Expanding Pathways for Preparing the Next Generation of Engineers: First-Year Engineering 2.0 (FYE2.0)

本计画旨在改善工程教育课程，并建立实践以改善学生对工程的心态和坚持，为国家利益服务。目前的本科工程课程继续使用旧的模式，即学生们学习相同的课程，步调一致，不考虑个人兴趣或优势，以培养可互换的毕业生。该项目旨在通过模块化辛辛那提大学一年级的工程课程，展示开发和实施更灵活、可定制课程的可行性。具体来说，该项目计划将现有的两门课程拆分成更小的模块，并为主题创建额外的选项。虽然有些模块是所有学生必修的，但学生应该能够在其他模块中进行选择，以追求自己的兴趣和定制自己的路径。这种模块化课程的目的是通过超越工业革命中可互换部件的模型，更关注下一代工程劳动力的需求，从而建立一个响应系统，接受定制组件来应对社会挑战。一个关键的交付成果将是一个工具包，它记录了潜在解决方案的行政和后勤问题，并确定了对教师和学生参与模块化课程有帮助的支持。除了开发，实施和评估各种入门工程主题的模块外，该项目还打算围绕工程教育文献中越来越突出的结构进行研究，即学生的心理健康福祉，以及第一年计划的实施如何对学生个人健康产生积极或消极的影响。考虑到学生如何管理情绪和压力源，包括自我报告的压力、焦虑和抑郁，以及不同的学生社会身份和包容性观念，该项目旨在研究一年级工程经验的设计如何影响第一次进入大学和转学生如何驾驭课程并最终完成学位，包括学术成果和情感成果。该研究将使用解释性顺序混合方法设计，定量阶段随后是定性阶段，将在每个学生队列中重复（每个队列约1500名学生）。为了了解课程变化对人口水平的影响，该项目打算分析每年大学水平的保留数据。NSF IUSE: EDU项目支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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 project aims to serve the national interest by improving curricula in engineering education, and establishing practices to improve student mindset and persistence in engineering. The current undergraduate engineering curriculum continues to use the old model in which students take the same courses, in lockstep, regardless of individual interests or strengths, to produce interchangeable graduates. This project intends to demonstrate the feasibility of developing and implementing a more flexible, customizable curriculum, by modularizing the first-year engineering courses at the University of Cincinnati. Specifically, the project plans to disassemble the two existing courses into smaller modules and create additional options for topics. Although some modules will be required of all students, students should be able to select among the other modules to pursue their own interests and customize their pathways. The intent of this modularized curriculum is that it be more focused on the needs of the next generation of the engineering workforce by moving beyond the model of interchangeable parts from the industrial revolution to a responsive system that accepts customized components to address societal challenges. A key deliverable will be a toolkit that documents administrative and logistical issues with potential solutions and identifies supports that are helpful for faculty and students in engaging with a modularized curriculum.In addition to developing, implementing, and evaluating modules on a variety of introductory engineering topics, the project intends to conduct research centered on constructs that have become more prominent in the engineering education literature, namely students’ mental health well-being, and how the implementation of the first-year program can positively or negatively influence individual student wellness. Considering how students manage emotions and stressors including self-reported stress, anxiety, and depression, and different student social identities and perceptions of inclusion the project intends to study how the design of the first-year engineering experience impacts how first-time-in-college and transfer students navigate the curriculum and ultimately complete their degrees, including academic outcomes and affective outcomes. The research will use an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, a quantitative phase followed by a qualitative phase, which will be repeated with each cohort of students (approximately 1500 students per cohort). To understand the population-level impact of the curricular change, the project intends to analyze year-over-year college-level retention data. 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.