Research Project: Aligning Engineering Education with Engineering Practice
The
overarching hypothesis for this NSF funded study is that the current
educational system is poorly aligned with engineering practice. That
is, experiences in high school and college give students an inaccurate
and incomplete picture of what it means to be an engineer, and of the
skills and knowledge they need to develop to become one. Therefore, potential
engineering talent is lost at all stages as students move from high school
to college and into professional practice. We hypothesize that aligning
the engineering education pathways with the skills, knowledge, values,
and ways of thinking of practicing engineers (their "epistemic
frame" ) will lead to and retain a broader and more diverse engineering
workforce. This project is studying (1) the engineering practice to identify
the skills, knowledge, values, and ways of thinking of effective engineers;
(2) teaching and counseling practices in high schools to better understand
how classroom and counseling experiences inform and/or hinder future
studies and careers in engineering; and (3) the learning experiences
of freshman engineering students to determine what influences them to
enter and remain in the field of engineering.
Current Work
Engineering practice research group, within the College of Engineering:
- We conducted a mixed quantitative and qualitative online survey of engineers, engineering managers, and those with engineering degrees but now in another field (n=290). We also sent out a follow up survey of engineers (n=34). We have analyzed much of the results, published conference papers referencing them, and are now working on some journal articles using this and our other data.
- Based on the responses from the initial survey, we are now creating a quantitative survey which will allow more comparison across subgroups (expect an n ~ 900).
- Freshman engineering students have conducted about 80 interviews of engineers in person and about 40 through MentorNet. We are analyzing this data and working on related publications.
- We have completed case studies (or mini-ethnographies) of six engineering firms. We are analyzing this data and working on a journal article comparing and contrasting engineering at these firms.
Engineering education research group, within the School of Education:
- Conducted an online survey for high school teachers and guidance counselors. Initial analysis of this data is complete.
- Compared Project Lead the Way (HS engineering curriculum) with traditional science and math courses.
- Videotaped and now analyzing teacher lessons in Project Lead the Way Courses and traditional math and science courses.
- Reviewing characteristics of students taking Project Lead the Way courses.