An official website of the United States government
Food, energy and water (FEW) systems are inextricably linked, and thus, solutions to FEW nexus challenges, including water and food insecurity, require an interconnected science and policy approach framed in systems thinking. To drive these solutions, we developed an interdisciplinary, experiential graduate education program focused on innovations at the FEW nexus. As part of our program, PhD students complete a two-course sequence: (1) an experiential introduction to innovations at the FEW nexus and (2) a data practicum. The two courses are linked through an interdisciplinary FEW systems research project that begins during the first course and is completed at the end of the second course. Project deliverables include research manuscripts, grant proposals, policy memos, and outreach materials. Topics addressed in these projects include building electrification to reduce reliance on fossil fuels for heating, agrivoltaic farming to combat FEW vulnerabilities in the southwestern United States, assessment of food choices to influence sustainable dining practices, and understanding the complexities of FEW nexus research and training at the university level. Evaluation data were generated from our first three student cohorts (n = 33 students) using a mixed method, multi-informant evaluation approach, including the administration of an adapted version of a validated pre-post-survey to collect baseline and end-of-semester data. The survey assessed student confidence in the following example areas: communication, collaboration, and interdisciplinary research skills. Overall, students reported confidence growth in utilizing interdisciplinary research methods (e.g., synthesize the approaches and tools from multiple disciplines to evaluate and address a research problem), collaborating with range of professionals and communicating their research results to diverse audience. The growth in confidence in the surveyed areas aligned with the learning objectives for the two-course sequence, and the interdisciplinary project experience was continually improved based on student feedback. This two-course sequence represents one successful approach for educators to rethink the traditional siloed approach of training doctoral students working at the FEW nexus.
more »
« less
Experiential Graduate Course Prepares Transdisciplinary Future Leaders to Innovate at the Food-Energy-Water Nexus
Food, energy and water (FEW) systems are critically stressed worldwide. These challenges require transformative science, engineering and policy solutions. However, cross-cutting solutions can only arise through transdisciplinary training of our future science and policy leaders. The University of Maryland Global STEWARDS National Science Foundation Research Traineeship seeks to meet these needs. This study assessed a foundational component of the program: a novel, experiential course focused on transdisciplinary training and communication skills. We drew on data from the first two offerings of the course and utilized a mixed-method, multi-informant evaluation that included validated pre–post surveys, individual interviews and focus groups. Paired Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon tests were used to compare pre- and post-means. After the course, students reported improvements in their ability to identify strengths and weaknesses of multiple FEW nexus disciplines; articulate interplays between FEW systems at multiple scales; explain to peers the most important aspects of their research; and collaborate with scientists outside their field. Students also reported improvements in their oral and written communication skills, along with their ability to critically review others’ work. Our findings demonstrate that this graduate course can serve as an effective model to develop transdisciplinary researchers and communicators through cutting edge, experiential curricular approaches.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1828910
- PAR ID:
- 10284520
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sustainability
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2071-1050
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1438
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
null (Ed.)STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) graduate programs excel at developing students’ technical expertise and research skills. The interdisciplinary nature of many STEM research projects means that graduate students often find themselves paired with experts from other fields and asked to work together to solve complex problems. At Michigan State University, the College of Engineering has developed a graduate level course that helps students build professional skills (communications, teamwork, leadership) to enhance their participation in these types of interdisciplinary projects. This semester-long course also includes training on research mentoring, helping students work more effectively with their current faculty mentors and build skills to serve as mentors themselves. Discussions of research ethics are integrated throughout the course, which allows participants to partially fulfill graduate training requirements in the responsible conduct of research. This paper will discuss the development of this course, which is based in part on curriculum developed as part of an ongoing training grant from the National Science Foundation. 18 graduate students from Engineering and other STEM disciplines completed the course in Spring 2019, and we will present data gathered from these participants along with lessons learned and suggestions for institutions interested in adapting these open-source curriculum materials for their own use. Students completed pre- and post-course evaluations, which asked about their expectations and reasons for participating in the course at the outset and examined their experiences and learning at the end. Overall, students reported that the course content was highly relevant to their daily work and that they were highly satisfied with the content of all three major focus areas (communications, teamwork, leadership). Participants also reported that the structure and the pacing of the course were appropriate, and that the experience had met their expectations. The results related to changes in students’ knowledge indicate that the course was effective in increasing participants understanding of and ability to employ professional skills for communications, teamwork and leadership. Statistical analyses were conducted by creating latent constructs for each item as applicable and then running paired t-tests. The evaluation also demonstrated increases in students’ interest, knowledge and confidence of the professional skills offered in the course.more » « less
-
