bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Classes That Click: Fast, Rich Feedback to Enhance Student Learning and Satisfaction
Authors: Chen John C. , Whittinghill Dexter C. , Kadlowec Jennifer A. 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundOur goal is to improve student learning in foundation engineering courses. These courses are prerequisite to many higher‐level courses and are comprised of critically needed concepts and skills.Purpose (Hypothesis)We hypothesize that learning is improved by providing rapid feedback to students on their understanding of key concepts and skills. Such feedback also provides students with insight into their strategies for learning.Design/MethodIn two consecutive years, we conducted this study in two sections of a lower‐level engineering mechanics course, Statics. One author taught both sections and a crossover design of experiment was used. In a crossover design, one section was randomly chosen to receive feedback with handheld computers (the “treatment” group) while the other received the “control,” which was either a feedback system using flashcards (in year 1) or no feedback (year 2). After a certain period, the two sections swapped the treatment and control. Student performance on a quiz at the end of each treatment period provided the data for comparison using an analysis of variance model with covariates.ResultsFindings from year 1 showed that there was no significant difference using either rapid‐feedback method. In year 2 we found a significant and positive effect when students received feedback.ConclusionsThis is a noteworthy finding, albeit within the constraints of the environment in which we conducted the study, that provides more evidence for the value of rapid feedback and the currently popular “clickers” that many professors are employing to promote classroom interaction and student engagement.
A Comparison of Engineering Students' Reflections on Their First‐Year Experiences
Authors: Meyers Kerry L. , Silliman Stephen E. , Gedde Natalie L. , Ohland Matthew W. 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundThe introduction of a mentoring program at the University of Notre Dame in which upperclass engineering students serve as a resource to first‐year students was the focus of this study. A retrospective survey was administered to classes of sophomores and juniors.Purpose (Hypothesis)The survey was focused on impressions of the first‐year engineering experiences motivated by a desire to assess the new program. This assessment was used to address research questions relating to students' comfort approaching faculty/upperclass students and transition.Design/MethodThe survey was first administered during January 2006, prior to program introduction, and again in January 2008, after the program was in place for two years. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression models for statistically significant differences.ResultsFindings indicate: (1) students are more comfortable approaching upperclass students than faculty for advice in many situations, (2) no measurable student benefit could be concluded as a result of the mentoring program introduction, (3) gender differences exist in terms of a student's comfort with their decision to stay in engineering, and (4) gender was not a statistically significant factor in predicting adjustment to engineering.ConclusionsResults support continued focus on increasing academic confidence in women and men entering engineering programs to support the adjustment to engineering. The affinity of students for obtaining advice from more experienced students rather than faculty suggests that support programs such as mentoring should aide that adjustment, yet it is clear that the success of such programs is sensitive to conditions that are not easily controlled.
Multiple Perspectives on Engaging Future Engineers
Authors: Adams Robin , Evangelou Demetra , English Lyn , De Figueiredo Antonio Dias , Mousoulides Nicholas , Pawley Alice L. , Schiefellite Carmen , Stevens Reed , Svinicki Marilla , Trenor Julie Martin , Wilson Denise M. 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundEngaging future engineers is a central topic in everyday conversations on engineering education. Considerable investments have been made to make engineering more engaging, recruit and retain aspiring engineers, and to design an education to prepare future engineers. However, the impact of these efforts has been less than intended. It is imperative that the community reflects on progress and sets a more effective path for the future.PurposeThe purpose of this article is to map a new innovation landscape for what it means to engage future engineers. This is a theoretically grounded divergent‐thinking effort to enable a broader space of high impact innovations for engaging future engineers.Scope/MethodA multiple perspectives methodology drawing from innovation, cross‐disciplinary, and boundary work frameworks was used to make visible multiple facets of engaging future engineers. Scholars from diverse communities of thought and discourse were selected to present interparadigmatic perspectives, act as boundary agents, challenge and transform current ways of thinking, and illustrate new opportunities for engineering education innovation.ConclusionsA new innovation landscape for engaging future engineers is needed, one that emphasizes epistemological development and social justice, new configurations on engineering thinking and connecting to the formative years of development, the entwinement of engineering knowing and being, and mutually informing consequences for opening up a broader space for innovation. We also need to adopt strategies and tools for using a multiple perspectives approach to better understand complex engineering education problems.
