Application of Hierarchical Cognitive Model to Education of Undergraduate Engineering Students

工程-化学(53)我们在这个项目中解决的问题是：如何在工程学本科生达到大四之前培养他们的批判性思维能力和工程判断力？我们采用这样的假设，即智力成长构成了认知层次的一个过程，工程师所需的批判性思维位于层次中的较高水平，要达到较高的水平，每个人都必须掌握较低水平的认知技能。我们认为，高年级工科学生没有获得必要的思维技能，是因为他们的低水平认知技能没有得到完全发展或在很大程度上被忽视了。我们使用心理成长的分层模型作为加强大二和大三学生低水平认知技能的基础。具备了这些技能后，我们将应用一套教学和学习工具，以促进批判性思维和工程判断的快速有效发展。该项目结合了这些创新特征：它测试了一种新的、综合的、分层的学习模型；它评估了大量旨在推动学生达到更高认知水平的教学和学习工具；它产生了帮助教师监控学生成长的新评估工具。我们的方法正在化学工程本科生身上进行测试，但结果广泛适用于所有工程学科。作为这项研究的一部分，正在编写的教育材料包括教学手段(例如，硬件练习、设备探索、基于网络的练习、词汇、方程式问答、图形/方程式等价物、模式识别)、关于如何最好地实施分层模型的指导以及评估这些活动的有效性的新工具。这项工作的更广泛成果包括专业演讲和出版物以及一个学习项目网站。项目涉及克莱姆森大学的六名化学工程教授、克莱姆森大学的一名教育学教授和加拿大西蒙·弗雷泽大学的一名教育学教授。罗文大学、北卡罗来纳农业与技术大学、弗吉尼亚大学和密歇根大学的化学工程教授正在对我们的方法进行非现场测试。

Engineering - Chemical (53)The problem we address in this project is this: How can critical thinking skills and engineering judgment be developed in engineering undergraduates before they reach their senior year? We adopt the hypothesis that mental growth constitutes a progression through a hierarchy of cognition, that the critical thinking required of engineers lies at an upper level in the hierarchy, and that, to reach high levels, each individual must master cognitive skills at lower levels. We believe that senior engineering students do not attain the necessary thinking skills because their low-level cognitive skills have been incompletely developed or largely neglected. We use a hierarchical model of mental growth as the basis for strengthening low-level cognitive skills in sophomores and juniors. With those skills in place, we then apply an ensemble of teaching and learning devices that promote rapid and effective development of critical thinking and engineering judgment.This project incorporates these innovative features: it tests a new, integrative, hierarchical model for learning; it evaluates a substantial number of teaching and learning devices that are designed to propel students to higher levels of cognition; it results in new assessment instruments that help instructors monitor student growth. Our approach is being tested on chemical engineering undergraduates, but the results are broadly applicable to all engineering disciplines. Educational materials that are being developed as part of this research include teaching and learning devices (for example, hardware exercises, equipment explorations, web-based exercises, glossaries, equation interrogation, graph/equation equivalencies, pattern identification), guidance on how to best implement the hierarchical model, and new tools to assess the effectiveness of these activities. Broader outcomes from the work include professional presentations and publications and a project website for learning.The project involves six Professors of Chemical Engineering at Clemson, a Professor of Education at Clemson, and a Professor of Education at Simon Fraser University (Canada). Off-site testing of our methods is being performed by chemical engineering professors at Rowan University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical University, University of Virginia, and University of Michigan.