Collaborative Research: Implementing a Humanities-driven Curriculum to Address Critical Thinking and Empathy Skills Among Engineering Students

该项目旨在通过了解如何通过人文驱动的课程和解决问题的方法培养批判性思维和同理心的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）专业人员，从而为国家利益服务。由于我们的社会日益复杂，STEM专业人士对移情和批判性思维技能的需求变得越来越明显。科技带来的持续全球化意味着，科学家和工程师的工作对我们的互动和沟通方式产生了比以往任何时候都更大的影响，并为我们的社会带来了一系列新的重大挑战。传统上，尽管批判性思维和同理心技能是人文教育的标志，但人文学科在STEM教育中几乎没有发挥作用。然而，自然的联系可能会丰富STEM学生的教育经验，并更好地为他们迎接这些重大挑战做好准备。该项目将在人文环境中展示科学和工程问题，这种方法被称为人文驱动的STEM （HDSTEM）。这种方法将在德克萨斯理工大学（TTU）和罗切斯特理工学院（RIT）这两所大学的人文和工程领域开展跨学科合作。通过这种合作，学生将培养解决问题的能力，这需要他们移情和批判性思考。通过NSF IUSE:EHR参与学生学习轨道，这项工作将满足该项目的目标，即寻求产生和使用有关STEM教学和学习的新知识的变革性方法，以改善本科生的STEM教育。该项目将检验两个问题解决任务的有效性：在两个课程设计中，典型问题解决和移情嵌入式问题解决：由团队教授的人文和STEM教师进行HDSTEM设计，以及由STEM教师在入门工程课程中进行指导。课程处理将在TTU和RIT两所大学之间进行比较。虽然考虑到这两所学校的教师和讲师不同，但课程将通过共享的典型和移情嵌入式问题解决任务联系在一起。这些治疗的目的是加深STEM学生的同理心和批判性思考的能力。同时，该项目将研究两种实施过程（即HDSTEM课程和入门工程课程）中哪一种效果更好。本研究将采用混合方法来分析数据和结果。将收集、分析和比较多个来源的数据进行三角测量。将对课程开始和结束时收集的数据进行比较。话语和内容分析结合常用的批判性思维和移情规则将衡量和评估课程处理的差异。结果将显示HDSTEM环境在批判性思维和同理心方面的好处。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。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 project aims to serve the national interest by understanding how critical thinking and empathetic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals can be developed through a humanities-driven curricular and problem-solving approach. The need for empathetic and critical thinking skills for STEM professionals is becoming readily evident due to the increased complexities of our society. Continued globalization through technologies means that the work of scientists and engineers has a greater impact on how we interact and communicate than ever before and presents a new set of grand challenges for our society. Traditionally, the humanities have played little to no role in STEM education even though critical thinking and empathy skills are hallmarks of a humanities education. There are, however, natural links that may enrich STEM students' educational experience and better prepare them to meet these grand challenges. This project will present science and engineering problem-solving within a humanities setting, an approach called humanities-driven STEM (HDSTEM). This approach will engage an interdisciplinary collaboration between humanities and engineering situated at two universities, Texas Tech University (TTU) and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). With this collaboration, students will develop problem-solving skills that require them to empathize and think critically. Through the NSF IUSE:EHR Engaged Student Learning track, this work will meet the program's goal to seek transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for undergraduate students.This project will examine the effectiveness of two problem-solving assignments: typical problem-solving and empathy-embedded problem-solving within two-course designs: a HDSTEM design with team-taught Humanities and STEM faculty, and instruction by STEM faculty in an introductory engineering curriculum. Curriculum treatments will be compared across two universities, TTU and RIT. While considering different faculty and instructors for this curriculum at the two institutions, the curriculum will be tied together through shared typical and empathy-embedded problem-solving assignments. The purpose of these treatments is to deepen STEM students' ability to empathize and think critically. At the same time, the project will examine which of the two implementation processes (i.e., HDSTEM curriculum and introductory engineering curriculum) performs better. This study will use a mixed-methods approach to analyze data and results. Multiple sources of data will be collected, analyzed, and compared for triangulation. Comparisons will be made between the data collected at the beginning and end of the courses. Discourse and content analysis in conjunction with commonly used rubrics for critical thinking and empathy will measure and assess differences from the curriculum treatments. Results will show benefits in critical thinking and empathy from the HDSTEM environment. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.