Service Learning Projects to Improve Engineering Students' Civic Engagement and Capacity for Innovation

提高工科学生的公民参与和创新能力的服务学习项目

• 批准号: 2021317
• 负责人: Ekundayo Shittu
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: George Washington University
• 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=2021317&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Service; Learning; Projects; Improve; Engineering

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving engineering students’ learning. To do so, it will engage students in an interdisciplinary engineering service-learning model focused on civic engagement. The project will seek to develop students’ capacity for innovation while they use their engineering skills and knowledge to decrease suffering, marginalization, or exclusion of particular groups. Many engineering programs emphasize the economic opportunities that engineering degrees will open to graduates, such as working for the private sector. However, engineering students are increasingly interested in ways to use their engineering education to pursue careers in which they can see the human impact of their work. The premise of this project is that opportunities for civic engagement can improve student engagement in engineering education. These opportunities require students to learn new approaches and skills that are not typically taught in the engineering curriculum, such as human centered design and problem solving with empathy. By helping students develop these skills, students will be better positioned to use their engineering knowledge in the future to benefit society. The project will test the hypothesis that mentoring, oriented towards civic engagement and addressing societal challenges, will enhance the engagement of undergraduate engineering students in STEM learning. This project expects to enhance students’ learning experiences and provide opportunities to strengthen communities, while simultaneously encouraging students’ development of civic responsibility.With the goal of improving engineering education through the cultivation of innovative civic engagement, this project will: (i) develop, implement, and evaluate a pedagogical intervention that engages students in service learning projects; (ii) assess the effectiveness of the intervention in supporting student learning with respect to engagement in their engineering program and capacity for innovation; and (iii) refine a theoretical model of how the intervention helps students develop civic responsibility. This project will contribute to constructs of learning by combining theories on social learning into an “engagement by innovation and situated cognition” theory. The intervention will include two one-credit seminar courses designed to promote students’ innovation and civic engagement. The courses will use case-based learning based on cases drawn from local studies in the DC-metro region. Students will learn problem-solving based on principles of systems thinking, human-centered design, and ethnographic field research. In this study, quantitative and qualitative data will be collected through regular surveys, interviews, and video diaries to assess student engagement, development of civic responsibility, and capacity for innovation. The service-learning projects will benefit the region by generating engineering solutions that address community challenges. The problem-solving experiences will help prepare engineering students for success in the engineering workforce. The NSF IUSE: EHR 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.

该项目旨在通过改善工程专业学生的学习来服务于国家利益。 要做到这一点，它将让学生参与跨学科的工程服务学习模式，重点是公民参与。该项目将寻求发展学生的创新能力，同时利用他们的工程技能和知识减少特定群体的痛苦、边缘化或排斥。许多工程专业强调工程学位将向毕业生开放的经济机会，例如为私营部门工作。 然而，工程专业的学生越来越感兴趣的是如何利用他们的工程教育来追求职业生涯，他们可以看到他们的工作对人类的影响。这个项目的前提是，公民参与的机会可以提高学生在工程教育的参与。 这些机会要求学生学习新的方法和技能，而不是典型的工程课程，如以人为本的设计和解决问题的同理心。通过帮助学生发展这些技能，学生将更好地利用他们的工程知识在未来造福社会。该项目将测试的假设，指导，面向公民参与和解决社会挑战，将提高本科工程专业学生在干学习的参与。该项目旨在加强学生的学习经验，提供加强社区的机会，同时鼓励学生培养公民责任感，通过培养创新的公民参与来改善工程教育，该项目将：（i）制定、实施和评估一项教学干预措施，使学生参与服务学习项目;（ii）评估干预措施在支持学生学习工程项目和创新能力方面的有效性;（iii）完善干预措施如何帮助学生培养公民责任感的理论模型。本项目将通过将社会学习理论结合到“创新和情境认知参与”理论中，为学习的构建做出贡献。干预措施将包括两个一学分的研讨会课程，旨在促进学生的创新和公民参与。这些课程将使用基于案例的学习，基于从DC大都会地区的当地研究中提取的案例。学生将学习基于系统思维、以人为本的设计和民族志实地研究原则解决问题。在这项研究中，将通过定期调查，访谈和视频日记收集定量和定性数据，以评估学生的参与度，公民责任感的发展和创新能力。服务学习项目将通过产生解决社区挑战的工程解决方案使该地区受益。解决问题的经验将有助于工程专业的学生在工程劳动力的成功做好准备。NSF IUSE：EHR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。