GSE/RES: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Effects of First-Year Project Pedagogies on the Retention and Career Plans of Women in Engineering

智力优势：本项目将考察工程专业第一年的项目教学方法，以确定提高女性继续学习工程专业和进入工程职业的可能性的方法。具体而言，该研究将调查基于问题的学习（PBL）模型，以确定该模型中最有可能更好地支持女性在工程领域的坚持的元素。在单一专业课程中使用的PBL模型将与在服务于多个工程学科的课程中以工程设计过程为中心的更通用的基于项目的方法进行比较。该项目整合了多种激励方法（参与-识别模型、期望-价值模型和自我效能理论），并将这些方法应用于特定的教学法（基于问题的学习），为第一年的设计课程提供了希望。每一种动机框架都被证明在预测学生的选择、努力、坚持和学业成就方面具有重要意义，但很少有人知道这些方法如何推广到一年级工程课程的女性，特别是当它们相互结合考虑时。与此同时，对第一年经历的研究倾向于广泛地考察课程影响，但对第一年的具体方法（基石设计）以及这些方法对女性的影响的严格教学研究很少。拟议的研究弥补了这些差距。更广泛的影响：基础设计在工程中的重要性日益增加，但明显缺乏适合此类课程的具体教学模式的研究。这个项目超越了“设计项目”在一年级课程中的一般应用，以确定PBL等教学框架中具体的、可转移的元素如何影响女性的信念、表现、留任和职业持久性。这样做，它将为未来的工程学院提供课程设计和实施的原则，这些原则可以对全国一年级工程专业的女性产生可衡量的影响。通过解决广泛的课程现象，并通过有针对性的推广和沟通努力将研究转化为实践，该项目旨在对全国一年级工程课程产生变革性影响。

Intellectual Merit:This project will examine first-year project pedagogies in engineering in order to identify approaches that enhance the likelihood of women continuing in engineering majors and entering engineering careers. Specifically, the study will investigate the problem-based learning (PBL) model to identify elements of the model most likely to better support the persistence of women in engineering. The PBL model employed in a single-major program will be compared to a more general project-based approach centered on the engineering design process in a course serving multiple engineering disciplines. The proposed project integrates multiple approaches to motivation (the participation-identification model, the expectancy-value model, and self-efficacy theory) and the application of those approaches to a specific pedagogy (problem-based learning) that shows promise for first-year design courses. Each of the motivation frameworks has been shown to be significant in predicting students' choices, effort, persistence, and achievement in schooling, but little is known about how these approaches generalize to women in first-year engineering courses, especially when considered in combination with one another. At the same time, studies of first-year experiences tend to examine curricular impacts broadly, but little rigorous pedagogical research on specific approaches to first-year (cornerstone design) and the effects of those approaches on women. The proposed study bridges these gaps.Broader Impact:There is a growing importance of cornerstone design in engineering, but a distinct lack of research on concrete pedagogical models appropriate for such courses. This project moves beyond the general application of "design projects" to first-year courses to identify how specific, transferable elements of a pedagogical framework such as PBL affect women's beliefs, performance, retention, and career persistence. In doing so, it will provide future engineering faculty with principles of course design and implementation that can have measurable effects on women in first-year engineering programs across the nation. By addressing a widespread curricular phenomenon and moving research into practice through targeted outreach and communication efforts, the project seeks to have a transformative impact on first-year engineering curricula nationwide.