Engineering Education and the Development of Expertise
Authors: Litzinger Thomas , Lattuca Lisa R. , Hadgraft Roger , Newstetter Wendy 
Published: January 2013

ContributorsMichael Alley, The Pennsylvania State University; Cindy Atman, University of Washington; David DiBiasio, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Cindy Finelli, University of Michigan; Heidi Diefes‐Dux, Purdue University; Anette Kolmos, Aalborg University; Donna Riley, Smith College; Sheri Sheppard, Stanford University; Maryellen Weimer, The Pennsylvania State University; Ken Yasuhara, University of WashingtonBackgroundAlthough engineering education has evolved in ways that improve the readiness of graduates to meet the challenges of the twenty‐first century, national and international organizations continue to call for change. Future changes in engineering education should be guided by research on expertise and the learning processes that support its development.PurposeThe goals of this paper are: to relate key findings from studies of the development of expertise to engineering education, to summarize instructional practices that are consistent with these findings, to provide examples of learning experiences that are consistent with these instructional practices, and finally, to identify challenges to implementing such learning experiences in engineering programs.Scope/MethodThe research synthesized for this article includes that on the development of expertise, students' approaches to learning, students' responses to instructional practices, and the role of motivation in learning. In addition, literature on the dominant teaching and learning practices in engineering education is used to frame some of the challenges to implementing alternative approaches to learning.ConclusionCurrent understanding of expertise, and the learning processes that develop it, indicates that engineering education should encompass a set of learning experiences that allow students to construct deep conceptual knowledge, to develop the ability to apply key technical and professional skills fluently, and to engage in a number of authentic engineering projects. Engineering curricula and teaching methods are often not well aligned with these goals. Curriculum‐level instructional design processes should be used to design and implement changes that will improve alignment.
Emerging Research Methodologies in Engineering Education Research
Authors: Case Jennifer M. , Light Gregory 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundMethodology refers to the theoretical arguments that researchers use in order to justify their research methods and design. There is an extensive range of well established methodologies in the educational research literature of which a growing subset is beginning to be used in engineering education research.PurposeA more explicit engagement with methodologies, particularly those that are only emerging in engineering education research, is important so that engineering education researchers can broaden the set of research questions they are able to address.Scope/MethodSeven methodologies are outlined and for each an exemplar paper is analyzed in order to demonstrate the methodology in operation and to highlight its particular contribution. The methodologies are: Case Study, Grounded Theory, Ethnography, Action Research, Phenomenography, Discourse Analysis, and Narrative Analysis. It is noted that many of the exemplar papers use some of these methodologies in combination.ConclusionThe exemplar papers show that collectively these methodologies might allow the research community to be able to better address questions around key engineering education challenges, such as students' responses to innovative pedagogies, diversity issues in engineering, and the changing requirements for engineering graduates in the twenty‐first century.
Race, Gender, and Measures of Success in Engineering Education
Authors: Ohland Matthew W. , Brawner Catherine E. , Camacho Michelle M. , Layton Richard A. , Long Russell A. , Lord Susan M. , Wasburn Mara H. 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundConcern for workforce needs, social justice, and the diversification of the engineering profession make it critical to understand how different metrics may overestimate or underestimate the success of various race‐gender populations in engineering.Purpose (Hypothesis)While earlier work found that women in nearly all racial groups persist to the eighth semester at rates comparable to men, results vary in studies that use other measures of success, providing an incentive to compare multiple measures of success in the same population.Design/MethodThe eight‐semester persistence and six‐year graduation rates are compared for various race‐gender populations using a longitudinal, comprehensive dataset of more than 75,000 students matriculating in engineering at nine universities from 1988–1998.ResultsGender differences in persistence of Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American, and White students are far outweighed by institutional differences. Racial differences are more pronounced, however, revealing some patterns that transcend institutional differences.ConclusionOur work demonstrates that trajectories of persistence are non‐linear, gendered, and racialized, and further that higher education has developed the way in which persistence is studied based on the behavior of the majority, specifically the White, male population. Even if institutions were to treat all students equally, the outcomes will not necessarily be the same because various populations respond differently to the same conditions. Using eight‐semester persistence may result in a “systematic majority measurement bias.” Therefore, multiple measures may be needed to describe outcomes in diverse populations.
