Research Initiation: Formation of Engineering Identity Through Capstone Design Peer-Interventions

在未来十年内，美国将面临100万人的STEM专业人才缺口。为了缓解这一缺口，美国高等教育系统有必要培养更多的STEM专业学生。众所周知，至少有三分之一的大学新生会换专业，不幸的是，STEM专业的学生比非STEM专业的学生更有可能换专业。低年级本科生工科身份的早期发展可能会减少在大学头两年从工程专业转出的学生数量。本提案旨在通过将化工专业大一、大二学生纳入课程干预中，提升他们的工程认同。这些干预措施利用高年级化学工程学生作为同龄人的榜样，同时将高年级顶点设计课程的内容整合到低年级的核心化学工程课程中。这可能是因为离开工程专业的学生缺乏强烈的工程认同感，而在课程早期培养这种认同感将增加他们在该领域的持久性。这项工作的一个预期结果是，通过这种以高年级学生为榜样的近同伴指导计划，增加了学生在化学工程项目中的坚持性。这项工作的第二个成果是培训教育研究方法的主要研究者，以增加在工程教育研究领域领导研究努力的科学家队伍。这个项目是未来研究工程身份形成的基础，因为高年级学生通过他们的顶点设计项目融入课程的其他领域。这个为期两年的项目旨在确定，相对于对照组，与没有接受同伴指导干预的学生相比，接触同伴导师会在多大程度上增加学生的工程身份发展。一年级将一群化学工程入门课程的大一学生介绍给高年级化学工程顶点设计专业的学生，通过围绕他们的设计项目进行课堂内外的互动。二年级将把顶点设计纳入大二学生的材料和能量平衡课程的背诵部分，通过由顶点设计学生提供的简短的基于问题的学习练习。将测量同伴相互作用的数量和时间以及它们对工程身份发展的影响。最后，研究小组将评估学生认为同侪辅导对他们的工程身份发展、知识获取和持久性的影响程度。本研究的理论框架包括社会化理论和角色习得理论。工程身份将通过有效的调查工具进行评估，并在接受或未接受干预的学生组之间进行比较。除了定量调查工具外，还将通过焦点小组获得有关学生对干预措施感知质量的定性数据。旨在满足项目指导部分的专业发展活动将与研究计划同时进行，包括：(1)通过完成以教育为重点的在线研究生证书，对主要研究者进行定量研究方法的正式培训；(2)通过纳入学校学科教育研究小组，对主要研究者进行指导；(3)将主要研究者纳入联合主要研究者每周教育研究小组会议。研究计划和专业发展计划的同时实施为正式和非正式培训提供了直接的背景。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

The United States is facing a one-million-person shortfall in STEM professionals within the next decade. To abate this shortfall, it is necessary for the United States higher education system to educate additional STEM majors. It is widely known that at least one third of college freshman will change their majors and, unfortunately, students in STEM majors are even more likely to change majors than their non-STEM counterparts. The development of an engineering identity early in lower division undergraduates may decrease the number of students transferring out of engineering programs within the first two years of college. This proposal aims to enhance the engineering identity of freshman and sophomore students studying chemical engineering by involving them in course-related interventions. These interventions utilize senior chemical engineering students as near-peer role models and simultaneously integrate content from the senior capstone design course into-lower division, core chemical engineering courses. It may be that students who leave engineering lack a strong engineering identity, and growing this identity early in the curriculum will increase persistence in the field. A desired outcome of this work is the increased persistence of students within the chemical engineering program through this near-peer mentoring program that uses senior level students as role models. A second outcome of the proposed work is training the principle investigator in educational research methods to increase the body of scientists equipped to lead research endeavors in the area of engineering education research. This project serves as a foundation for future work to examine formation of an engineering identity as impacted by of the integration of senior students via their capstone design projects into other areas of the curriculum. This two-year project aims to determine to what extent, relative to a control group, does exposure to a peer mentor increase students' engineering identity development over time compared to those who do not receive a peer mentoring intervention. Year 1 introduces a cohort of freshman students in an introductory chemical engineering course to senior chemical engineering capstone-design students through in-class and out-of-class interactions centered around their design projects. Year 2 will incorporate capstone-design into recitation sections of a material and energy balances course taken by sophomore students via short problem-based learning exercises facilitated by the capstone-design students. The quantity and timing of the peer interactions and their impact on engineering identity development will be measured. Finally, the research team will assess the extent to which students perceive that peer-mentoring influenced their engineering identity development, knowledge acquisition and persistence. The theoretical framework on which the work is based incorporates both socialization theory and role acquisition theory. Engineering identity will be assessed through a validated survey instrument and compared between groups of students who receive or do not receive the intervention. In addition to the quantitative survey instrument, qualitative data regarding the student-perceived quality of the interventions will be obtained through focus groups. Professional development activities, meant to satisfy the mentoring component of the project, will occur in tandem with the research plan and include: (1) the formal training of the principle investigator in quantitative research methods through completion of an online graduate certificate with a focus on education; (2) the mentorship of the principle investigator through inclusion in the Discipline-Based Education Research Group at the institution; and (3) inclusion of the principle investigator at the weekly education research group meetings of co- principle investigator. The simultaneous execution of the research plan and professional development plan provides immediate context to the formal and informal training.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.