Collaborative Research: EHR Core: Exploring the Emotional and Motivational Lives of Undergraduate Engineering Students

一支强大的工程队伍对于维持充满活力和创新的美国经济至关重要。工程学课程面临着相当大的挑战，包括需要激励学生，需要学生对学习持积极态度。先前的研究表明，当学生感觉自己的学习处于控制之中，高度重视所学的东西，能够调节他们的焦虑，并从挫折中恢复时，就会产生高的学习动机和积极的学习态度。虽然就这些问题向学生提问是有用的，但还有一种更直接的方法来研究这些问题--通过实时测量学生的身体反应。这项研究的一个独特之处在于，除了调查之外，调查人员还将通过汗水和唾液监测学生的身体压力反应，以捕捉学生在考试期间的焦虑情绪。这个ECR项目的智力价值在于，使用学生无法有意识地控制、甚至可能意识不到的身体迹象，拓宽对与成功相关的因素的理解。这项研究的更广泛影响将来自于将学生报告的感知与他们的无意识反应相结合，以更好地了解学生对学习的情绪和动机反应，特别是那些面临更大挑战的代表不足的学生。该ECR项目将支持创新的学习环境，以促进学生的成功和进入劳动力大军。更具体地说，该项目的智力价值是通过将学生的生理反应与更传统的测量相结合来扩展动机和情感理论，以更好地预测学生的信念和行为，以及在工程项目中被接受的成功衡量标准的表现。除了调查，我们还将使用基于皮肤汗液(皮肤电活动)和唾液(特别是荷尔蒙标志物)的生理标志物来捕捉学生在与基础工程课程相关的真实考试环境中的情绪和焦虑。该项目还将综合利用工程教育、心理学、生理学和学习科学的理论和实践知识。它还将扩大对与学生情绪、动机和自我调节相关的因素的理解，使用学生无法自我报告的物理信号，因为他们无法有意识地控制，甚至可能意识不到。更广泛的影响将来自于将这些发现应用于改善学生的结果，特别是那些试图在一个特别具有挑战性的环境中取得成功的代表不足的学生。

A strong engineering workforce is critical to maintaining a dynamic and innovative United States economy. Engineering programs present considerable challenges, including the need to motivate students and the need for students to have positive attitudes toward learning. Prior research demonstrates that high motivation and positive attitudes towards learning occur when students feel in control of their own learning, place a high value on what they are studying, can regulate their anxiety, and recover from setbacks. While asking students questions about these issues is useful, there is a more direct way to study them - by measuring students' physical responses in real time. A unique element of this study is that in addition to surveys, the investigators will monitor students' body stress responses through sweat and saliva to capture students' anxiety during an exam. The intellectual merit of this ECR project is to broaden understanding of factors related to success using physical signs that a student cannot consciously control and of which they may not even be aware. The broader impacts of this research will come from integrating students' reported perceptions with their unconscious responses to better understand students' emotional and motivational responses to learning, especially those of underrepresented students, who face even greater challenges. This ECR project will support innovative learning environments that promote student success and entrance into the workforce.More specifically, the intellectual merit of this project is to extend theories of motivation and emotion by integrating physiological responses of students with more traditional measures to better predict student beliefs and behaviors, as well as performance on accepted metrics of success in engineering programs. In addition to surveys, we will use physiological markers based on sweat on the skin (electrodermal activity) and saliva (particularly hormonal markers) to capture students' emotion and anxiety during an authentic exam setting associated with a foundational engineering course. The project will also be integrative in drawing upon theoretical and practical knowledge from engineering education, psychology, physiology, and the learning sciences. It will also broaden understanding of factors related to student emotion, motivation and self-regulation using physical signals that a student cannot self-report as they cannot consciously control and may not even be aware of. The broader impact will come from applying these findings to improving student outcomes, especially those of underrepresented students, who are trying to succeed in an especially challenging environment.