IUSE: Conservation Principles, Illustrated: Analyzing the Impact of Informal Visual Learning Tools on Educational Engineering Through Comics

该项目旨在通过使用漫画来评估非正式视觉学习工具在本科工程课程中的影响，从而为国家利益服务。 工程专业的学生已经显示出从视觉学习工具学习的普遍性，当大部分工程教学都是高度理论化的，没有明显的视觉表示来支持学生的理解时，这是一个挑战。 开发更好的视觉学习技术和教学将更好地传达概念，同时也帮助学生更彻底地参与信息。 增加工程教学的视觉内容将促进学生的概念理解。该项目旨在通过一个专门的，有理论基础的，多机构的研究，在化学工程课程中的多个概念的多个长篇漫画，以解决工程教育中的这些挑战。 这个项目是第一个研究整合了一系列的长期形式的教育漫画在整个工程课程，评估学生的兴趣，信心和理解通过漫画媒介的改善。 该项目的定位是开发一系列教育漫画，并将其整合到本科化学工程课程教学的不同背景的学生在不同的机构环境中学习，并评估学生的动机和理解的变化。 研究漫画在工程教育中的潜力，有可能帮助满足日益增长的需求，额外的非正式学习工具，通过分析如何以及漫画可以为教师提供另一种有用的资源。 本项目将开发一系列的漫画和概念测试问题，以解决化学工程核心入门课程中的概念问题，并将在东北大学、北卡罗来纳州州立大学、肯塔基州大学、康涅狄格大学、普雷里维尤&农工大学和库珀联盟大学。 这个项目代表了第一个专门的研究，审查多个长篇漫画在工程课程中的多个概念的影响。 通过形成性和总结性评价，本项目旨在解决两个中心的研究问题：1）通过在本科学习环境中使用漫画对学生的兴趣，信心和理解有什么影响？2)使用漫画作为非正式补充学习工具的最佳实践是什么？这些实践的可移植性是什么？ 该项目计划应用MUSIC学习动机模型（增强能力、积极性、成功、兴趣和关怀）来评估学生对学科的兴趣和对自己能力的信心，并确定学生动机的增加如何导致学生学习的增加。该项目计划通过使用漫画作为非正式的虚拟学习工具，研究潜在的变革性教学方法的有效性。 NSF IUSE：EDU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。 该奖项反映了NSF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 evaluating the impact of informal visual learning tools in undergraduate engineering courses through the use of comics. Engineering students have shown a prevalence for learning from visual learning tools, which represents a challenge when much of engineering instruction can be highly theoretical without obvious visual representation to support students’ comprehension. Developing better visual learning techniques and instruction would better communicate concepts while also helping students to more thoroughly engage with the information. Increasing the visual content of engineering instruction would promote students’ conceptual understanding. This project aims to address these challenges in engineering education through a dedicated, theoretically grounded, multi-institution study of multiple long-form comics across multiple concepts within a chemical engineering course. This project is the first study integrating a series of long-form educational comics over an entire engineering course, evaluating improvements in student interest, confidence, and understanding through the medium of comics. The project is positioned to develop a series of educational comics and integrate them into undergraduate chemical engineering course instruction of students of diverse backgrounds studying in different institutional contexts, and to evaluate changes in student motivation and comprehension. Studying the potential of comics in engineering education has the potential to help meet the increasing need for additional informal learning tools, by analyzing how well comics can provide another useful resource for instructors. The assessment of how comics can address the needs for more informal, visual, and representative learning approaches in undergraduate education can be beneficial to the field.This project will develop a series of comics and ConcepTest questions addressing concepts in a core introductory chemical engineering course, to be implemented into coursework at Northeastern University, North Carolina State University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Connecticut, Prairie View A&M University, and Cooper Union. This project represents the first dedicated study reviewing the impact of multiple long-form comics across multiple concepts within an engineering course. Through both formative and summative evaluation in this project, the project aims to address two central research questions: 1) What is the impact on student interest, confidence, and understanding through the use of comics in undergraduate learning environments? 2) What are the best practices for using comics as informal supplemental learning tools and what is the transportability of these practices? This project plans to apply the MUSIC model of academic motivation (eMpowerment, Usefulness, Success, Interest, and Caring) to assess the students’ interest in the subjects and confidence in their aptitude and determine how increases in student motivation lead to increased student learning. The project plans to study the effectiveness of a potentially transformative approach to instruction through the use of comics as informal, virtual learning tools. The NSF IUSE: EDU 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.