A Grand Challenge-based Framework for Contextual Learning in Engineering

美国国家工程院最近概述了工程学的十二大挑战(例如，对大脑进行反向工程)，这些挑战共同构成了工程研究和实践面临的最大和最紧迫的现实问题。这些问题的解决方案需要工程师拥有广泛的技能，包括沟通能力、基于团队的互动、伦理推理、上下文分析以及技术专业知识。这个项目创建了一个多阶段的大挑战框架，引导学生逐步从对问题的总体社会和技术背景的考虑，通过对相关应用程序的学科重点探索，最终回到广泛的问题背景，分析工程方法的贡献和局限性。将创建教学模块，用从问题背景到潜在解决方案的循序渐进的方式取代传统的抽象主题呈现模式。通过强调特定问题带来的现实世界的限制和机会，该框架迫使学生将传统概念置于更现实的背景中，最近的教育研究表明，这一点已经被用来改善教育结果。此外，学生在结束每个模块时，都会明确地反思他们计划的解决方案的局限性，以便他们看到工程原理与相关社会问题的联系。大挑战框架正在被纳入几个工程学科的课程，并在本科教育的不同阶段吸引学生。目前正在评估该框架对学生动机和通过严格的心理措施进行学习的影响，以及它是否可转到其他课程。

The National Academy of Engineering recently outlined twelve Grand Challenges for Engineering (e.g., Reverse Engineering the Brain) that collectively constitute the largest and most pressing real-world issues facing engineering research and practice. Solutions to these problems require engineers to have a broad skill set that includes communication abilities, team-based interactions, ethical reasoning, and contextual analysis as well as technical expertise. This project creates a multiple-stage Grand Challenges framework that guides students progressively from consideration of the overarching societal and technical context of a problem, through the discipline-focused exploration of a related application, and ultimately back to the broad problem context to analyze both the contributions and limitations of an engineering approach. Instructional modules will be created that replace traditional abstract modes of topical presentation with a stepwise progression from problem context through potential solutions. By emphasizing the real-world constraints and opportunities presented by a specific problem, the framework forces students to place traditional concepts into a more realistic context, which has been shown by recent educational research to improve educational outcomes. Furthermore, students conclude each module with explicit reflection on the limitations of their planned solution, so that they see the connection of the engineering principles to the relevant societal issues.The Grand Challenges framework is being incorporated into courses from several engineering disciplines and engages students at different points in their undergraduate education. The framework is being evaluated in terms of its impact on student motivation and learning through psychologically rigorous measures and on its transferability to other courses.