Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: The Use of Mobile Technology and Innovative Pedagogy to Improve Undergraduate Thermal-Fluid Science Learning

留住学生仍然是科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)项目中的一个问题。该项目将利用移动技术和技术增强的课程来提高学生在STEM本科课程中的参与度和学习能力。技术增强的课程将完全集成到热流体课程中，以提供内容并促进学生与内容、教师和同行的互动。这项研究项目将衡量移动技术，当有目的地整合到工程教学中时，如何影响学生的参与度，增强学习能力，并将学习扩展到现实生活中的问题。通过移动设备的完全集成，这项研究的成果将改变热流体科学课程的教与学。这项研究将由一名工程教育研究领域的新手领导，他将通过研究方法得到一名工程教育研究人员的指导。这与工程形成研究启动计划的目标一致，即启动新的研究人员进入工程形成研究，以满足不同劳动力的需求。开展这样的研究项目将补充首席研究员在课堂上开发和实施移动学习的经验，同时使用社会科学研究方法来促进未来工程师的专业形成。本研究的基本目标是衡量移动技术在有目的地整合到工程教学中时，如何影响学生的参与、增强和扩展学习。本研究以一门本科热流体科学课程作为示范课程，其主要贡献在于直接改善和改造工科学生对工科课程中最难、最抽象的内容之一的学习。在社会建构主义理论框架和Triple E框架(参与、提高学习结果和将学习目标扩展到现实生活问题)的指导下，研究团队将进行一项混合方法研究，使用触笔和技术增强的课程来实施移动设备。为了考察移动设备对学生学习的影响，以下研究问题将在参与度、学习结果和将学习目标扩展到现实生活问题方面进行探讨：(1)移动设备的使用是否促进了对热流体科学课程内容的参与？(2)移动设备的使用是否增加了热流体科学课程中已识别的疑难概念的学习，如成绩增加所示？(3)学生对使用移动设备解决实际问题的看法是什么？这项研究的发现将为教育工作者提供一个蓝图，在STEM学科的教学和学习中更广泛地实施移动设备。此外，该项目是Triple E框架在高等教育中的首批应用之一，提供了在教育技术研究与循证教学实践之间架起桥梁的潜力。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。

Student retention remains a problem in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs. This project will utilize mobile technologies and a technology-enhanced curriculum to improve student engagement and learning in STEM undergraduate courses. The technology-enhanced curriculum will be fully integrated in the thermal-fluids course to deliver content and to facilitate student engagement with the content, instructor, and peers. This research project will measure how mobile technology, when purposefully integrated into engineering teaching, impacts student engagement, enhancement, and extension of learning to real-life problems. Through the full integration of mobile devices, findings from this research will transform the teaching and learning of the thermal-fluid science curriculum. The study will be led by a researcher who is new to the field of engineering education research who will be mentored through research methods by an engineering education researcher. This aligns with the Research Initiation in Engineering Formation program’s goal of initiating new researchers into engineering formation research to meet the needs of a diverse workforce. Undertaking such research project will supplement the lead researcher’s experience in developing and implementing mobile learning in the classroom while using social science research approaches to advance both the professional formation of future engineers.The underlying goal of this research is to measure how mobile technology, when purposefully integrated into engineering teaching, impacts student engagement, enhancement, and extension of learning. Using an undergraduate thermal-fluid science course as a model course, the primary contribution of this research is to directly improve and transform engineering students’ learning in one of the most difficult and abstract content in engineering curricula. Guided by a social-constructivist theoretical framework and the Triple E framework (Engagement, Enhancement of learning outcomes, and Extension of learning goals to real-life problems), the research team will conduct a mixed-methods study, implementing mobile devices with a stylus and a technology-enhanced curriculum. To examine the impact of mobile devices on student learning, the following research questions will be addressed in the areas of engagement, learning outcomes, and extension of learning goals to real-life problems: (1) Does mobile device use facilitate engagement in thermal-fluid science course content? (2) Does mobile device use increase learning of identified difficult concepts in thermal-fluid science courses as indicated by increased achievement scores? (3) What are student perceptions of using mobile devices for solving real-life problems? The findings from this research will provide educators a blueprint for broader implementation of mobile devices in teaching and learning across STEM disciplines. Further, this project is one of the first applications of the Triple E Framework in higher education, offering potential to bridge research on educational technologies with evidence-based teaching practices.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.