Browsing by Subject "Engineering Education"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Educating the New-Century Engineer: Understanding the Role of Extracurricular Project-Based Experiential Learning in Engineering Education
    (2016-06) Dukart, Kyle
    The purpose of this study is to understand the role that extracurricular project-based experiential learning plays in educating undergraduate students studying engineering. Informed by the literature in the fields of student engagement and experiential learning, the study examines perceptions and experiences of nascent engineers to understand how these specific extracurricular activities contribute to their collegiate experience. Extracurricular projects refer to non-credit and non-paid design-and-build activities where the majority of the activity takes place in a campus context and is student driven. Students who were taking part in extracurricular engineering projects while completing their four-year engineering degree at the University of Minnesota were included in this qualitative case study. Ten interviews were conducted to collect the majority of the data, which was supplemented with three observations and the collection and inspection of artifacts. The study results are organized into findings on student perceptions and the experiential learning process. Key findings include extracurricular projects as an especially impactful engagement activity for engineering students. Such projects also are effective tools for increasing self-efficacy and motivation and serve as a particularly valuable career preparation experience. Additionally, the organic design-build process students engage in outside the structure of a classroom parallels with Kolb’s model of experiential learning, suggesting a particularly suitable method for educating “new-century” engineers.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Exploring the Relationship between Aspects of Integrated STEM Education and Student Attitudes towards STEM
    (2022-10) Hiwatig, Benny Mart
    Integrated STEM education (iSTEM) has been promoted as an effective approach not only to develop scientific and mathematical literacy among learners, but also to improve student attitude towards learning STEM. By realizing these purported benefits, iSTEM is posited to encourage students’ pursuance of STEM-related careers. While there are existing studies that investigated the relationship between certain iSTEM activities/ curricula and change in student attitudes, there is a lack of research examining the operationalization of iSTEM and its aspects in relation to change in student attitudes towards STEM and the role of demographic variables in predicting these outcomes. Thus, the current study used multilevel modeling and an exploratory approach to investigate the relationship between aspects of iSTEM and change in student attitude towards STEM.Overall, the findings suggest that the main effects of the aspects of iSTEM on changing student attitudes towards STEM are not statistically significant with respect to the data. However, some of these aspects become important when looking at their interaction with demographic variables such as gender and race in terms of predicting attitudinal change. Among other findings, the moderating effects of race, for example, necessitates the reevaluation of the implementation of iSTEM and relevant lesson content and question-prompts that may put non-White students at a disadvantage in terms of improving their attitude towards STEM. Moreover, the relationship between gender and student attitudes toward STEM is significantly varying across classrooms. This means that the predictors in the model have greater effect on male students’ overall change in student attitude towards STEM compared to that of female students. While the findings suggest that gender has no direct effect on the extent and direction of the change in STEM attitude, there are contextual effects that might be more pronounced on male students than in female students. This study leverages its exploratory approach to uncover potential areas of further investigation. More research can be done on the aspects of iSTEM that contribute to the improvement of student attitudes towards STEM and other less-explored variables that interact with the aspects of iSTEM. While there is a prevalence of research on how improving student attitudes toward STEM can address broader goals of STEM education, i.e. pursuance of STEM careers and improvement of STEM learning, studies that investigate factors that influence attitudinal change towards STEM are still lacking. Consequently, this work addresses that issue and contributes to the rather nascent and developing body of research on STEM attitudes.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Student Experiences Navigating Data Analysis Tasks in Fifth Grade Science and Engineering Settings
    (2020-08) Glancy, Aran
    Preparing students to use and consume data both inside and outside of school is an important goal in mathematics, science, and engineering education, but even basic data analysis tasks can quickly become complex. Planning and designing classroom data analysis tasks that support students’ learning of statistical principals requires an understanding of the ways that students engage with data as they work through authentic analysis tasks. In this study I investigate the obstacles and affordances that students encounter during such tasks, and I connect those obstacles and affordances to the characteristics of the task themselves. This study used a multiple, embedded case study approach (Yin, 2009). I observed eight groups of students from the classrooms of four different teachers as they worked through a variety of data analysis tasks in both engineering and scientific inquiry contexts. The teachers involved in this study were participants in the EngrTEAMS project, an MSP that supported teachers in the development and implementation of engineering-based STEM units. The two STEM units investigated in this study were developed by the teachers as part of the EngrTEAMS project. Audio and video recordings, student artifacts, and curriculum documents were the sources of data, and I analyzed these sources for themes among the obstacles and affordances encountered by the students. Students in this study encountered obstacles in all phases of the data analysis process. Measurement error, which came in many forms, was a primary obstacle for the students; however, the design of the tasks themselves also introduced challenges to the data analysis process. Students encountered difficulty when trying to coordinate or connect measurements, data representations, and the phenomenon they were investigating. Despite the obstacles they encountered, the hands-on experiences themselves, certain measurement instruments, and activities that encouraged students to make connections between representations helped support the students as they made sense of their data. The results suggest that engaging students in authentic data analysis tasks is complex work which presents both obstacles and affordance for students. Great care must be taken in planning these tasks to maximize the learning opportunities for students.