Collaborative Research: Leveraging Lived Experiences of Nontraditional Engineering Students to Promote Engaged Student Learning in Technical Classrooms

该项目旨在通过利用非传统工科学生的生活经验，为所有工科学生增加参与式学生学习，从而服务于国家利益。非传统学生(NTS)被定义为满足国家教育统计中心提供的七项标准中的至少一项，或在本科课程中年龄超过24岁的学生。NTE通常包括成人学习者、退伍军人和女性。非传统工科学生的人数预计将增加，并将成为工科学生人口的重要组成部分。这个项目将促进对非传统工科学生的生活经验的理解，并将重点放在利用他们的优势进行工程教育的重要性上。该项目将确定非传统工科学生可利用的生活经验的特点，创建合作学习活动，利用他们的生活经验增加学生的参与式学习，并为其他STEM教育工作者创建开放资源。作为IUSE项目参与的学生学习跟踪1级项目，该项目旨在通过扩大非传统工程专业学生在STEM教育和STEM领域的参与，并通过提供另一种教学方法来提高传统学生对工程团队多样性必要性的认识和理解，以达到提高学生在STEM中的参与和学习的目的。该项目将使用混合方法，包括半结构化访谈、调查、教师观察和会议纪要，以回答两个主要的研究问题：(1)非传统工程专业学生的生活经历是什么，可以在本科工程专业课堂上利用来增加所有学生的参与学习？以及(2)我们如何通过合作学习来利用这些在本科工程课堂上的亲身经历来增加所有学生的参与式学习？一批工程教育工作者将实施通过该项目开发的合作学习活动，以评估实施的有效性和简便性。项目完成后，将通过以下方式为本科工程教育知识体系做出贡献：(1)从基于资产的角度探索非传统工程专业学生的教育；(2)确定非传统工程专业学生生活经验的主题和属性，从而在非传统工程专业学生中传播未来的研究；(3)扩展评估工具，在课堂活动层面衡量学生参与学习的程度；(4)通过开发方法来创建利用非传统工程专业学生的生活经验的合作学习活动，并在此基础上开发一套用于验证方法的合作课堂活动，从而创建另一种教学方法。该项目的主要成果将是(1)确定非传统工科学生的生活经验的特征和属性(2)通过该项目开发一本开放的合作学习活动手册，以及开发额外的合作学习活动的方法，以利用非传统工科学生的生活经验来增加学生的参与学习。这些成果将通过会议、示范性讲习班、虚拟讲习班以及作为开放资源出版手册等方式传播。NSF IUSE：EDU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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by leveraging the lived experiences of nontraditional engineering students to increase engaged student learning for all engineering students. Nontraditional students (NTS) are defined as students who satisfy at least one of the seven criteria provided by the National Center for Education Statistics or are older than 24 years of age in an undergraduate program. NTES typically include adult learners, veterans, and women. The population of nontraditional engineering students is expected to increase and will become a significant part of the engineering student population. This project will advance the understanding of the lived experiences of nontraditional engineering students as an asset and focus on the importance of leveraging their strengths for engineering education. This project will identify the characteristics of nontraditional engineering students’ lived experiences that can be leveraged, create cooperative learning activities that leverage their lived experiences to increase engaged student learning, and create open resources for other STEM educators. As an IUSE program Engaged Student Learning Track Level 1 project, this project serves the IUSE program’s intent of increasing student engagement and learning in STEM by broadening the participation of nontraditional engineering students in STEM education and STEM fields, and by providing an alternative pedagogy to increase traditional students’ awareness and understanding of the need for diversity and appreciation of diversity in engineering teams.The project will use a mixed-methods approach that includes semi-structured interviews, surveys, instructor observations, and minute-papers to answer two major research questions: (1) What are the lived experiences of nontraditional engineering students that can be leveraged in undergraduate engineering classrooms to increase engaged learning for all students? and (2) How do we leverage these lived experiences in undergraduate engineering classrooms through cooperative learning to increase engaged learning of all students? A group of engineering educators will implement the cooperative learning activities developed through this project to evaluate the effectiveness and ease of implementation. Upon completion, this project will contribute to the undergraduate engineering education body of knowledge through: (1) exploring nontraditional engineering student education from an asset-based perspective; (2) identifying the themes and attributes of nontraditional engineering students’ lived experiences that can propagate future research in nontraditional engineering students; (3) expanding the assessment instrument in measuring engaged student learning at the in-class activity level; (4) creating an alternative instructional method by developing methodologies to create cooperative learning activities that leverage nontraditional engineering students’ lived experiences and developing a set of cooperative in-class activities based on this methodology that is used to validate the methodology. The major deliverables from this project will be (1) identifying characteristics and attributes of the lived experiences of nontraditional engineering students (2) an open handbook of cooperative learning activities developed through this project, and methodologies to develop additional cooperative learning activities that leverage the lived experiences of nontraditional engineering students to increase engaged student learning. The deliverables will be disseminated through conferences, demonstrative workshops, virtual workshops, and publication of the handbook as an open resource. The NSF IUSE: EDU 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.