Collaborative Research: Implementing a Humanities-driven Curriculum to Address Critical Thinking and Empathy Skills Among Engineering Students

合作研究：实施人文驱动的课程以培养工程学生的批判性思维和同理心技能

• 批准号: 2142685
• 负责人: Iris Rivero
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Rochester Institute of Tech
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-06-15 至 2024-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2142685&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Implementing; Humanities; driven

This project aims to serve the national interest by understanding how critical thinking and empathetic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals can be developed through a humanities-driven curricular and problem-solving approach. The need for empathetic and critical thinking skills for STEM professionals is becoming readily evident due to the increased complexities of our society. Continued globalization through technologies means that the work of scientists and engineers has a greater impact on how we interact and communicate than ever before and presents a new set of grand challenges for our society. Traditionally, the humanities have played little to no role in STEM education even though critical thinking and empathy skills are hallmarks of a humanities education. There are, however, natural links that may enrich STEM students' educational experience and better prepare them to meet these grand challenges. This project will present science and engineering problem-solving within a humanities setting, an approach called humanities-driven STEM (HDSTEM). This approach will engage an interdisciplinary collaboration between humanities and engineering situated at two universities, Texas Tech University (TTU) and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). With this collaboration, students will develop problem-solving skills that require them to empathize and think critically. Through the NSF IUSE:EHR Engaged Student Learning track, this work will meet the program's goal to seek transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for undergraduate students.This project will examine the effectiveness of two problem-solving assignments: typical problem-solving and empathy-embedded problem-solving within two-course designs: a HDSTEM design with team-taught Humanities and STEM faculty, and instruction by STEM faculty in an introductory engineering curriculum. Curriculum treatments will be compared across two universities, TTU and RIT. While considering different faculty and instructors for this curriculum at the two institutions, the curriculum will be tied together through shared typical and empathy-embedded problem-solving assignments. The purpose of these treatments is to deepen STEM students' ability to empathize and think critically. At the same time, the project will examine which of the two implementation processes (i.e., HDSTEM curriculum and introductory engineering curriculum) performs better. This study will use a mixed-methods approach to analyze data and results. Multiple sources of data will be collected, analyzed, and compared for triangulation. Comparisons will be made between the data collected at the beginning and end of the courses. Discourse and content analysis in conjunction with commonly used rubrics for critical thinking and empathy will measure and assess differences from the curriculum treatments. Results will show benefits in critical thinking and empathy from the HDSTEM environment. 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.

该项目旨在通过了解如何通过人文驱动的课程和解决问题的方法来开发批判性思维和移情科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）专业人员来实现国家利益。由于我们社会的复杂性增加，对STEM专业人员的善解人意和批判性思维技能的需求变得很容易变得显而易见。通过技术的持续全球化意味着，科学家和工程师的工作比以往任何时候都对我们的互动和交流方式有更大的影响，并给我们的社会带来了一系列新的巨大挑战。传统上，即使批判性思维和移情技能是人文教育的标志，人文学科在STEM教育中几乎没有作用。但是，有自然的联系可以丰富Stem学生的教育经验，并更好地为他们做好准备以应对这些巨大的挑战。该项目将在人文设置中提出科学和工程问题解决问题，这种方法称为人文驱动的STEM（HDSTEM）。这种方法将与位于两所大学，德克萨斯理工大学（TTU）和罗切斯特技术学院（RIT）的人文学科与工程学之间进行跨学科合作。 通过这种合作，学生将发展解决问题的技能，要求他们同情并进行批判性思考。 通过NSF IUSE：EHR参与学生的学习曲目，这项工作将符合该计划的目标，以寻求变革性的方法来生成和使用有关STEM教学和学习的新知识，以改善本科生的STEM教育。该项目将研究两个解决问题的分配的有效性：典型的问题解决和同理助理的人类在两道菜的范围内和井层旁边的人类兼而有之： STEM教师在入门工程课程中。将在两所TTU和RIT的大学中比较课程处理。在考虑这两个机构的本课程的不同教师和讲师时，该课程将通过共同的典型和同理心解决问题的解决方案来捆绑在一起。这些治疗方法的目的是加深STEM学生同情和批判性思考的能力。同时，该项目将检查两个实施过程（即HDStem课程和入门工程课程）中的哪一个表现更好。这项研究将使用混合方法来分析数据和结果。将收集，分析和比较三个数据来源以进行三角剖分。将在课程开始和结束时收集的数据进行比较。讨论和内容分析与常用的批判性思维和同理心的常用专栏结合使用，将衡量和评估与课程处理的差异。 结果将显示HDStem环境中的批判性思维和同理心的好处。 NSF IUSE：EHR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，该计划支持有希望的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估的评估来支持的。