Looking Toward the Real World: Student Conceptions of Engineering
Authors: Dunsmore Katherine , Turns Jennifer , Yellin Jessica M. 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundThis paper contributes to the growing body of scholarship on engineering students' conceptions of core concepts in engineering, including their conception of engineering itself. Understanding how students view engineering practice can provide guidance into student responses to course features such as collaborative projects.Purpose (Hypothesis)The research question addressed in this study is: What do student portfolios reveal about student constructions of engineering?Design/MethodTexts from portfolios created by mechanical engineering undergraduates were analyzed qualitatively using concepts drawn from discourse analysis. This approach makes it possible to examine conceptions through close reading of linguistic structure of a body of writing.ResultsStudents conceived of engineering practice as “the real world,” with most students not conceiving school experiences as integral to practice. Students conceived of engineering practice in terms of strongly contrasting elements rather than as a system of intrinsic elements. Two major aspects in student conceptions were present in the portfolios: values in engineering practice and the role of other people. Largely missing also from the student discourse was the sense that engineering is inherently collaborative.ConclusionStudent conceptions formed continua which bear further study to more completely characterize student views. Conceptions of engineering leaders and engineering educators deserve greater attention as well as contrasts and models for comparison to student conceptions. The benefits of understanding conceptions more completely include understanding student resistance to exercises, predicting student difficulties with exercises, and understanding the distance between what educators are trying to teach students and what students are “hearing.”
The Impact of Mathematics Anxiety on the Performance of Students of Electromagnetics
Authors: Leppävirta Johanna 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundAlthough the negative effects of academic anxiety on students' learning performance have long been recognised, the consequences of mathematics anxiety on the performance of engineering students have not yet been widely studied.Purpose(Hypothesis)This study examined how the perceived mathematics anxiety of engineering students can be related to their performance in electromagnetics.Design/MethodThe data were collected from an undergraduate Static Field Theory course at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. Mathematics anxiety was evaluated with the Electromagnetics Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (EMARS), which consists of five qualitatively different components: usefulness, mathematics confidence, interpretation anxiety, fear of asking for help, and persistency. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and analysis of variance (ANOVA).ResultsThe study showed a significant relation between mathematics anxiety and the students' performance in electromagnetics. Individuals with high mathematics anxiety were significantly less successful in the examination and the concept test when compared with individuals with low mathematics anxiety. However, students with high mathematics anxiety performed relatively well in the concept test when compared to their performance in workout problems, often even better than individuals with medium mathematics anxiety.ConclusionThe study suggests that in curriculum design and in assessment practices, there could be more emphasis on conceptual understanding, which is shown to arouse less anxiety among low‐achieving students in this particular group.
The Socially Responsible Engineer: Assessing Student Attitudes of Roles and Responsibilities
Authors: Lathem Sandra A. , Neumann Maureen D. , Hayden Nancy 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundA state university's Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) programs initiated curricular reform efforts that incorporated systems thinking and service learning as part of a National Science Foundation Department Level Reform (DLR) grant.Purpose(Hypothesis)The purpose of this study was to examine changes in students' perceptions of engineers' social responsibilities and technical knowledge that were influenced by the programs' DLR curricula reforms. A secondary goal was to test the validity and reliability of a student attitude survey.Design/MethodA longitudinal, concurrent, mixed method study was implemented over a four‐year period. A survey was developed and administered to 125 graduating CEE seniors. Qualitative analyses included open‐ended survey responses and interviews with faculty, students, and focus groups.ResultsStudent attitudes declined during the first two years of implementation with students citing dissatisfaction with course changes. Yet, no statistically significant difference was found for students' self‐reported technical knowledge and social responsibilities by graduating class or major. Female students, however, showed a positive statistically significant difference in their self‐perceptions of increased technical knowledge and engineers' social responsibilities. Adoption of new language was noticeable for students in the Class of 2009, indicating that concepts of systems thinking and service learning were beginning to be assimilated. The student attitude survey was determined to be a valid and reliable instrument.ConclusionStudents caught in the middle of program reform are likely to resist change and express dissatisfaction. Assessments of student attitudes allowed implementers to evaluate their reform efforts' successes and shortcomings and enabled them to adapt and modify their strategies accordingly.
