Using Problem-Based Learning to Increase the Ethical Reasoning Skills of Electrical and Computer Engineering Students

利用基于问题的学习来提高电气和计算机工程学生的道德推理能力

• 批准号: 2020560
• 负责人: Todd Freeborn
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2020560&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; Problem; Based; Learning; Increase

This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing electrical and computer engineering (ECE) students’ ethical reasoning skills and perspectives about social responsibility in engineering. Concern for teaching ethics in engineering has existed for some time, with engineering professionals identifying the need to focus on public safety, health, and welfare as early as the 1940s. The need for students to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities and make informed judgements were recently included as a student outcome requirements for ABET accreditation. This project focuses on effective approaches for teaching ethical reasoning and social responsibility for first year students in ECE. This study will evaluate if the active learning approach called problem-based learning is more effective at teaching ethics in engineering education than a traditional lecture-based approach. Problem-based learning approaches help students determine their own learning needs and strategies to achieve that learning. This approach contrasts with traditional approaches that introduce problems only after students have first acquired the relevant content knowledge and skills, often through a lecture. Ethical engineering modules will be designed and deployed in a required first-year course that introduces ECE students to the discipline with a goal of centering ethics and social responsibility as core components of the discipline. These modules will be made available online for engineering educators who are interested in improving ethical reasoning and awareness in other engineering disciplines.The goal of this project is to transform undergraduate engineering education by centering ethics and social responsibility as core components of ECE. A first year introductory ECE course will be re-designed to emphasize ethics and social responsibility throughout the course. The project team will develop and implement learning modules that will be deployed using either a problem-based learning or lecture-based approach. The modules will be used to address the core research question: Is problem-based learning a more effective pedagogy than a traditional lecture based approach for teaching ethical reasoning in support of social responsibility to first year ECE students during their primary introduction to the discipline? The project team will address this question by collecting and analyzing samples of student coursework and performance on tests of ethical reasoning and social responsibility administered before and after the course. Two additional research questions will be addressed: (1) Are there differences in ethical reasoning and perspectives of social responsibility between first year engineering students in ECE and other engineering disciplines without this ethics focus? and (2) Are faculty scores in ethical reasoning and perspectives of social responsibility within an engineering discipline strongly associated with student scores from that same discipline? These two questions will be answered by collecting scores on tests of ethical reasoning and social responsibility from faculty and first year students across engineering disciplines. The results of this project and the ethics modules will be disseminated through an online repository that will include the modules, implementation plans, and results demonstrating the effectiveness of the modules. This project is supported by the NSF IUSE: EHR Program, which 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.

该项目旨在通过提高电气和计算机工程（ECE）学生对工程社会责任的道德推理技能和观点来满足国家利益。一段时间以来，已经存在了一段时间的工程教学道德教学，而工程专业人士早在1940年代就确定需要专注于公共安全，健康和福利。学生需要承认道德和专业责任并做出明智的判断，这些判断最近被纳入了Abet认证的学生结果要求。该项目着重于向ECE的一年级学生讲授道德推理和社会责任的有效方法。这项研究将评估主动学习方法称为基于问题的学习是否比传统的基于讲座的方法更有效。基于问题的学习方法可帮助学生确定自己的学习需求和策略以实现这一学习。这种方法与传统的方法形成鲜明对比，这些方法仅在学生首次通过讲座获得相关内容知识和技能之后才引入问题。道德工程模块将在所需的一年级课程中设计和部署，该课程将ECE学生介绍到该学科，目标是将道德和社会责任作为该学科的核心组成部分。这些模块将在线提供用于在其他工程学科中提高道德推理和意识感兴趣的工程教育。该项目的目的是通过将道德和社会责任作为ECE的核心组成部分来转变本科工程教育。第一年介绍ECE课程将被重新设计，以强调整个课程的道德和社会责任。项目团队将开发和实施学习模块，这些模块将使用基于问题的学习或基于讲座的方法进行部署。这些模块将用于解决核心研究问题：基于问题的学习是比传统的基于讲座的教学方法更有效的教学法，用于教授道德推理，以支持ECE学生在学科的主要介绍期间对第一年ECE学生的社会责任？项目团队将通过收集和分析课程前后管理的道德推理和社会责任测试的学生课程和表现的样本来解决这个问题。将解决两个其他研究问题：（1）ECE的第一年工程专业学生与其他工程学科之间的道德推理和社会责任的观点是否存在差异？ （2）教师在与该学科的学生分数密切相关的工程学科中的道德推理和社会责任的观点中是否有分数？这两个问题将通过从工程学科中的教职员工和一年级学生那里收集对道德推理和社会责任的测试来回答。该项目和道德模块的结果将通过在线存储库进行传播，该存储库将包括模块，实施计划以及证明模块有效性的结果。该项目得到了NSF IUSE：EHR计划的支持，该计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习轨道，该计划支持了承诺实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估审查标准，被认为是珍贵的支持。

项目成果

Work-in-Progress: Teaching ethics using problem-based learning in a freshman introduction to electrical and computer engineering

正在进行的工作：在电气和计算机工程的新生入门中使用基于问题的学习来教授道德规范

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: ASEE annual conference exposition proceedings
• 作者: Freeborn, T.J.;Major, Claire;Sweeney, Miriam E.;McCallum, Debra Moehle;Dunlap, Sarah T.
• 通讯作者: Dunlap, Sarah T.