Measuring the Effects of Precollege Engineering on the Experience of Engineering Students

这个工程教育研究项目旨在探索大学预科工程课程如何影响那些进入本科工程学位课程的学生。该项目将同时使用定性和定量方法，并将定性部分的结果用于开发一种调查工具。然后，这个工具可以用来了解这些项目在全国范围内的影响。该项目具有更广泛的意义和重要性，将有助于工程管理人员、教师和本科及大学预科课程的设计者适应学生不断变化的需求和能力。检查参与者的人口统计数据将证明谁有机会或正在利用大学预科工程项目，以及大学预科工程的影响是否在不同的人口群体中有所不同。该项目与NSF的战略目标重叠，即通过投资导致新兴工程领域或转移现有领域来改变前沿。此外，NSF为社会创新的目标是通过创造对社会有用的结果和研究，为教育政策和实践提供信息。

This engineering education research project seeks to explore how pre-college engineering programs affect those students who enroll into undergraduate engineering degree programs. The project will use both qualitative and quantitative methods, with the results from the qualitative component used to develop a survey instrument. This instrument then can be used to understand the impact such programs have at a national scale.The broader significance and importance of this project will help engineering administrators, instructors and designers of undergraduate and pre-college curricula adapt to students' changing needs and abilities. Examining the demographics of the participants will demonstrate who has access to or is taking advantage of pre-college engineering programs, and if the effects of pre-college engineering vary across different demographic groups. This project overlaps with NSF's strategic goals of transforming the frontiers by making investments that lead to emerging new fields of engineering, or shifting existing fields. Additionally NSF's goal of innovating for society is enabled by creating results and research that are useful for society by informing educational policy and practices.