Research Initiation: Formation of Engineering Identity Through Capstone Design Peer-Interventions

未来十年，美国STEM专业人才将面临100万人的短缺。为了弥补这一不足，美国高等教育系统有必要培养更多的STEM专业学生。众所周知，至少有三分之一的大学新生会换专业，不幸的是，STEM专业的学生比非STEM专业的学生更有可能换专业。在低年级本科生早期发展工程身份可能会减少大学头两年从工程专业转学的学生数量。这项建议旨在通过让化学工程专业的一年级和二年级学生参与与课程相关的干预活动来提高他们的工程认同感。这些干预措施利用高级化学工程学生作为近乎同行的榜样，同时将高级顶石设计课程的内容整合到低级部门的核心化学工程课程中。离开工程学的学生可能缺乏强烈的工程认同感，而在课程早期培养这种认同感将增加他们在该领域的坚持性。这项工作的一个预期结果是，通过这个以高年级学生为榜样的近乎同行的指导计划，提高学生在化学工程项目中的坚持性。拟议工作的第二个成果是对首席调查员进行教育研究方法方面的培训，以增加有能力领导工程教育研究领域研究工作的科学家队伍。这一项目为今后的工作奠定了基础，以审查工程特性的形成，因为这影响了高年级学生通过他们的顶尖设计项目融入课程其他领域的过程。这个为期两年的项目旨在确定，与没有接受同伴指导干预的学生相比，接触同伴导师在多大程度上会随着时间的推移促进学生的工程认同发展。一年级在一门化学工程入门课程中，通过围绕设计项目的课内外互动，向高年级化学工程顶石设计专业的学生介绍一批大一学生。二年级将在物质和能量平衡课程的复习部分中加入顶石设计，由顶石设计的学生通过简短的基于问题的学习练习来完成。将衡量同行互动的数量和时间及其对工程身份发展的影响。最后，研究小组将评估学生在多大程度上感受到同伴指导对他们的工程认同发展、知识获取和坚持性的影响。这项工作所基于的理论框架结合了社会化理论和角色获得理论。工程师身份将通过有效的调查工具进行评估，并在接受干预或未接受干预的学生组之间进行比较。除了定量调查工具外，还将通过焦点小组获得有关学生感知的干预质量的定性数据。专业发展活动旨在满足项目的指导部分，将与研究计划同时进行，其中包括：(1)通过完成以教育为重点的在线研究生证书，对首席调查员进行定量研究方法的正式培训；(2)通过纳入该机构以学科为基础的教育研究小组，对首席调查员进行指导；(3)将首席调查员纳入共同首席调查员每周的教育研究小组会议。研究计划和专业发展计划的同时执行为正式和非正式培训提供了直接的背景。这一奖项反映了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。

The United States is facing a one-million-person shortfall in STEM professionals within the next decade. To abate this shortfall, it is necessary for the United States higher education system to educate additional STEM majors. It is widely known that at least one third of college freshman will change their majors and, unfortunately, students in STEM majors are even more likely to change majors than their non-STEM counterparts. The development of an engineering identity early in lower division undergraduates may decrease the number of students transferring out of engineering programs within the first two years of college. This proposal aims to enhance the engineering identity of freshman and sophomore students studying chemical engineering by involving them in course-related interventions. These interventions utilize senior chemical engineering students as near-peer role models and simultaneously integrate content from the senior capstone design course into-lower division, core chemical engineering courses. It may be that students who leave engineering lack a strong engineering identity, and growing this identity early in the curriculum will increase persistence in the field. A desired outcome of this work is the increased persistence of students within the chemical engineering program through this near-peer mentoring program that uses senior level students as role models. A second outcome of the proposed work is training the principle investigator in educational research methods to increase the body of scientists equipped to lead research endeavors in the area of engineering education research. This project serves as a foundation for future work to examine formation of an engineering identity as impacted by of the integration of senior students via their capstone design projects into other areas of the curriculum. This two-year project aims to determine to what extent, relative to a control group, does exposure to a peer mentor increase students' engineering identity development over time compared to those who do not receive a peer mentoring intervention. Year 1 introduces a cohort of freshman students in an introductory chemical engineering course to senior chemical engineering capstone-design students through in-class and out-of-class interactions centered around their design projects. Year 2 will incorporate capstone-design into recitation sections of a material and energy balances course taken by sophomore students via short problem-based learning exercises facilitated by the capstone-design students. The quantity and timing of the peer interactions and their impact on engineering identity development will be measured. Finally, the research team will assess the extent to which students perceive that peer-mentoring influenced their engineering identity development, knowledge acquisition and persistence. The theoretical framework on which the work is based incorporates both socialization theory and role acquisition theory. Engineering identity will be assessed through a validated survey instrument and compared between groups of students who receive or do not receive the intervention. In addition to the quantitative survey instrument, qualitative data regarding the student-perceived quality of the interventions will be obtained through focus groups. Professional development activities, meant to satisfy the mentoring component of the project, will occur in tandem with the research plan and include: (1) the formal training of the principle investigator in quantitative research methods through completion of an online graduate certificate with a focus on education; (2) the mentorship of the principle investigator through inclusion in the Discipline-Based Education Research Group at the institution; and (3) inclusion of the principle investigator at the weekly education research group meetings of co- principle investigator. The simultaneous execution of the research plan and professional development plan provides immediate context to the formal and informal training.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.