Preparing Early Engineers through Context, Connections and Community (PEEC3)

通过背景、联系和社区为早期工程师做好准备 (PEEC3)

• 批准号: 2147320
• 负责人: Eric Davishahl
• 金额: $ 68.7万
• 依托单位: Whatcom Community College
• 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: 2022-05-15 至 2027-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147320&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Preparing; Early; Engineers; through; Context

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the academic preparation of entering engineering students and ultimately increasing the number and diversity of engineering graduates. Students enter community college with varied levels of preparation, particularly in science and mathematics. The COVID-19 pandemic has likely increased this variability, due to academic interruptions and social isolation. To overcome these challenges, this project intends to develop a two-quarter, integrated learning community to help prepare students to study engineering and to transfer to four-year institutions. Plans include developing a place-based curriculum that embraces a holistic model for academic preparation. The project will feature cross-disciplinary collaboration of faculty in engineering, math, physics, English and history working together to design, implement, and assess the new curriculum. Once the curriculum is developed, a 24-student cohort will be recruited to complete a two-quarter sequence of three tightly integrated and team-taught courses. Quarter one will combine courses in engineering, pre-calculus, and Pacific Northwest history and culture. Quarter two will combine introductory design and computing, additional pre-calculus, and English composition. The integrated two-quarter experience will blur traditional disciplinary boundaries and incorporate multiple high-impact practices including contextualized mathematics and English, service-learning, and a course-based undergraduate research experience. This approach should improve learning outcomes for participating students compared to the current a la carte model of course offerings, and advance student progress along factors such as intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and sense of belonging that are vital to student success as engineering majors. The project is intended to: (1) address disparities in community college students’ academic, social, and emotional preparation for an engineering major using a holistic approach; (2) accelerate engagement of participating students within existing curriculum, community, and support systems; and (3) increase course success rates, improve program retention, and reduce equity gaps in engineering transfer preparation and associate degree completion. Program outcomes will be assessed using a mixed methods approach consisting of student surveys, focus group interviews, and comparison of outcomes data to demographically matched samples of students simultaneously progressing through the existing early engineering curriculum. In addition, disseminating project results through the engineering education community at regional and national conferences, the project aims to produce modular curriculum products that could be implemented in individual courses. Lastly, a detailed financial sustainability analysis will be conducted to determine if retention gains attributable to the program justify the up- front cost of this intensive curriculum intervention. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The program description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges.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.

该奖项的全部或部分资金根据《2021 年美国救援计划法案》（公法 117-2）提供。该项目旨在通过改善工程专业学生的学术准备并最终增加工程毕业生的数量和多样性来服务于国家利益。学生进入社区大学时需要做好不同程度的准备，特别是在科学和数学方面。 由于学业中断和社会隔离，COVID-19 大流行可能加剧了这种变异性。为了克服这些挑战，该项目打算开发一个为期两个季度的综合学习社区，帮助学生做好学习工程学和转入四年制大学的准备。 计划包括开发基于地方的课程，包含学术准备的整体模型。该项目将以工程、数学、物理、英语和历史系教师的跨学科合作为特色，共同设计、实施和评估新课程。课程开发完成后，将招募 24 名学生组成的团队来完成由三门紧密整合且团队授课的课程组成的四分之二的课程。第一季度将结合工程、微积分基础课程以及太平洋西北历史和文化课程。第二季度将结合入门设计和计算、额外的预微积分和英语写作。为期两个季度的综合体验将模糊传统学科界限，并纳入多种高影响力实践，包括情境化数学和英语、服务学习以及基于课程的本科研究体验。与目前的点菜课程模式相比，这种方法应该可以提高参与学生的学习成果，并促进学生在内在动机、自我效能和归属感等因素方面的进步，这些因素对学生作为工程专业的成功至关重要。该项目旨在：(1) 采用整体方法解决社区学院学生在攻读工程专业的学术、社交和情感准备方面的差异； (2) 加速参与学生对现有课程、社区和支持系统的参与； (3) 提高课程成功率，提高课程保留率，并缩小工程转学准备和副学士学位完成方面的公平差距。项目成果将采用混合方法进行评估，包括学生调查、焦点小组访谈以及将结果数据与同时完成现有早期工程课程的学生的人口统计匹配样本进行比较。此外，该项目还通过工程教育界在地区和国家会议上传播项目成果，旨在生产可在个别课程中实施的模块化课程产品。最后，将进行详细的财务可持续性分析，以确定该计划带来的保留收益是否证明这种强化课程干预的前期成本是合理的。 NSF 关于“推进两年制高等教育机构本科 STEM 教育的创新和影响力”的项目描述支持推进两年制学院 STEM 教育计划的项目。该计划描述促进两年制大学本科 STEM 教育的创新和循证实践。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值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

Work in Progress: Development of an Integrated Place-Based Learning Community for First-Year Precalculus-Level Engineering Students

正在进行的工作：为一年级微积分水平工程学生开发一个综合的基于地点的学习社区

• DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44225
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: ASEE annual conference proceedings
• 作者: Davishahl, Eric;Wolff, Anna;Burnett, Pat;Booker, Anna;Phung, Tran;Luu, Mei;Greendale, Seth
• 通讯作者: Greendale, Seth