Beliefs and Expectations about Engineering Preparation Exhibited by High School STEM Teachers

Background If we are to effect change in teacher practices and decision making regarding instruction, college preparation, and career success in engineering, then knowledge of teachers' beliefs and expectations about engineering needs to be understood. Purpose (Hypothesis ) The primary purpose was to develop a statistically reliable survey instrument to document teachers' beliefs and expectations about pre‐college engineering instruction, college preparation, and career success in engineering, called the Engineering Education Beliefs and Expectations Instrument (EEBEI), and to compare teachers' views. Design /Method Using two samples of teachers, EEBEI was established as a statistically reliable survey and was used to examine the beliefs and expectations of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and non‐PLTW teachers. The results were used to further examine teachers' decisions in advising fictional students (described in vignettes) with varying academic and socioeconomic profiles. Results High school STEM teachers report their instruction was influenced by students' interests, family background, and prior academic achievement. Comparisons between PLTW and non‐PLTW teachers revealed that non‐PLTW teachers agreed more strongly that an engineer must demonstrate high scholastic achievement in math and science whereas PLTW teachers were more likely to report that science and math content was integrated into engineering activities. Although teachers report that students' socioeconomic status was not influential when asked explicitly, it did influence situated decision‐making tasks using fictional student vignettes. Conclusions Findings address challenges of STEM integration and reveal conflicting purposes of K‐12 engineering education as being for a select few or to promote technological literacy for all students, which affects recruitment, instruction, and assessment practices.     

A K‐12/University Partnership: Creating Tomorrow's Engineers*

Supported by the National Science Foundation, the GK‐12 Fellows program at the University of Colorado at Boulder explores innovative ways for engineering graduate students to use engineering as the vehicle to provide K‐12 classroom instruction and hands‐on experiences that integrate physical sciences, mathematics, engineering and technology. Engineering “Fellows” fill a crucial gap in the two‐way exchange of content and pedagogy between the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the K‐12 community of learners. The active presence of real world, engineering role models in K‐12 classrooms improves the quality of math and science content, and introduces engineering to teachers and young students as a potential career path. Working through the University's graduate program legitimizes K‐12 outreach as a valid, and satisfying, academic endeavor for graduate students.     

Development of a Survey to Assess K‐12 Teachers' Perceptions of Engineers and Familiarity with Teaching Design,Engineering, and Technology

This paper describes the development of a survey instrument to assess K‐12 teachers' perceptions of engineering and their familiarity with teaching design, engineering, and technology (DET). Item development, field testing, and the factor analysis are described along with reliability and validity. Administration of the instrument revealed differences based on gender, grade level taught, and years of teaching experience. Female teachers rated the importance of DET higher than male teachers, elementary teachers were least likely to teach DET, and moderately experienced teachers were the most willing to learn more about DET. Barriers to infusing DET into the curriculum were time and administrative support. All teachers were unfamiliar with DET, lacked confidence in their ability to teach DET, and held stereotypes about the skills needed to be an engineer. Based on the findings, recommendations are made for professional development of K‐12 teachers and for the pre‐service teacher preparation curriculum.     

Optimizing Worked‐Example Instruction in Electrical Engineering: The Role of Fading and Feedback during Problem‐Solving Practice

How can we help college students develop problem‐solving skills in engineering? To answer this question, we asked a group of engineering freshmen to learn about electrical circuit analysis with an instructional program that presented different problem‐solving practice and feedback methods. Three findings are of interest. First, students who practiced by solving all problem steps and those who practiced by solving a gradually increasing number of steps starting with the first step first (forward‐fading practice) produced higher near‐transfer scores than those who were asked to solve a gradually increasing number of steps but starting with the last step first (backward‐fading practice). Second, students who received feedback immediately after attempting each problem‐solving step outperformed those who received total feedback on near transfer. Finally, students who learned with backward‐fading practice produced higher near‐ and far‐transfer scores when feedback included the solution of a similar worked‐out problem. The theoretical and practical implications for engineering education are discussed.     

