Collaborative Research: Research in Improving Computational Thinking in the Formation of Engineers, a Multi-Institutional Initiative.

摘要：随着计算在工程实践中的重要性日益提高，工科本科生学习计算的需求急剧增加。许多工程学院对这种变化做出了回应，要求他们的工程专业学生学习计算机课程。其中一些课程现在是大学工程教育第一年的核心课程。计算机课程被许多学生认为是极其困难的，特别是那些在高中没有接触过计算机的学生。K-12教育体系的不公平意味着，一些学生在上大学之前接触计算机的机会往往比其他人少。因此，将计算纳入工程教育可能会加剧工程教育中现有的不公平现象，降低工程的多样性和包容性。本研究考察了三所以不同方式将计算纳入工程教育的机构的工程计算整合情况。计算思维诊断，衡量学生在工程课程中学习关键计算概念的程度，将用于确定工程学生学习了多少计算。一项调查将考察不同背景的学生如何应对在工程教育项目中进行计算的挑战。随着学期的进展，学生们还将接受调查，以确定随着材料复杂性的增加，哪些学生的压力在增加、稳定或减少。学生们将接受采访，了解计算机如何影响他们成为工程师的愿望，以及他们对自己在工程领域出类拔萃的能力的信心。综上所述，这些信息将提供新的知识，说明在初级工程课程中集成计算机如何改变工程教育并影响成为工程师的人。先前的研究表明，虽然工程和计算技能有很大的重叠，但许多工程专业的学生很少或根本没有计算思维的经验。该项目的目标是通过了解影响计算思维发展的多种因素来改善工程学院中计算思维的教学方式。一个混合方法的研究设计涉及计算思维诊断与访谈的定性分析相结合，将探索三个研究问题的答案：(1)计算与基础工程课程的整合如何影响工程师的形成？(2)社会身份（如性别、种族、第一代大学生）、选择（如专业、转学状态）和其他因素如何影响工程专业学生的计算思维体验？(3)工科学生的计算思维能力是如何随着时间的推移而发展的？PI团队可以直接访问三个机构的目标人群(一个大型的，公共的，土地授予机构（德克萨斯农工大学），一个中型的，公共的，州旗舰机构（俄克拉何马大学），以及一个小型的，私立的，专注于工程学位的本科大学（密尔沃基工程学院）。每个机构都有独特的方法将计算思维整合到工程项目中。这三家机构的合作为将计算整合到工程中提供了多种课程模式，使比较分析变得强大。这个项目的新颖性和创造性在于，研究团队能够根据三个不同的机构和环境提供的独特的计算思维机会，回答关于为什么学生成功或失败成为工程师的关键问题。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。

Title:Understanding the Role of Computational Thinking in Engineering EducationAbstract:The need for undergraduate engineering students to learn computing has dramatically increased as computing has become more important in engineering practice. Many engineering colleges have responded to this change by requiring their engineering students to take computing classes. Some of these classes are now central to the first year of college engineering education. Computing classes are considered to be extremely difficult by many students, especially those who have not been exposed to computing in high school. Inequities in the K-12 education system mean that some students often have less opportunity to be exposed to computing before college than others. As a result, integrating computing into engineering education may exacerbate existing inequities in engineering education and reduce diversity and inclusion in engineering. This research examines the integration of computing in engineering at three institutions that incorporate computing into engineering education in different ways. A computational thinking diagnostic, which measures the degree to which students are learning critical computing concepts in engineering classes, will be used to determine how much computing the engineering students are learning. A survey will examine how students with different backgrounds are responding to the challenges of doing computing in their engineering education program. Students will also be surveyed as the term progresses to identify students who are feeling increasing, steady or decreasing stress as the complexity of the material increases. Students will be interviewed about how computing is affecting their desire to become an engineer and their confidence in their ability to excel in engineering. Taken together this information will provide new knowledge of how the integration of computing in beginning engineering classes is changing engineering education and impacting who becomes an engineer.Previous research has demonstrated that while engineering and computational skills have substantial overlap, many engineering students have little or no prior experience with computational thinking. The goal of this project is to improve the way that computational thinking is taught in colleges of engineering by understanding multiple factors that affect computational thinking development. A mixed-methods research design involving a computational thinking diagnostic paired with qualitative analysis of interviews will explore answers to three research questions: (1) How does the integration of computing into the foundational engineering courses affect the formation of engineers? (2) In what ways do social identities (e.g. gender, ethnicity, first-generation college attending), choices (e.g. major, transfer status), and other factors impact the engineering student experience with computational thinking? (3) In what ways do computational thinking skills develop over time in engineering students? The PI team has direct access to the target population at three institutions (a large, public, land grant institution (Texas A&M), a medium sized, public, state flagship institution (University of Oklahoma), and a small, private, undergraduate university focused on engineering degrees (Milwaukee School of Engineering). Each institution has unique ways of integrating computational thinking into engineering programs. Having these three institutions collaborate provides varied curricular models for integrating computation into engineering, making comparative analysis powerful. The novelty and creativity of this project lies in the capacity of the research team to answer critical questions about why students succeed or fail to become engineers based on unique computational thinking opportunities that three diverse institutions and environments provide.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.