A Longitudinal Study of the Dimensions of Disciplinary Culture to Enhance Innovation and Retention among Engineering Students

这项资助研究了工科本科生与其他学科本科生在学科文化上的差异，以更好地了解工科学生的学科文化认同与学业成绩之间的关系。这项研究的目标是确定学科文化方面的主要因素，这些方面是解决对未来工程教育至关重要的问题的主要因素，如创新、创造力和多样性。该基金运用霍夫斯特德？S的文化维度(权力距离、集体主义/个人主义、女性气质/男性气质和不确定性回避)来解释学生如何发展在一个学科内和跨学科运作的技能。此外，该补助金还探讨了纪律文化与工程专业招收和留住学生之间的关系，特别是对代表性不足的群体。调查人员？之前与跨学科设计团队的合作表明，避免不确定性的维度尤其重要：容忍甚至接受不确定性的能力支持创新的跨学科设计实践。此外，尽管许多工科学生可能不太可能容忍不确定性，但那些确实接受不确定性的工程师可能会发现自己与工程学课程疏远了。这种模式反过来可能会影响工科学生群体的多样性。因此，这项拨款解决了五个研究问题：1)霍夫斯特德？S的文化维度如何与学术学科相对应？2)文化维度与(A)学生选择专业和(B)学生在专业上的成功之间有什么关系？3)学生在学术项目中如何随着时间的推移而在文化维度上发生变化？4)哪些因素会影响这些变化，如课程、教师？5)上述关系是否显示出人口统计学指标的变化，如种族或性别？为了调查这些问题，这项拨款包括一项多所大学的研究，该研究考察了整个大学的文化维度，然后跟踪学生在工程学领域的发展。这笔赠款的智力价值包括发展一种可操作的学科文化理论，以支持包容性和协作性创新的教学。尽管人们普遍认为，21世纪的工程师必须更具创造性和创新性，但在开发支持这些目标的工程教学方法方面，进展甚微。拨款的结果可用于工程项目，以更好地设计支持创新和创造力的课程。更广泛的影响包括更好地了解纪律文化在招收和留住学生方面的作用，特别是对目前在工程学中任职人数不足的群体。这笔赠款为关于工程设计在培养美国工程师迎接21世纪技术挑战方面的作用的辩论提供了信息。

This grant studies differences in disciplinary culture between undergraduates in engineering and in other disciplines to better understand the relationship between disciplinary cultural identity and academic outcomes of engineering students. The goal of the study is to identify aspects of disciplinary culture that are major factors in addressing issues that a critical for engineering education in the future, such as innovation, creativity, and diversity. The grant applies Hofstede?s dimensions of culture (power distance, collectivism/individualism, femininity/masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance) to explain how students develop skills to operate within a discipline and across disciplines. Furthermore, the grant explores the relationship between disciplinary culture and student recruitment and retention in engineering programs, particularly with respect to underrepresented groups. The investigators? prior work with interdisciplinary design teams indicates that the dimension of uncertainty avoidance is especially critical: the ability to tolerate and even embrace uncertainty supports innovative interdisciplinary design practice. In addition, while many engineering students may be less likely to tolerate uncertainty, those engineers who do embrace uncertainty may find themselves alienated from engineering curricula. This pattern, in turn, may impact diversity in engineering student populations.Consequently, the grant addresses five research questions: 1) How do Hofstede?s dimensions of culture map to academic disciplines? 2) What are the relationships between the dimensions of culture and (a) student choice of major and (b) student success with a major? 3) How do students change over time in their academic programs with respect to the dimensions of culture? 4) What factors affect those changes, e.g., curriculum, instructors? 5) Do the relationships in above show any variation by demographic indicators, e.g., race or gender? To investigate these questions, the grant includes a multi-university study that examines the dimensions of culture across the university, and then follows the development of students within engineering. The intellectual merit of the grant includes developing an actionable theory of disciplinary culture that can support pedagogies of inclusive and collaborative innovation. Despite widespread agreement that engineers for the 21st century must be more creative and innovative, there has been little progress in developing engineering pedagogies that support those goals. The results of the grant can be used by engineering programs to better design curricula that support innovation and creativity. The broader impacts include having a better understanding of the role of disciplinary culture in recruiting and retaining students, particularly with respect to groups that are currently underrepresented in engineering. This grant informs the debate about the role of engineering design in training U.S. engineers to meet the technical challenges of the 21st century.