Kirkpatrick's Level 1 Evaluation of the Implementation of a Computer‐Aided Process Design Tool in a Senior‐Level Engineering Course

Computer simulation tools are frequently used in engineering design work, and undergraduates are often trained to use these tools as they learn to design systems. The use of new tools in the learning environment should be evaluated to assure that the students are able to use the tools effectively. This study details and demonstrates the use of a Kirkpatrick's Level 1 Evaluation to assess the effectiveness of an instructional environment in which students learn to use a computer simulation tool to perform engineering design work. Specifically, an evaluation was conducted to look at student perceptions of FOODS‐LIB—a steady‐state food process design tool, its user's manual learning modules, and the implementation of FOODS‐LIB in a senior level design course. This evaluation was triangulated with an instructor's assessment of student products generated as the students used the learning modules and designed an ice cream manufacturing process using FOODS‐LIB.     

Improving Learning in First‐Year Engineering Courses through Interdisciplinary Collaborative Assessment

This paper describes a feedback process that assessed first‐year engineering student learning using a mastery exam. The results were used to improve learning and teaching in first‐year courses. To design the initial exam, basic knowledge and concepts were identified by instructors from each of the host departments (Chemistry, Math, Physics and Computer Science). In 2004, the 45‐item exam was administered to 191 second‐year engineering students, and in September 2005, the revised exam was administered to the next class of second‐year engineering students. The exam was analyzed using Item Response Theory (IRT) to determine student abilities in each subject area tested. Between exam administrations, workshops were conducted with the four department instructor groups to present exam results and discuss teaching issues. The exam provided a learning assessment mechanism that can be used to engage faculty in science, mathematics, and engineering in productive linkages for continual improvement to curriculum.     

Effectiveness of an Internet‐Based Graduate Engineering Management Course

This research provides engineering educators analytical evidence as to the effectiveness of Internet‐based course instruction. The research examined the University of Missouri‐Rolla's Internet‐based Advanced Production and Operations Management course, with a focus on determining the effectiveness of the Internet‐based education tools used. Over 100 students in five Internet‐based classes and one traditional, in‐class control group were given three sets of surveys, learning style assessments, a course pre‐test, and a course final examination. Multiple conclusions were drawn from this study based on analyses of the data collected. First, the Internet‐based students performed equally as well as the control group as measured by the difference between pre‐test and post‐test scores. Second, the Internet‐based students were found to have had exaggerated time requirement expectations for taking a course in the Internet environment. Third, the students rated the effectiveness and satisfaction positively for the Internet classroom format. Initially, the Internet‐based students were skeptical of electronic lectures but their experiences were positive.     

The Development and Assessment of a Course for Enhancing the 3‐D Spatial Visualization Skills of First Year Engineering Students

In January 1993, we received NSF funding to develop a pre‐graphics course for freshman engineering majors who are weak in 3‐D spatial visualization skills. A text and computer lab exercises utilizing I‐DEAS software were written specifically for this course. The course is 3‐credits (quarter system) with two hours of lecture and two hours of computer lab each week. It was offered at Michigan Technological University (MTU) for the first time during the 1993 Fall term and has been offered each fall since that time. The objective of the course is to provide the prerequisite spatial skills needed by students to succeed in their subsequent engineering graphics courses. Assessment for the course has been continuous. Recently, a six‐year longitudinal study was conducted to determine the overall success of this project. This paper will describe the project and the assessment findings from the longitudinal study.     

K‐12 Outreach: Identifying the Broader Impacts of Four Outreach Projects

Over the last four years, a series of outreach programs have been offered through the Colorado School of Mines to middle school teachers from eleven school districts in the State of Colorado in the United States. Each of these programs is designed to illustrate through hands‐on activities the application of mathematics to science and engineering. Each also has an academic year follow‐up such that a faculty member, an expert teacher, or a graduate student assists the teachers in the classroom. An expected outcome of this effort is the improvement of instruction in mathematics and science in the participating middle schools; an unexpected outcome has been the impact of these projects on the culture of the participating schools, both middle schools and university. Based on our assessment efforts, this article describes the qualitative and quantitative outcomes of this sequence of projects on middle school students, teachers, graduate students, professors, and college curriculum.     

