CAREER: The Overlooked Barrier – Exploring How Engineering Education Research Teams Negotiate Epistemic Differences

职业：被忽视的障碍 — 探索工程教育研究团队如何协商认知差异

• 批准号: 2346868
• 负责人: Courtney Faber
• 金额: $ 59.1万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Buffalo
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2027-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2346868&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Overlooked; Barrier; Exploring; How

Engineering education is an interdisciplinary field that includes researchers and practitioners from a range of backgrounds - engineering, sociology, psychology, etc. Each of these disciplines have their own approaches that drive the “rules” that guide how research is conducted and what research questions are asked. These differences have led to tension and misunderstanding around the process of knowledge generation and application, limiting the research that is done and the impact of research on engineering education (e.g., K-12 engineering education, undergraduate engineering instruction). Researchers often incorrectly associate these tensions with ineffective communication or project management, creating an overlooked barrier facing research teams. This project will begin to address this overlooked barrier by first investigating how differences in thinking are negotiated among members of an engineering education research (EER) team. By gaining this understanding, this project will take an iterative approach to develop workshops, asynchronous trainings, and course modules focused on supporting EER researchers and teams to navigate barriers related to differences in thinking and ultimately create transformative change in engineering education. The key outcomes of this proposal will be (1) a conceptual model the incorporates epistemic culture and individual’s negotiation of epistemic identities within EER teams; (2) four workshops to expand the conceptual model and translate it for use by researchers; (3) a guiding tool to facilitate the integration of different research goals, approaches, and ideals (epistemic identities) within EER teams; and (4) an asynchronous virtual training and two instructional modules to support both established and emerging researchers. The outcomes of this work will ensure that researchers and teams have the knowledge and tools to navigate barriers related to differences in thinking. This project will achieve these outcomes through three major plans that are fully-integrated. The Research Plan will use a multimethod research approach to investigate 1) how researchers negotiate differences in thinking and 2) the culture that defines how and why teams select specific approaches to generate and apply knowledge. This investigation will be guided by the following research question: How are epistemic differences negotiated among members of engineering education research teams? This project will answer this question by integrating an ethnographic case study (Phase A) with approaches from grounded theory (Phase B). Phase A will deeply explore the culture that defines how knowledge is generated, expressed, and applied within a single research team. This deep exploration will develop an initial conceptual model that represents one way EER teams generate and apply knowledge. Phase B will expand this model by investigating how researchers across a variety of EER teams negotiate differences in thinking and define how knowledge is generated and applied. The Translation Plan will integrate the Research and Education Plans by developing and conducting four workshops. The first two workshops, called exploration workshops, will refine the conceptual model by adding constructs and connections that will be further explored through the Research Plan. Then, two development workshops will be used to translate the research findings to practice through the creation of a guiding tool to facilitate the integration of different research goals, approaches, and ideals within EER teams. The Education Plan will equip researchers and teams with the knowledge and tools to negotiate barriers related to differences in thinking by developing an asynchronous virtual training and two instructional modules. An iterative approach will be used to develop these training to ensure that their structure and content meet the needs of researchers. The asynchronous virtual training will be developed for established researchers. The instructional modules will be developed for emerging researchers and will be implemented within six engineering education programs.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.

工程教育是一个跨学科的领域，包括研究人员和从业人员从一系列的背景-工程学，社会学，心理学等，这些学科都有自己的方法，驱动“规则”，指导研究如何进行，什么研究问题被问。这些差异导致了围绕知识生成和应用过程的紧张和误解，限制了所做的研究以及研究对工程教育的影响（例如，K-12工程教育，本科工程指导）。研究人员经常错误地将这些紧张关系与无效的沟通或项目管理联系起来，从而为研究团队创造了一个被忽视的障碍。这个项目将开始，以解决这一被忽视的障碍，首先调查如何在思维差异的工程教育研究（EER）团队的成员之间进行谈判。通过获得这种理解，该项目将采取迭代的方法来开发研讨会，异步培训和课程模块，重点支持EER研究人员和团队克服与思维差异相关的障碍，并最终在工程教育中创造变革。本计划的主要成果包括：（1）一个概念模型，将认知文化和个体在EER团队中对认知身份的协商结合起来;（2）四个研讨会，以扩展概念模型并将其翻译给研究人员使用;（3）一个指导工具，以促进不同研究目标、方法和理想的整合（认知身份）EER团队内;（4）异步虚拟培训和两个教学模块，以支持既有和新兴的研究人员。这项工作的成果将确保研究人员和团队拥有知识和工具，以克服与思维差异有关的障碍。该项目将通过三个完全整合的主要计划实现这些成果。研究计划将使用多方法研究方法来调查1）研究人员如何协商思维差异，2）定义团队如何以及为什么选择特定方法来生成和应用知识的文化。本调查将指导以下研究问题：如何认识工程教育研究团队的成员之间的差异谈判？本项目将通过整合民族志案例研究（A阶段）和扎根理论（B阶段）来回答这个问题。A阶段将深入探索定义知识如何在单个研究团队中生成，表达和应用的文化。这种深入的探索将开发一个初始的概念模型，代表EER团队生成和应用知识的一种方式。阶段B将通过调查不同EER团队的研究人员如何协商思维差异并定义知识如何生成和应用来扩展此模型。翻译计划将通过开发和举办四个讲习班来整合研究和教育计划。前两个研讨会称为探索研讨会，将通过添加将通过研究计划进一步探索的结构和连接来完善概念模型。然后，两个开发研讨会将被用来通过创建一个指导工具，以促进EER团队内不同的研究目标，方法和理想的整合，将研究结果转化为实践。教育计划将通过开发异步虚拟培训和两个教学模块，为研究人员和团队提供知识和工具，以克服与思维差异有关的障碍。将使用迭代方法来开发这些培训，以确保其结构和内容满足研究人员的需求。异步虚拟培训将为建立研究人员。教学模块将为新兴的研究人员开发，并将在六个工程教育项目中实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得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的支持。