Research Initiation: Predicting Student Success and Persistence in Early Engineering Coursework Using Real-Time Changes in Emotion

本研究将探讨工程教育中持续与保留的系统性问题。在全国范围内，大学生在本科工程专业的成功通常受到严格的第一年工程课程的阻碍。学生们经常突然发现，早期的工程课程特别具有挑战性，因为它们的节奏很快，而且必须掌握具有挑战性的技术概念的广度很大。影响学生表现的一个主要因素是他们相信自己有能力取得成功。然而，他们自信心的减弱和其他心理健康问题最终导致许多人退出工程学。这个研究项目旨在通过确定影响学生信仰的关键因素，并预测他们在本科工程项目中的成功和坚持，为国家利益服务。特别重要的是，每天驱动学生信心变化的心理压力因素，以及这种变化如何影响学生的坚持，特别是在代表性不足的群体中。研究结果将为干预策略的发展提供信息，最终可以提高全国工程项目的保留率。这一结果与国家科学基金会推动更大、更强、更多样化的学生进入该国STEM劳动力队伍的倡议非常一致。总体目标是建立工程专业学生的心理状态（自我效能、情感和动机）与其他主要变量（包括时间、人口统计、课程内容的严密性和心理压力源）之间的因果关系。研究方法将采用体验抽样（使用手机评估）对学生的心理状态进行半周至半周的调查。这些抽样调查将反复询问学生的情绪状态和其他可能是辍学的前沿指标的因素。民意调查将使用有效的调查工具，以便其他机构的研究人员可以复制研究成果。这些数据将使用完善的统计方法进行分析，以解释：(1)学生自我效能感和情绪的哪些指标随时间波动；(2)特定课程主题的难度如何与学生自我效能感的变化相关；(3)哪些课程特定方面和心理压力源主要影响学生的自我效能感；(4)情绪和自我效能感的日常变化是否与学生人口统计学相关。这些结果将使研究团队能够科学地理解学生的情绪波动是如何破坏（或源于）他们在早期工程课程中的表现的。从长远来看，研究工作最终可能导致(a)增强兴趣和动机，(b)增加工程的持久性，以及(c)开发适合高危人口群体独特背景的新型早期预警和干预系统。具有挑战性的第一年工程课程可以进行修改，以更好地满足那些努力适应大学生活方式的早期工程学生的心理需求。在专业发展方面，理论知识和功能社会科学研究技能将在迈阿密大学心理学学院导师的指导下，向三个土木工程学院灌输。该项目为这两个不同学科的研究人员合作解决多学科问题提供了一个独特的机会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

This research will address the systemic problem of persistence and retention in engineering education. Nationwide, college students' success in undergraduate engineering programs is commonly hampered by rigorous first-year engineering coursework. Students often abruptly discover that early engineering courses are especially challenging due to their rapid pace and the wide breadth of challenging technical concepts that must be mastered. A major influence governing students' performance is their belief in their own capability to succeed. However, their waning self-confidence and other mental health challenges eventually lead many to withdraw from engineering. This research initiation project aims to serve the national interest by identifying critical factors that affect students' beliefs and can predict their success and persistence in undergraduate engineering programs. Of particular significance are the psychological stressors that drive changes in students' confidence on a daily basis, and how such changes affect students' persistence, especially in underrepresented groups. The results of the research will inform the development of intervention strategies that could ultimately improve retention rates in engineering programs throughout the country. This outcome is well aligned with NSF's initiatives to drive a larger, stronger, and more diverse stream of students into the country's STEM workforce.The overall goal is to establish causal links between engineering students' state of mind (self-efficacy, emotion, and motivation) and other major variables including time, demographics, rigor of course content, and psychological stressors. The research approach will utilize experience sampling (using mobile phone assessment) of students' psychological state on a semi-daily to semi-weekly basis. These sampling polls will repeatedly solicit students' states of emotion and other factors that may be leading-edge indicators of dropout. The polls will utilize validated survey instruments such that the research efforts can be replicated by researchers at other institutions. The data will be analyzed using well-established statistical methods to provide explanations of: (1) which indicators of students' self-efficacy and emotion fluctuate over time, (2) how the difficulty of specific course topics relates to changes in students' self-efficacy, (3) which course-specific aspects and psychological stressors primarily dictate students' self-efficacy, and (4) whether daily changes in emotion and self-efficacy are correlated to student demographics. These results will enable the research team to scientifically understand how students' emotional fluctuations disrupt (or stem from) their performance in early engineering coursework. In the long-term, the research efforts could ultimately lead to (a) enhanced interest and motivation, (b) increased persistence in engineering, and (c) the development of novel early warning and intervention systems tailored to the unique backgrounds of at-risk demographic cohorts. The challenging first-year engineering curricula could be revised to better align with the psychological demands of early engineering students who struggle to adapt to college lifestyle. In terms of professional development, theoretical knowledge and functional social science research skills will be instilled in three Civil Engineering faculty under the guidance of a faculty mentor from Psychology, all located at the University of Miami. This project represents a unique opportunity for researchers in these two disparate disciplines to collaborate to address a multidisciplinary problem.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.