Increasing Student Engagement by Improving Social-cognitive Bias Education

培养和留住优秀的STEM工人对美国的全球竞争力至关重要。当资源未被开发时，创新是有限的。在整个美国，对训练有素、装备精良的工程师和科学家的需求很大，以适应当今的STEM劳动力，包括工程学教授。该项目旨在设计、实施和研究一项教师发展计划，以解决影响学生留校率的两个主要因素：(A)减少不能充分代表工科学生经验的“寒冷气候”；(B)增加工科课堂上的积极学习机会。通过使用专业读物、工作坊和小组讨论和活动，将向参与的工程学教师提供关于积极学习教学实践和为来自不同背景的学生创造包容性学习环境的支持。这一资助项目与国家科学基金会扩大参与工程计划的当前优先事项密切相关。通过加强教学和改善工程课堂气氛，工程学教师可能会创造更具包容性的学习环境，这可能会增加学习工程学的人数。研究人员声称要为工程学教师开发一个培训计划，让他们掌握减少社会认知偏差的策略和技能，以及这种偏见对学生，特别是代表性不足的学生群体成功结果的影响。采用混合方法的研究设计，教师发展计划的结果将在多个层面上进行分析，以确定该项目对工程专业学生和教师的影响。如果成功，它将极大地改善全国高等教育中的工程教学和课堂氛围。为此，所有的数据收集将集中在以下几个方面：(1)教师对项目的反应，(2)教学实践中观察到的变化，(3)学生对课堂气氛的体验，(4)学生在课堂上的参与，(5)学生对后续课程的参与，以及(6)学生对工程课程的保留。该项目旨在通过确定存在的限制和扩大努力所需的资源，来确定努力中容易被其他人适应的部分。将创建一个网站，向社区提供项目信息，并计划为工程院长理事会和证券交易委员会的会议举办研讨会。该项目还将利用先期实施导师网络与有代表性的机构建立联系，并进一步鼓励调整这项工作的战略和材料。

Developing and maintaining outstanding STEM workers is critical to America's global competitiveness. Innovation is limited when resources are untapped. Throughout the United States, there is a great demand for engineers and scientists who are well-trained and well-equipped for today's STEM workforce, including the engineering professoriate. This project seeks to design, implement, and study a faculty development program that addresses two major factors influencing student retention: (a) reducing the "chilly climate" that underrepresented engineering students' experience and (b) increasing active learning opportunities in the engineering classroom. Through the use of specialized readings, workshops, and small group discussions and activities, participating engineering faculty will be offered support on active learning instructional practices and on creating an inclusive learning environment for students from diverse backgrounds. This grant project is closely linked with current priorities of the National Science Foundation's Broadening Participation in Engineering program. By enhancing instruction and improving the engineering classroom climate, engineering faculty are likely to create more inclusive learning environments that may increase the number of underrepresented students who pursue engineering.The investigators purport to develop a training program for engineering faculty that equip them with strategies and skills to reduce their social cognitive biases and the effects of such biases have on success outcomes for students, especially underrepresented student groups. Using a mixed-method research design, the results of the faculty development program will be analyzed at multiple levels to determine the impact the project had on engineering students and faculty. If successful, it has immense potential to improve engineering instruction and classroom climate in higher education across the country. To this end, all data collections will focus on the following:(1) Faculty reactions to the program,(2) Observed changes in instructional practice,(3) Student experiences of the classroom climate,(4) Student engagement in the classroom,(5) Student engagement in subsequent courses, and(6) Student retention in the engineering curriculum.The project is targeting components of the effort that can be easily adapted by others, by identifying the limitations that exist and the resources that are needed to scale the effort. A website will be created to provide program information to the community and workshops are planned for meetings of the Engineering Deans Council and the SEC. The project will also leverage the ADVANCE Implementation Mentors (AIM) Network to connect with the representative institutions and further encourage adaptation of the effort's strategies and materials.