MCA: Concept Mapping for Improved Technical Communication in Undergraduates

这个职业生涯中期发展（MCA）项目调查了概念图活动如何影响本科学生在高级化学和生物工程实验课程中的技术沟通技巧。目标是通过增加新的概念图作业来展示学生生成的实验数据与书面交流之间的联系，从而提高本科生的技术沟通能力。通过调查概念映射对学生交流技术信息能力的潜在影响，本研究旨在解决向工程师教授技术交流的挑战。该项目还将探索学生之间潜在的差异，并努力创造一个包容性的学习环境，使学生对自己的技术交流有信心。在整个项目中，首席研究员将由一位经验丰富的工程教育研究员进行指导。该项目的潜在好处符合国家利益，使准备充分、具备技术沟通技能的工程毕业生加入技术队伍，并扩大其进行工程教育研究的能力。概念图将作为一种工具来支持学生学习如何在书面报告中传达复杂的技术概念。将探讨的研究问题是：1)在实验课程中，概念图的使用如何影响学生的技术沟通技巧？2)概念图对不同学生群体的技术沟通能力有何影响？3)概念图的协同开发对个体的沟通技巧和各自在沟通任务中的表现有多大程度的影响？4)概念图的质量与技术沟通作业的分数之间的关系是什么？为了回答这些问题，将通过调查、访谈和评估收集数据，然后对这些数据进行分析，以寻找技术沟通技巧和信心增长的证据。该项目的研究结果旨在促进技术交流教学的进步，促进更深入的学习和理解，并最终增强工程毕业生的准备。此外，本研究有可能为工程教育工作者提供有价值的评估工具，并促进在不同机构和学科中采用基于证据的概念映射实践。本项目由美国国家科学基金会IUSE: EDU项目资助，该项目支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育效率。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 Mid-Career Advancement (MCA) project investigates how concept mapping activities affect the technical communication skills of undergraduate students in a senior-level chemical and biological engineering laboratory course. The goal is to enhance the technical communication skills of undergraduate students by adding new concept mapping assignments to show connections between student-generated laboratory data and their written communications. By investigating the potential impact of concept mapping on students' ability to communicate technical information, this research aims to address the challenges of teaching technical communication to engineers. This project will also explore potential disparities among students and strive to create an inclusive learning environment that empowers students to have confidence in their technical communications. The principal investigator will be mentored by an experienced researcher in engineering education throughout the project. The potential benefits of this project serve the national interest for well-prepared engineering graduates with technical communication skills to join the technical workforce and expanded capacity to conduct research on engineering education. Concept mapping will be implemented as a tool to support students to learn how to communicate complex technical concepts in written reports. The research questions that will be explored are: 1) How does the use of concept mapping influence students' technical communication skills in the laboratory course?, 2) What are the the impacts of concept mapping on the technical communication skills for different groups of students? 3) To what extent does the collaborative development of concept maps impact individuals' communication skills and their respective performance on communication assignments?, and 4) What is the relationship between the quality of concept maps and scores on technical communication assignments? To answer these questions, data will be collected through surveys, interviews, and assessments, which will then be analyzed for evidence of growth in technical communication skills and confidence. The findings of this project seek to contribute to the advancement of technical communication instruction, promote deeper learning and understanding, and ultimately enhance the preparation of engineering graduates. Additionally, this research has the potential to provide a valuable assessment tool for engineering educators and to facilitate the adoption of evidence-based practices in concept mapping across various institutions and disciplines. This project is supported by the NSF IUSE: EDU program, which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students.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.