Research Initiation: Investigating the Role of Problem Typology in Helping Engineering Undergrads Effectively Communicate Their Experience

工程教育中的一个重要挑战是为学生提供真实世界的体验，帮助他们在实践中更好地理解作为一名工程师的意义。为了让这样的体验真正有意义，学生还必须能够有效地交流这些体验的见解。在短期内，交流经验及其相关性的能力对于培养具有雇主所希望的技能的学生来说很重要。虽然职业关系网和招聘会可以促进与大好机会的联系，但专业能力的沟通对成功至关重要。从长远来看，交流专业经验对于成为一名有效的终身学习者至关重要，因为反思日常专业情况并认识到自我改进和适应的机会的能力是进行额外专业培训的第一步。该奖项支持开发工具和技术的基础研究，帮助学生理解和交流各种与专业相关的经验的价值，如工程俱乐部项目、实习、合作项目和顶石设计项目。在本研究中，“内化和交流经验”指的是学生对其专业能力的元认知，以及他们能够有效地交流这些能力的水平。主要的假设是，提供一个问题类型和反思框架作为学生经历的背景，将提高他们内化和交流这些经历的专业相关性的能力。该项目的目标是调查这一假设，并为将问题类型学有效地整合到工程课程中而提出初步建议。四个研究问题将指导项目计划：1)问题类型的引入在多大程度上影响学生有意义地反思他们的经验的能力？2)专业能力(即团队合作、解决问题的能力、沟通能力、领导力、主动性)的引入在多大程度上影响学生有意义地反思他们的经验的能力？3)将问题类型解释为基于问题的学习中的脚手架反思对学生有意义地解构他们的经验的能力有什么影响？4)引入专业能力反思框架对学生有什么影响？能够综合并有意义地交流他们的经验(外化给外部各方)？这些研究问题通过学生反思和求职信，以及对工程专业人员的模拟访谈进行评估来调查。在分析中使用了定性(话语分析)和定量(专业工程师评分标准)两种方法。这项工作的结果将导致一个方法论框架的发展，以支持对工程专业学生在专业能力方面内化、重新综合和交流工程问题/项目经验的过程的调查。该方法框架将支持关于工程形成基础过程的识别和特征的特定工程理论的发展，以及对整体工程形成的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An important challenge in engineering education is to provide students with real-world experiences that help them to better understand what it means to be an engineer in practice. For such experiences to be truly meaningful, students must also be capable of effectively communicating insights from these experiences. In the short-term, the ability to communicate experience and its relevance is important to producing students with the kinds of skills that are desirable to employers. While professional networks and career fairs can facilitate connections to great opportunities, communication of professional competency is vital to success. In the long-term, communicating professional experiences is critical to being an effective lifelong learner, as an ability to reflect on day-to-day professional situations and recognize opportunities for self-improvement and adaptation is a first step in pursuing additional professional training. This award supports fundamental research into developing tools and techniques that aid students in understanding and communicating the value of a variety of professionally relevant experiences, like engineering club projects, internships, co-ops, and capstone design projects. The outcomes of this research are expected to impact the way in which individual courses and curriculum are designed in order to improve the professional formation of engineering students.In this research to "internalize and communicate experience" refers to a student's metacognition of their professional competencies and the level to which they can effectively communicate those competencies. The primary hypothesis is that providing a problem typology and reflection framework as context for student experiences will improve their ability to internalize and communicate the professional relevance of those experiences. The objective of the project is to investigate this hypothesis and to develop initial recommendations for effectively integrating problem typology into engineering curricula. Four research questions will guide the project plan: 1) To what degree does the introduction of a problem typology impact students' ability to meaningfully reflect on their experiences? 2) To what degree does the introduction of professional competencies (i.e. teamwork, problem-solving skills, communication skills, leadership, initiative) impact students' ability to meaningfully reflect on their experiences?3) What effect, if any, does explication of problem typology as scaffolded reflection in problem-based learning have on students' ability to meaningfully deconstruct their experiences?4) What effect does introduction of a professional competencies reflection framework have on students? ability to synthesize and meaningfully communicate their experiences (externalization to outside parties)? These research questions are investigated through student reflections and cover letters, as well as evaluation of mock interviews with engineering professionals. Both qualitative (discourse analysis) and quantitative methods (scoring rubric with professional engineers) are used in the analysis. The outcomes of this work are will lead to development of a methodological framework to support investigation of the process that engineering students use to internalize, re-synthesize, and communicate engineering problem/project experiences in terms of professional competencies. The methodological framework will support development of engineering-specific theories with respect to identity and characterization of processes that underlie engineering formation, as well as research into holistic engineering formation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.