboratory course settings across diverse engineering curricula. This project is supported by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources. This program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.