Invisible Innovators: How the knowledge and experiences of low-income and first-generation students (LIFGs) can contribute to US engineering problem definition and solving

技术描述：这项探索性研究的目标是发现如何通过将低收入和第一代学生（LIFGs）的知识和经验融入工程教育，培养工程问题解决的创新和创造力。研究小组将：1）对LIFG学生的学校和工作经历进行人种学分析，以确定他们的知识和实践中与工程最相关的元素; 2）使用人种学数据编写，试点和评估案例研究，以帮助工程教育工作者认识和重视LIFG在工程问题定义和解决方面的知识和经验;以及3）为研究型大学和社区学院的教师开发和提供研讨会，以进一步理论化不同类型的工程知识在其教学和实践领域中的存在，以及如何将LIFG学生的知识和经验视为工程实践能力。本研究旨在使LIFGs可见和相关的工程教育改革。扩大参与是工程教育改革的一个关键特征，但多样性的主要定义侧重于性别、少数民族和残疾人，而社会经济不平等及其与其他代表性不足的人口类别的联系大多未得到审查。关于LIFGs的研究很少，这是基于一个缺陷模型，专注于这些学生缺乏什么。该项目打破了现有的奖学金，通过确定LIFG知识和经验在课堂外的方式，包括他们在生活和工作中发展的隐性知识，可以为所有学生提供创新的方式来定义和解决紧迫的工程问题。这是一种完全不同的理解“多样性”的方法，因为它明确地将社会经济阶层背景作为一种潜在的资源，而不是一种障碍。这种探索性的跨学科研究奠定了基础，将这些发现整合到未来的工程教育研究和多样性倡议的工作。这个早期概念的探索性研究（EAGER）的赠款提案是通过工程教育和中心司的工程项目的扩大参与和教育和人力资源局的本科教育司资助。

Technical Description:The goal of this exploratory research is to discover how innovation and creativity in engineering problem solving can be fostered by integrating the knowledge and experiences of low-income and first-generation students (LIFGs) into engineering education. The research team will: 1) engage in an ethnographic analysis of LIFG students' school and work experiences to identify the elements of their knowledge and practice that are the most relevant to engineering; 2) use the ethnographic data to write, pilot, and assess case studies to help engineering educators recognize and value LIFG knowledge and experience in engineering problem definition and solving; and 3) develop and deliver a workshop for faculty at a research university and community college to further theorize where different kinds of engineering knowledge exist in their areas of teaching and practice and how to recognize LIFG students' knowledges and experiences as capabilities in engineering practice.Broader Significance and Importance:This research seeks to make LIFGs visible and relevant to engineering education reform. Broadening participation is a key feature of engineering education reform, but dominant definitions of diversity focus on gender, ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities, leaving socioeconomic inequality -- and its link to the other underrepresented demographic categories -- mostly unexamined. The scant research that does exist about LIFGs is grounded in a deficiency model, focusing on what these students lack. This project breaks with the existing scholarship by identifying the ways in which LIFG knowledge and experience outside the classroom, including the tacit knowledge they develop in their lives and at work, could offer innovative ways for all students to define and solve pressing engineering problems. This is a radically different approach to understanding "diversity," as it explicitly includes socioeconomic class background as a potential resource rather than a hindrance. This exploratory, interdisciplinary research lays the foundation to integrate those findings into future work on engineering education research and diversity initiatives.This Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposal is funded through the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program of the Engineering Education and Centers Division and by the Division of Undergraduate Education of the Education and Human Resources Directorate.