Collaborative Research: In-Class Peer Tutoring - A Model for Engineering Instruction

本研究项目将在两所土地赠与大学实施静力学和材料力学的课堂同伴辅导(ICPT)计划，并在社会资本的框架内调查同伴辅导计划与学生和导师对留住的态度之间的关系。在这个项目中，ICPT被定义为训练有素、经验丰富的学生，在授课期间通过积极的学习练习帮助这两门课程的学生。ICPT还战略性地包括一项导师培训计划和每周课外辅导。社会资本的构建包括社会互动、规范以及这些网络和规范的价值。社会资本已被广泛应用于评估国家、社区、商业和教育层面的社会互动和规范的价值。本研究旨在进一步探讨一种行之有效的教学模式，并加深对该模式的理解--S对学生留存、社会资本和对工程学科的态度的影响。广泛实施ICPT和社会资本评估措施，可以改变本科教育文化。拟议的工作建立在基础研究的两个外部来源的基础上。理论认知研究为同伴辅导计划的价值提供了广泛的证据，社会资本研究为研究社会稳健的ICPT计划提供了理论框架。增加工科学生为应对全球经济挑战做好准备的人数对于国家竞争力至关重要。目前工程教育的课堂教学实践缺乏公认的最佳实践，缺乏让学生参与与更有经验的学生进行有意义的互动的社会资源。社会融合一直被证明是留住工科学生并取得学业成功的重要因素。在工科教育领域，缺乏有效的社会整合教学评价方法和工具。这个项目的研究结果将补充现有关于同伴辅导对学生社会融合和保持的有效性的研究，并为开发更广泛可实施的评估方法提供一个框架。有关同伴辅导、社会资本和留存的新知识将增加目前稀少的工程教育基础。

This research project will implement an in-class peer tutoring (ICPT) program in statics and mechanics of materials at two land grant universities, and investigate the relationship between the peer tutoring program and student and tutor attitudes about retention, within the framework of social capital. For this project ICPT is defined as trained and more experienced students assisting students in these two courses with active learning exercises during lecture. The ICPT also strategically includes a tutor training program and out-of-class weekly tutoring. The construct of social capital includes social interactions, norms, and the value of these networks and norms. Social capital has been broadly implemented to assess the value of social interactions and norms at the national, community, business, and education levels. This proposal aims to further investigate a proven instructional model and to develop and share a deeper understanding this model?s effect on student retention, social capital, and attitudes towards the engineering discipline. Broad implementation of ICPT and social capital evaluation measures can transform the undergraduate education culture. The proposed work builds upon two external sources of foundational research. Theoretical cognitive research provides extensive evidence of the value of peer tutoring programs, and social capital research provides the theoretical framework to investigate the socially robust ICPT program.Increasing the number of engineering students prepared for the challenges of the global economy is important for national competitiveness. Current classroom instructional practices in engineering education fall short of recognized best practices, lacking the social resources for students to participate in meaningful interactions with more experienced students. Social integration is consistently shown to be a vital factor in the retention and academic success of engineering students. There is a shortage of assessment methods and instruments to evaluate effective socially integrative teaching in the business of engineering education. Research findings from this project will add to existing research on the effectiveness of peer tutoring on student social integration and retention and provide a framework for developing more broadly implementable assessment methods. New knowledge about peer tutoring, social capital and retention will add to a presently sparse base in engineering education.