CAREER: Student Motivation and Learning in Engineering

这个工程教育研究职业奖的目标是了解动机的各个方面如何影响工程学生批判性思维和解决问题能力的发展。这些技能通常被认为是培养学生应对工程师必须面对的不断变化的全球挑战的重要技能。为了让学生在他们的教育经历中有效地运用他们的智力资源，他们必须被激励这样做。教育工作者必须了解学生发展中的情感因素，特别是那些有助于动机（如期望、价值观、目标和态度）以及他们的认知和学习成绩的因素。以往的研究都是对情感和认知领域进行独立的研究，但很少关注驱动动机的情感因素与工科学生的认知和学习经历之间的关系。了解这些关系将解决工程教育工作者面临的最大挑战：提高对工程的兴趣，创造更多样化的工程劳动力，并为快速技术变革和全球化的未来做好准备。具体的研究目标是：1)识别和理解导致工科学生学习动机和成功动机的因素，并将这些因素与不同类型的学生进行比较（通过人口统计、专业选择等）；2)将学生的先验知识和动机与他们解决问题和批判性思维技能的发展联系起来，并跟踪这些相关性随时间的变化。3)以数据为基础，为工科本科学生发展一个综合动机理论。一个强大的工具来评估工程学生的动机在整个本科经历将开发转化为实践的研究。该项目的教育部分将侧重于培训工程研究生和教育工作者的基本理论和仪器的使用。

The objective of this engineering education research CAREER award is to understand how various aspects of motivation affect the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills for engineering students. These skills are commonly understood as important in preparing students for the ever-changing global challenges engineers must face. In order for students to effectively apply their intellectual resources in their educational experiences, they must be motivated to do so. Educators must understand affective factors in students' development, in particular those that contribute to motivation (e.g. expectations, values, goals, and attitudes) as well as their cognition and academic performance. Past research has addressed the affective and cognitive domains independently, but there has been little focusing on how affective factors that feed motivation are related to both the cognition and learning experiences of engineering students. Understanding these relationships will address the greatest challenges facing engineering educators: increasing interest in engineering, creating a more diverse engineering workforce, and preparing students for a future of rapid technological change and globalization. Specific research goals are to 1) identify and understand factors that contribute to engineering students' motivation to learn and succeed, and compare these against different student types (by demographics, choice of major, etc.), 2) correlate students' prior knowledge and motivation with the development of their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and track changes in these correlations over time, and 3) develop an amalgamated motivation theory for undergraduate engineering students grounded in the data. A robust instrument to assess engineering students' motivation throughout the undergraduate experience will be developed to translate research to practice. The education component of the project will focus on training engineering graduate students and educators in underlying theory and use of the instrument.