Gender and Ethnicity Differences in Freshmen Engineering Student Attitudes: A Cross‐Institutional Study*

We examine the attitudes of entering freshman engineering students and how they change over the course of the first year at 17 institutions. In addition to better understanding these attitudes and the changes that occur, we explore how these changes potentially affect such issues as “first term probation” and attrition from engineering programs. Particular attention is directed at isolating differences due to gender and ethnicity. Thirteen different student attitudes were captured using the Pittsburgh Freshman Engineering Attitude Survey© (PFEAS) at the beginning of the first semester (pre) and at either the end of the first semester or first academic year (post). Definite gender differences were found on the pre‐survey for five of the attitude measures. For all but one of these measures, female engineering students' initial attitudes were more negative than those of male students. Across the sample of institutions, female students consistently began their engineering studies with a lower confidence in background knowledge about engineering, their abilities to succeed in engineering, and their perceptions of how engineers contribute to society than did their male counterparts. However, those same female students were more comfortable with their study habits than were the male students. The post questionnaire data indicated that differences for three of these five attitude measures persisted. Most important, female engineering students continued to maintain a lower confidence in their abilities to succeed in engineering as compared to male engineering students. When the PFEAS data were mapped into EC 2000 outcomes, comparable cross‐institutional gender differences were observed that paralleled those found for the attitudinal measures. Because the number of minority students was relatively small, significant cross‐institutional differences between each minority cohort studied (African American, Asian Pacific, and Hispanic) and the majority cohort, similar cross‐institutional patterns could not be observed. However, possible trends were found between African American and majority students' attitudes for certain measures, while other attitudinal measures were found to be significant when Hispanic students were compared to majority students. Significant attitudinal differences between Asian Pacific and majority students were similar to those found between female and male engineering students. By knowing how attitudinal measures differ among gender and ethnic cohorts, and understanding how those differences relate to attrition from engineering programs, we can then developed more informed programmatic initiatives that can impact these attitude in a positive manner. As a result, we may be able to reduce engineering attrition, especially by underrepresented student cohorts.     

An Intervention to Address Gender Issues in a Course on Design,Engineering, and Technology for Science Educators

A course on design, engineering, and technology based on Bandura's theory of self‐efficacy was taught to nine science education graduate students who were also practicing teachers. The interpretive analysis method was used to code and analyze qualitative data from focus groups, weekly reflections on classes and readings, and pre‐, post‐, and delayed‐post course questions. The improvement in tinkering and technical self‐efficacies for five males was limited because of initially higher self‐efficacies while that for four females was moderate to high, especially when working in same‐sex teams in a non‐competitive environment. All students also increased their understanding of the societal relevance of engineering and their ability to transfer engineering concepts to pre‐college classrooms. Implementing the principles employed in this intervention in pre‐college science and university engineering classrooms could help recruit students into engineering as well as help retain both male and female undergraduate engineering students.     

Nanocomposite‐Beschichtungen auf CBN‐Werkzeugen

Nanocomposite coatings on CBN‐tools CBN (cubic boron nitride) cutting materials are often used to improve the properties of cutting tools. This allows new applications and processes, which are not possible with common cutting materials (e.g. hard metals). Today CBN cutting materials are mostly coated to estimate the wear by an optical evaluation. Coatings on CBN cutting materials for enhancement of the tribological properties are normally not used. For improvement of the properties of used CBN tools during the cutting process a coating technology was developed. This technology combines the advantages of CBN cutting materials with the excellent properties (e.g. hardness, temperature stability) of nanostructured materials. Investigations with different coating systems and pre‐treatment processes were done to test the CBN cutting tools. These investigations have been shown, that nanocomposite coatings can be used to enhance the tool life of CBN cutting tools. Important for an increase in the tool life is a very good coating adhesion, which can be reached by special adhesion layers and an optimized coating structure.     

Interdisciplinary Laboratory in Advanced Materials: A Team‐Oriented Inquiry‐Based Approach

Few opportunities exist in most undergraduate engineering curricula for students of different disciplines, even within engineering, to work together. This project demonstrates a way to interject such activities by bringing together students across disciplines from otherwise independent courses. In this first phase of activities at Tennessee Technological University (TTU), chemical engineering (ChE) students from a required laboratory course and mechanical engineering (ME) students from a design elective were brought together in a common interdisciplinary‐team inquiry‐based term project. This report summarizes the course objectives and structure, offers a brief synopsis of the outcomes and direction for the project.     

Outcomes Assessment of Engineering Writing at the University of Washington

Effective writing skills are crucial for engineers, and engineering programs have always struggled with how to prepare their students for the writing they will do as professionals. Now, programs must also show the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) that they have clear educational outcomes for engineering communication and have a process for assessing student performance on those outcomes. At the University of Washington, we have spent the last five years developing an outcomes‐based assessment program for engineering writing. In spring 2001, the first round of writing assessment was completed. The assessment indicated that most of our students are competent in the outcomes we have developed. It also uncovered several weak areas, particularly in regard to working with sources and to adequately stating and supporting the purpose of the writing. We will be addressing these areas with additional instruction in the stand‐alone technical writing courses taken by engineering students. The process described in this paper could be helpful for other engineering programs preparing for ABET accreditation visits.     

