Research Initiation: Enhancing Engineering Students’ Innovation Self-Efficacy through Design of K-12 STEM Projects

研究启动：通过 K-12 STEM 项目设计提高工科学生的创新自我效能

• 批准号: 2205067
• 负责人: Azadeh Bolhari
• 金额: $ 19.99万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 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: 2022-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2205067&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Initiation; Enhancing; Engineering; Students

Innovation is an important driver of economic growth and sustainable development. Learning and working in today’s global and fast-changing world requires engineers who can think innovatively and generate novel ideas. This project focuses on the innovation self-efficacy (ISE) of engineering students, which measures one’s belief in their capacity to execute innovative designs. The project is investigating how ISE is enhanced by a curricular intervention (i.e., a K-12 STEM project designed for a global audience) among undergraduate engineering students and will support a community of new researchers in engineering education. The outcomes of the study will generate new, evidence-based teaching practices to develop students’ self-efficacy in innovation which aids in the formation of engineers who are responsive to the needs of a rapidly changing society. The desired societal benefits of this study will be: 1) advancement of K-12 STEM educational activities in the field of environmental engineering through dissemination of results to a standards-aligned curricular resource, which will provide free access to global K-12 educators, 2) incorporating three undergraduate research assistants drawn from our diverse student population, and 3) providing a professional development opportunity for a public-school STEM teacher who will be partnered in the engineering-focused activity design. In this study, a curricular intervention grounded in innovative self-efficacy (ISE) will be explored as a means to encourage innovational competence into engineering students, which contributes toward a more innovative engineering curriculum, design process, and workplace. This study will actualize an ISE-grounded teaching practice in a targeted course. The extent of students’ ISE development will be measured by five overarching research questions designed to independently capture the impact of each behavioral components of ISE: 1) To what extent does the intervention shift students’ ability to raise questions that challenge assumptions and existing states of affairs?; 2) To what extent did the intervention shift students’ ability to think of new ideas that come though studying the world?; 3) To what extent does the intervention shift students’ engagement in experimentation to explore options and generate novel designs?; 4) To what extent does the intervention shift students’ ability in creating networks that could lead to new ideas?; and 5) How are students’ ability to connect ideas from different and diverse areas enhanced by the intervention? A mixed method (sequential design) study will be used to answer those research questions. Shifts in those components will be quantified using a blend of validated instruments found in the social sciences literature and will be accompanied by focus groups at the end of the intervention to generate qualitative narratives that add value to the quantitative measures. The outcomes of the study will advance the engineering education community’s knowledge of how K-12 STEM project design for a global audience might be used to intentionally achieve targeted self-efficacy development in students. The outcomes of this research will have the potential to realize new research avenues in ISE-blended, evidence-based teaching practices and pedagogies in engineering curriculum.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.

创新是经济增长和可持续发展的重要驱动力。在当今全球化和快速变化的世界中学习和工作需要能够创新思考并产生新颖想法的工程师。该项目重点关注工程专业学生的创新自我效能（ISE），衡量一个人对其执行创新设计能力的信心。该项目正在研究如何通过本科工程学生的课程干预（即为全球受众设计的 K-12 STEM 项目）来增强 ISE，并将支持工程教育领域的新研究人员社区。该研究的结果将产生新的、基于证据的教学实践，以培养学生的创新自我效能，从而有助于培养能够响应快速变化的社会需求的工程师。这项研究的预期社会效益将是：1）通过将结果传播到符合标准的课程资源中，推进环境工程领域的 K-12 STEM 教育活动，这将为全球 K-12 教育工作者提供免费使用机会，2）吸收来自我们多元化学生群体的三名本科研究助理，以及 3）为将参与以工程为重点的活动的公立学校 STEM 教师提供专业发展机会 设计。在这项研究中，将探索以创新自我效能（ISE）为基础的课程干预，作为鼓励工程专业学生创新能力的一种手段，这有助于建立更具创新性的工程课程、设计过程和工作场所。本研究将在有针对性的课程中实现基于ISE的教学实践。学生 ISE 发展的程度将通过五个总体研究问题来衡量，这些研究问题旨在独立捕获 ISE 每个行为组成部分的影响：1）干预在多大程度上改变了学生提出挑战假设和现有事态的问题的能力？ 2）干预在多大程度上改变了学生通过研究世界思考新想法的能力？ 3）干预在多大程度上改变了学生对实验的参与，以探索选择并产生新颖的设计？ 4）干预措施在多大程度上改变了学生创建可能产生新想法的网络的能力？ 5) 干预措施如何增强学生将不同领域的想法联系起来的能力？将使用混合方法（序贯设计）研究来回答这些研究问题。这些组成部分的变化将使用社会科学文献中经过验证的工具组合进行量化，并在干预结束时由焦点小组陪同，以生成定性叙述，为定量测量增加价值。该研究的结果将提高工程教育界对如何利用面向全球受众的 K-12 STEM 项目设计来有意识地实现学生有针对性的自我效能发展的了解。这项研究的成果将有可能在工程课程中实现 ISE 混合、循证教学实践和教学法的新研究途径。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

Exploring the Role of Mentorship in Enhancing Engineering Students’ Innovation Self-Efficacy.

探索导师在增强工程学生创新自我效能方面的作用。

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Maryland.
• 作者: Bolhari, A.

A Slippery Situation: Oil Spill Cleanup and Polarity

棘手的情况：溢油清理和极性

• 发表时间: 2024
• 期刊: TeachEngineering Digital Library
• 作者: Vaisanen, V.;Tyson, E.;Wood, R.;Nelson, R.;Dupeyron, T.;Shahi, A.;Bolhari, A.;Bielefeldt, A.
• 通讯作者: Bielefeldt, A.

Work in Progress: Exploring Innovation Self-Efficacy in Neurodiverse Engineering Students.

正在进行的工作：探索神经多样化工程专业学生的创新自我效能感。

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Maryland.
• 作者: Bolhari, A.