Using Paper‐and‐Pencil SOlutions to Assess Problem Solving Skill
Authors: Taraban Roman , Craig Curtis , Anderson Edward E. 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundProblem solving practice involving paper‐and‐pencil solutions is a common activity in undergraduate engineering training. This paper addresses three questions: What indicators of problem‐solving skill are available in paper‐and‐pencil solutions, beyond a simple accuracy measure? Can these indicators distinguish between problem solvers in terms of their skill level? How can these indicators be used to improve the effectiveness of instructor feedback to problem‐solving exercises?Purpose(Hypothesis)Based on the published literature on cognition and problem solving, several indicators were hypothesized to signal knowledge and skill: an accurate free‐body diagram, specification of assumptions, accurate expansion of key principles, strategic (forward) inferences, and checking equations and solutions.Design/MethodA mixed experimental methodology was applied that combined qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative data was comprised of paper‐and‐pencil solutions and video recordings of participants while they solved problems. Frequency counts of skill indicators and grader‐assigned scores comprised the quantitative data.ResultsStatistical tests confirmed that the hypothesized indicators were associated with individuals' level of skill. However, reliable evidence for these indicators was only partially found in the paper‐and‐pencil solutions and could only be firmly established by including data from the video recordings.ConclusionThe results show that paper‐and‐pencil solutions can be diagnostic of the strengths and weaknesses of problem‐solvers. However, to provide useful and reliable feedback to students, these solutions must be supplemented with additional input, possibly through regular structured sampling throughout a course, or through more extensive use of computer resources.
Student Perceptions of Learning in the Laboratory: Comparison of Industrially Situated Virtual Laboratories to Capstone Physical Laboratories
Authors: Koretsky Milo , Kelly Christine , Gummer Edith 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundThis study compares students' perceptions of key cognitive processes and specific content afforded by an industrially situated virtual laboratory project and two physical laboratory projects.Purpose(Hypothesis)1. How do students' perceptions of the nature of cognition, experimental design, and ambiguity compare across selected virtual and physical laboratory experiences? 2. In what ways do students perceive the virtual and physical laboratories as an authentic experience that is reflective of real‐life engineering?Design/MethodThree, free‐response survey questions were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Content analysis was used to establish categories to group the responses, and the coding process had an interrater reliability of 0.90.ResultsStudent responses showed statistically significant increases in categories of Experimental Design, Critical Thinking, and Ambiguity in the virtual laboratories and in Lab Protocol and Specific Content in the physical laboratories. Additionally, more overall High Cognition statements were observed in the virtual laboratory. Student perceptions of ambiguity shifted from ambiguity in the instruction to an ambiguity in the experimental process itself, and many students were able to suspend disbelief in the virtual laboratories and demonstrated psychological presence, leading to the potential for a rich learning experience.ConclusionThe industrially situated virtual laboratories reported in this paper provide affordances for substantially different student thinking about their thinking than the physical laboratories in the same course. This conclusion does not suggest that the differences are a direct result of the medium of the laboratory (virtual vs. physical) but rather the opportunities that the instructional design of each type of laboratory affords.
Constructing Professional Portfolios: Sense‐Making and Professional Identity Development for Engineering Undergraduates
Authors: Eliot Matt , Turns Jennifer 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundWhile previously researching the educational impacts of single‐course and cross‐curricular portfolios, investigators noted that student participants described their portfolio activities as positively impacting their growing identities as engineering professionals. These impacts were seen particularly in studies regarding cross‐curricular portfolios. Purpose (Hypothesis)This study was designed to explicitly investigate identity‐related impacts of cross‐curricular portfolios and to explore the processes students employed during portfolio construction to identify themselves as budding engineers and as future professionals.Design/MscethodEngineering undergraduate students attended four weekly workshops where they wrote a professional statement, selected artifacts that demonstrated their engineering abilities, and wrote annotations that explained how the artifacts served as concrete examples of their claims for professional standing. Online surveys were administered at each workshop asking participants about their ongoing experiences of creating their portfolios and sharing these portfolios with their peers.ResultsAnalysis of the survey responses revealed that participants had two primary frames of reference for the construction of professional identity during portfolio creation. The external frame of reference focused on students' understanding of the expectations of potential employers and recruiters. The internal frame of reference, which accounted for twice as many responses as the external frame coding, focused on students' emerging realizations of their own values and interests as professional engineers.ConclusionsAs engineering educators, we often support the external frame of reference in terms of building professional identity. We need to provide students with opportunities to engage the internal frame of reference with which our participants were particularly concerned.