Is Modeling of Freshman Engineering Success Different from Modeling of Non‐Engineering Success?

The engineering community has recognized the need for a higher retention rate in freshman engineering. If we are to increase the freshman retention rate, we need to better understand the characteristics of academic success for engineering students. One approach is to compare academic performance of engineering students to that of non‐engineering students. This study explores the differences in predicting academic success (defined as the first year GPA) for freshman engineering students compared to three non‐engineering student sectors (Pre‐Med, STEM, and non‐STEM disciplines) within a university. Academic success is predicted with pre‐college variables from the UCLA/CIRP survey using factor analysis and regression analysis. Except for the factor related to the high school GPA and rank, the predictors for each student sector were discipline specific. Predictors unique to the engineering sector included the factors related to quantitative skills (ACT Math and Science test scores and placement test scores) and confidence in quantitative skills.     

Pre‐College Engineering Studies: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Pre‐college Engineering Studies and Student Achievement in Science and Mathematics

Background The U.S. has experienced a shift from a manufacturing‐based economy to one that overwhelmingly provides services and information. This shift demands that technological skills be more fully integrated with one's academic knowledge of science and mathematics so that the next generation of engineers can reason adaptively, think critically, and be prepared to learn how to learn. Purpose (Hypothesis ) Project Lead the Way (PLTW) provides a pre‐college curriculum that focuses on the integration of engineering with science and mathematics. We documented the impact that enrollment in PLTW had on student science and math achievement. We consider the enriched integration hypothesis, which states that students taking PLTW courses will show achievement benefits, after controlling for prior achievement and other student and teacher characteristics. We contrast this with alternative hypotheses that propose little or no impact of the engineering coursework on students' math and science achievement (the insufficient integration hypothesis), or that PLTW enrollment might be negatively associated with student achievement (the adverse integration hypothesis). Design/ Method Using multilevel statistical modeling with students (N = 140) nested within teachers, we report findings from a quantitative analysis of the relationship between PLTW enrollment and student achievement on state standardized tests of math and science. Results While students gained in math and science achievement overall from eighth to tenth grade, students enrolled in PLTW foundation courses showed significantly smaller math assessment gains than those in a matched group that did not enroll, and no measurable advantages on science assessments, when controlling for prior achievement and teacher experience. The findings do not support the enriched integration hypothesis. Conclusions Engineering education programs like PLTW face both challenges and opportunities to effectively integrate academic content as they strive to prepare students for college engineering programs and careers.     

Developing On‐Line Homework for Introductory Thermodynamics

Homework in engineering courses is used to develop problem‐solving skills and to provide students with the practice they need in order to achieve mastery of essential concepts and procedures in their disciplines. We describe homework exercises that were developed for introductory thermodynamics and delivered to students via the Internet. Records of student use were created automatically by the computer server. The data revealed students' patterns of software usage in the context of the course; additional data from course instructors revealed the extent to which completing the on‐line homework improved students' in‐class test performance.     

Some Modifications of the Classical Pre‐control Technique

Pre‐control is a simple technique for the initial evaluations of the capability of a process. It can be seen as a tool to get the set‐up approval or fulfilment of the specifications of a production process. As the resultant information of pre‐control should be used to adjust the process, it can be understood as a form of feedback controller. It has sometimes been considered as an alternative to statistical control charts for monitoring processes, although these tools differ in a number of ways. In this work, we propose some new alternatives to the classical pre‐control, particularly in its initial phase that aim to qualify the process, that is, to certify that it is capable. We present a comparative analysis of the power of the different alternatives. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Web‐based and Group Learning Environment for Introductory Environmental Engineering

The use of computer‐based technology is becoming more prevalent in the classroom. As a part of an educational research project sponsored by the GE Foundation, strategies for augmenting a course, Introduction to Environmental Engineering (CE 280), were investigated including cross‐disciplinary experiences in teamwork, design, and the use of advanced teaching technologies such as the web. Interactive tools to assist student learning were developed and refined. Efforts have focused on developing an extensive website, web‐based quizzes and homework assignments, and tutorials. Base groups were used to provide both intellectual and emotional support to students. This paper summarizes the development of this course and the impact of rapid feedback on the progression of student understanding.