Engineering education

About: Engineering education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 24293 publications have been published within this topic receiving 234621 citations.

The differential effects of pre-engineering curricula on middle School Students’ attitudes to and knowledge of engineering careers

Abstract: The Middle School Students' Attitude to Mathematics, Science and Engineering Survey was developed to measure students' attitudes to engineering and knowledge about engineering careers as part of a program to enlarge the future pool of engineers because students' attitudes have been found to be an important predictor of whether students pursue careers in engineering. The program focuses on using pre-engineering curricula in middle and high schools, and informing students, teachers, parents, and school counselors about careers in engineering because most students do not know what engineering is or what engineers do and therefore do not explore engineering as a career option or prepare for it academically in the critical middle or high school years. Continued use of the survey with younger students indicated that the language used in some of the questions was too sophisticated for some middle school students and the survey has been revised. A study was conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the revised survey with a large sample of academically diverse middle school students. Comparisons among groups of students exposed to pre-engineering concepts in various different ways in their science and mathematics classes have been made to explore the extent to which the exposure may have affected students' attitudes to engineering and knowledge of engineering careers.

Advancing Global Capacity for Engineering Education Research (AGCEER): Relating Research to Practice, Policy, and Industry

Abstract: Background We report on the results of a joint initiative between the European Journal of Engineering Education and Journal of Engineering Education titled Advancing Global Capacity for Engineering Education Research (AGCEER). More specifically, we present findings from a series of moderated interactive sessions held at international engineering education conferences between July 2007 and December 2008, where participants were asked to discuss the current state and future trajectory of engineering education research. Purpose (Hypothesis) How did AGCEER session attendees describe: (1) the relationship between engineering education research and educational practice, policy considerations, and industry, and (2) important stakeholders, mechanisms/strategies, and challenges for relating research to practice, policy, and industry? Design/Method Thematic analysis was used to categorize and understand the textual data of report back transcripts and note pages from ten AGCEER sessions involving 300 participants on six continents. An open coding procedure was used to capture issues raised in each of the sessions on the relation of research to practice, policy, and industry. Results We observed frequent discussion and widespread consensus among AGCEER participants about the need to relate engineering education research to the practice of engineering teaching. Discussions about relating research to policy and industry remain formative, but appear to be gaining traction. Conclusions We propose a cyclic model to better conceptualize how engineering education research can be strategically related to practice, profession, and industry across diverse local and global contexts.

Promising Practices in Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education: Summary of Two Workshops

Abstract: Numerous teaching, learning, assessment, and institutional innovations in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education have emerged in the past decade. Because virtually all of these innovations have been developed independently of one another, their goals and purposes vary widely. Some focus on making science accessible and meaningful to the vast majority of students who will not pursue STEM majors or careers; others aim to increase the diversity of students who enroll and succeed in STEM courses and programs; still other efforts focus on reforming the overall curriculum in specific disciplines. In addition to this variation in focus, these innovations have been implemented at scales that range from individual classrooms to entire departments or institutions. By 2008, partly because of this wide variability, it was apparent that little was known about the feasibility of replicating individual innovations or about their potential for broader impact beyond the specific contexts in which they were created. The research base on innovations in undergraduate STEM education was expanding rapidly, but the process of synthesizing that knowledge base had not yet begun. If future investments were to be informed by the past, then the field clearly needed a retrospective look at the ways in which earlier innovations had influenced undergraduate STEM education. To address this need, the National Research Council (NRC) convened two public workshops to examine the impact and effectiveness of selected STEM undergraduate education innovations. This volume summarizes the workshops, which addressed such topics as the link between learning goals and evidence; promising practices at the individual faculty and institutional levels; classroom-based promising practices; and professional development for graduate students, new faculty, and veteran faculty. The workshops concluded with a broader examination of the barriers and opportunities associated with systemic change.

Designing Cognitive Apprenticeships for Biomedical Engineering

Abstract: This article explores challenges involved in developing effective and workable models for engineering education that emphasize the development of student cognitive skills over the delivery of specific course content. It chronicles efforts to systematically design engineering learning environments based on cognitive and learning science studies and then to optimize those environments through “design-based research.” It follows the evolutionary trajectory of curricular design efforts over four years using Problem-based Learning (PBL) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech, elucidating the activities, mistakes, realizations and the progressive refinements instituted towards the development of learning theory in the context of biomedical engineering. It argues for the need to scaffold students in the development of model-based reasoning throughout the engineering curricula.

Anatomy of Scholarly Collaboration in Engineering Education: A Big‐Data Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract: 1 Background Engineering education has become a large community with an increasing number of scholars and publications. As the number of publications has grown, it has become increasingly difficult to understand the epistemic nature and diffusion characteristics of knowledge generated by this community. Techniques to study community topology require nontrivial computational workflows. 2 Purpose/Hypothesis The present study characterizes the topology of scholarly collaboration and important factors affecting this topology in engineering education research. 3 Design/Methods A bibliometric analysis was conducted of 24,172 papers in engineering education research journals and conference proceedings for the years 2000–2011. A total of 29,116 unique authors are present. Social network analyses were used to characterize the network topology of overall scientific collaboration. Analyses based on grouping scholars by disciplinary backgrounds, research areas, and geographical locations were performed. 4 Results The results show that the engineering education research community is in its early stage of forming a small-world network that relies primarily on 5% of scholars to build capacity. Typical small-world networks provide some very clear characterizations about the state, stability, and growth of the community. Deviations from this ideal model suggest the need for rethinking collaboration in engineering education. Scholars with interdisciplinary backgrounds play a critical role in bridging isolated research teams. 5 Conclusions Compared with other disciplines and the ideal small-world network model, the topology of collaboration in engineering education shows significant barriers to the fast diffusion of innovations. This study demonstrates the value of big-data bibliometrics in understanding scholarly collaboration within a research community.