REU Site: Engineering Education Research on Undergraduate Engineering Students' Problem Solving Capacity

犹他州立大学的本科生研究体验（REU）站点将提供为期十周的工程教育研究本科生暑期研究体验。每年夏天，它将接待三组9名学生，吸引27名独特的学生。据观察，本科生研究可以提高学生对STEM学科的理解、信心、意识和兴趣。它还能提高智力技能，如探究和分析、阅读和理解原始文献、沟通和团队合作。该REU网站将让学生参与新兴的STEM教育研究项目，这些项目侧重于培养工科学生解决问题的能力，并解决解决问题的关键方面，包括工程设计。通过这项工作，学生将学会成为合作研究项目的积极科学贡献者，这些项目可以导致可发表的发现和积极的社会成果。该REU还利用机会培养学生的领导能力和管理技能，因为他们在研究的各个方面发挥主导作用。REU团队将重点招聘STEM本科生，否则他们可能没有机会进行本科研究。到暑期结束时，预计每个REU学生都将对教育研究过程有一个基本的了解。此外，他们还有望获得社交和领导技能的工具箱，更好地为他们未来的职业生涯做好准备。为期10周的REU站点包括四个组成部分：(1)REU研究项目；(2)车间;（三）研究成果和项目成果的传播；(4)校外团体社交和网络建设活动。在到达校园之前，在线向参与者提供的准备工作将使学生建立一个教育研究基础，这将提高他们在现场的研究效率。在为期三年的项目期间，来自全国各地的27名本科生将积极参与REU网站项目，与研究生和教师导师一起工作。该计划旨在为每个REU参与者提供机会，参与真实和资助的研究任务，无论是单独还是合作，以及获得管理项目可交付成果的经验的机会。这个REU有可能打开一个渠道，吸引新的研究生和STEM专业人士进入教育研究。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at Utah State University will provide a ten-week summer undergraduate research experience in engineering education research. It will host three cohorts of nine students each summer, engaging 27 unique students. Undergraduate research has been observed to increase students’ understanding, confidence, awareness, and interest in STEM subjects. It also enhances intellectual skills, such as inquiry and analysis, reading and understanding primary literature, communication, and teamwork. This REU site will involve students in emerging STEM education research projects that focus on developing engineering students’ problem-solving capacity and that address critical aspects of problem solving, including design in engineering. Through this work, students will learn to become active scientific contributors on collaborative research projects that can lead to publishable discoveries and positive societal outcomes. This REU also leverages opportunities to develop students’ leadership and managerial skills as they take leading roles in various aspects of the research. The REU team will focus recruiting efforts on STEM undergraduates who might not otherwise have the opportunity for undergraduate research. By the end of the summer experience, it is expected that each REU student will have developed a foundational understanding of educational research processes. Additionally, they are expected to also have gained a toolbox of social and leadership skills that better prepares them to succeed in their future careers. The 10-week REU site includes four integrated components: (1) REU research projects; (2) workshops; (3) dissemination of research findings and program results; and (4) off-campus group social and network-building activities. Preparatory work delivered to participants online prior to arriving on campus will allow students to develop an educational research foundation that will increase their research productivity on site. Over a three-year project period, 27 undergraduate students from across the nation will actively participate in an REU Site program working with graduate student and faculty mentors. This program is designed to offer opportunities for each REU participant to engage in authentic and funded research tasks, both individually and collaboratively, as well as an opportunity to gain experience in managing project deliverables. This REU has the potential to open a conduit to attract new graduate students and STEM professionals into educational research.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.