Improving Students’ Creative Problem Solving Skills in Engineering using Visual Representation Methods

使用视觉表示方法提高学生创造性解决工程问题的能力

• 批准号: 2120820
• 负责人: Gon Namkoong
• 金额: $ 27.98万
• 依托单位: Old Dominion University Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-15 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120820&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Improving; Students; Creative; Problem; Solving

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing, implementing, and evaluating creative problem solving (CPS) activities that help engineering students learn how to solve complex problems. While CPS is recognized as an important skill for the engineering workforce, the lack of integrated CPS instructional materials and strategies has become a significant barrier to enriching students’ higher order thinking skills. This project will implement a series of active learning modules in which students create visual representations as part of a dynamic CPS strategy in an electronics circuits course. The modules will involve spatial reasoning activities that engage students in engineering problems by having students capture or transform the problems into visual forms, write narrative reflections, and share their work with other students. These learning experiences will allow students to go beyond traditional linear thinking and structured problem solving to explore innovative solutions for challenging engineering problems. This study will examine the impact of creative experiences, changes in students’ perception of creativity, and academic growth through the development of creative skills. Using surveys, student interviews, and assessments of student work, the project will study the impact of this approach on the development of students’ CPS skills and level of student engagement. Workshops and tutorials will be created to help engineering faculty at other institutions adopt and adapt this CPS strategy. The goal of this project is to improve students’ CPS skills by introducing CPS modules and strategies into an existing electronics circuits course. Visual representation methodologies will be used to help students practice creative exercises by connecting relationships between concepts, objects, and ideas that seem unrelated in current learning contexts. Students will work on a series of CPS activities that take the students through the stages of CPS, namely, (1) critical reflection in which students identify the problem, reflect on what they have already learned, and then engage in active inquiry and further research on subject matter; (2) brainstorming that catalyzes imaginative and divergent thinking from different perspectives; (3) visualization and synthesis of creative solutions; and (4) contextualization that links creative ideas with the underlying principles of the knowledge domain. These creative exercises will be designed to foster creative skill sets (such as fluency, flexibility, and originality), promote students’ motivation to pursue creative solutions, and develop engaging, challenging, and inspiring classroom learning. The project will address a set of research questions including: (1) To what extent do the modules improve students’ CPS skills? (2) What effect, if any, do the modules have on student learning in the course? Results from student surveys and assessments of student work will be used to answer the research questions by comparing the results from a control group and a treatment group. This project will offer exhibitions and workshops for engineering faculty to increase awareness of strategies for CPS and student engagement. 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.

这个项目旨在通过开发、实施和评估创造性的问题解决(CPS)活动来服务于国家利益，帮助工科学生学习如何解决复杂的问题。虽然CPS被公认为是工程技术人员的一项重要技能，但缺乏完整的CPS教学材料和策略已成为丰富学生高级思维技能的重大障碍。这个项目将实施一系列的主动学习模块，在这些模块中，学生创建视觉表示，作为电子电路课程中动态CPS策略的一部分。这些模块将涉及空间推理活动，通过让学生捕捉问题或将问题转化为视觉形式，撰写叙事反思，并与其他学生分享他们的工作，从而使学生参与到工程问题中来。这些学习体验将使学生超越传统的线性思维和结构化问题解决，探索具有挑战性的工程问题的创新解决方案。本研究将探讨创造经验的影响、学生对创造的认知的改变，以及通过发展创造技能而实现的学业成长。利用调查、学生访谈和对学生作业的评估，该项目将研究这种方法对学生CPS技能和学生参与度的发展的影响。将开设研讨会和教程，以帮助其他机构的工程学教师采用和适应这一CPS战略。本项目的目标是通过在现有的电子电路课程中引入CPS模块和策略来提高学生的CPS技能。视觉呈现方法将被用来帮助学生练习创造性练习，方法是将概念、对象和想法之间的关系联系起来，这些关系在当前的学习环境中似乎是无关的。学生将从事一系列CPS活动，带领学生完成CPS的各个阶段，即(1)批判性反思，即学生识别问题，反思他们所学的东西，然后对主题进行积极的探究和进一步的研究；(2)从不同的角度催化想象力和发散思维的头脑风暴；(3)创造性解决方案的可视化和综合；以及(4)将创造性想法与知识领域的基本原则联系起来的情境化。这些创造性练习旨在培养创造性技能(如流利性、灵活性和独创性)，促进学生追求创造性解决方案的动机，并发展引人入胜、具有挑战性和启发性的课堂学习。该项目将解决一系列研究问题，包括：(1)这些模块在多大程度上提高了学生的CPS技能？(2)这些模块对学生在课程中的学习有什么影响？学生调查和学生作业评估的结果将被用来回答研究问题，方法是将对照组和治疗组的结果进行比较。这个项目将为工程学教师提供展览和研讨会，以提高对CPS和学生参与战略的认识。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Visual representation-based creative problem-solving

基于视觉表现的创造性问题解决

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: IAFOR International Conference on Education official conference proceedings
• 作者: Gon Namkoong