Exploring Engineering Design Knowing and Thinking as an Innovation in STEM Learning

更好地理解工程学及其与社会的关系对所有美国人来说至关重要，即使是那些不打算进入工程学的人也是如此。进行工程设计的方法是设计和分析。这个项目调查了高中生对设计思维的理解与有经验的实践者相比如何，以及参加以工程为重点的多年课程序列是否与设计思维的变化相关。该项目建立在科罗拉多大学和巴尔的摩县马里兰大学制定的技术素养标准和课程的基础上。这项研究是对邻近高中的40名学生进行的，他们每人都在研究在现实约束下设计操场的问题。设计思维被操作化为一系列变量，包括设计过程中各要素之间的时间分配、设计过程各要素之间的转换、备选解决方案的生成、设计活动的优先顺序以及优先顺序与实际应用之间的一致性。这项研究重复了一项针对工科大学生的类似研究。研究生试行数据收集和分析程序，然后对高中生进行观察和访谈。评估了研究生在试点过程中的培训情况和收集和分析数据的能力。研究结果发表在研究和从业者期刊上。

A better understanding of engineering and its relation to society is critical for all Americans, even those who do not plan to go into engineering. The method of doing engineering is design and analysis. This project investigates how high school students' understanding about design thinking compares to that of experienced practitioners and whether participation in a multiyear sequence of courses focused on engineering correlates with changes in design thinking. The project builds upon the Standards for Technological Literacy and courses developed at the University of Colorado and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The research is done with forty students in neighboring high schools each working on the problem of designing a playground under realistic constraints. Design thinking is operationalized into a series of variables including time allocation across the elements in a design process, transitions between elements of the design process, generation of alternative solutions, prioritization of design activities and congruence between prioritization and practical application. This study replicates a similar study with college engineering students. Graduate students pilot the data collection and analysis procedures and then observe and interview the high school students. The training of the graduate students during piloting and their ability to gather and analyze data is evaluated. The results are published in research and practitioner journals.