This research paper presents preliminary results of an NSF-supported interdisciplinary collaboration between undergraduate engineering students and preservice teachers. The fields of engineering and elementary education share similar challenges when it comes to preparing undergraduate students for the new demands they will encounter in their profession. Engineering students need interprofessional skills that will help them value and negotiate the contributions of various disciplines while working on problems that require a multidisciplinary approach. Increasingly, the solutions to today's complex problems must integrate knowledge and practices from multiple disciplines and engineers must be able to recognize when expertise from outside their field can enhance their perspective and ability to develop innovative solutions. However, research suggests that it is challenging even for professional engineers to understand the roles, responsibilities, and integration of various disciplines, and engineering curricula have traditionally left little room for development of non-technical skills such as effective communication with a range of audiences and an ability to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams. Meanwhile, preservice teachers need new technical knowledge and skills that go beyond traditional core content knowledge, as they are now expected to embed engineering into science and coding concepts into traditional subject areas. There are nationwide calls to integrate engineering and coding into PreK-6 education as part of a larger campaign to attract more students to STEM disciplines and to increase exposure for girls and minority students who remain significantly underrepresented in engineering and computer science. Accordingly, schools need teachers who have not only the knowledge and skills to integrate these topics into mainstream subjects, but also the intention to do so. However, research suggests that preservice teachers do not feel academically prepared and confident enough to teach engineering-related topics. This interdisciplinary project provided engineering students with an opportunity to develop interprofessional skills as well as to reinforce their technical knowledge, while preservice teachers had the opportunity to be exposed to engineering content, more specifically coding, and develop competence for their future teaching careers. Undergraduate engineering students enrolled in a computational methods course and preservice teachers enrolled in an educational technology course partnered to plan and deliver robotics lessons to fifth and sixth graders. This paper reports on the effects of this collaboration on twenty engineering students and eight preservice teachers. T-tests were used to compare participants’ pre-/post- scores on a coding quiz. A post-lesson written reflection asked the undergraduate students to describe their robotics lessons and what they learned from interacting with their cross disciplinary peers and the fifth/sixth graders. Content analysis was used to identify emergent themes. Engineering students’ perceptions were generally positive, recounting enjoyment interacting with elementary students and gaining communication skills from collaborating with non-technical partners. Preservice teachers demonstrated gains in their technical knowledge as measured by the coding quiz, but reported lacking the confidence to teach coding and robotics independently of their partner engineering students. Both groups reported gaining new perspectives from working in interdisciplinary teams and seeing benefits for the fifth and sixth grade participants, including exposing girls and students of color to engineering and computing.more » « less
-
The ability to communicate technical information in written, graphical, and verbal formats is an essential durable skill for engineering students to develop as undergraduates and carry forward into the workplace. Employers have highlighted recent graduates’ inability to formulate tight, cohesive arguments for their engineering decisions, as well as difficulties adjusting their communication style for different audiences. Even though accreditation outcomes now explicitly include durable skills, such as “an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences,” prior research suggests that the field is still far from meeting industry expectations for proficiency in the varying modalities and styles of workplace communication. Laboratory courses are frequently relied upon to teach or reinforce writing and presentation skills. There are two major issues with this approach. First, in lab classes, the communication method is typically narrowly focused on reports that simulate writing for hypothesis-driven research projects, which fail to align with the design-based and project management aspects of professional engineering workloads. Second, lab courses that heavily emphasize technical communications frequently do so at the expense of technical knowledge, that is, the engineering concepts involved with the laboratory experiment. Many students already view communication skills as “soft” in comparison to technical knowledge; and this attitude affects their performance and retention. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a stand-alone technical communications course that was specifically created for first-year mechanical engineering students and centered on multiple, industry-aligned modalities of communication. There are two major writing assignments in the course, both of which are open-ended “technical briefs” that involve background research, data analysis, and justification of an engineering decision for a design firm. For these major assignments, students individually submit a draft and receive detailed feedback for improvement before submitting the final versions. These two major assignments are scaffolded with weekly individual assignments that give students experience with a range of communication skills and modalities, e.g., using a reference manager and composing professional emails. To gauge the effectiveness of this stand-alone course in improving students’ technical communication skills, we conducted pre- and post-course surveys of all students enrolled in the course in 2023 (n=147), and we also tracked improvements in technical writing from draft to final form via established rubrics. Students demonstrated gains in self-efficacy for nearly all technical communication skills covered in the course as well as improved self-efficacy in different communication modalities, e.g., email, slide presentations, and executive summaries. The results of this evaluation suggest that a stand-alone, industry-centered technical communications course builds student competency with communication strategies used in the workplace. Future work will focus on whether students are able to transfer these skills into latter courses and ultimately their careers.more » « less
-
Abstract Transdisciplinary research is increasingly important for solving complex societal problems. Institutions aim to train graduate students to engage in transdisciplinary research. However, limited evidence exists regarding the process by which students learn transdisciplinary thinking. This qualitative study explored graduate students’ pathways of growth toward transdisciplinary thinking during one semester. The students were enrolled in a professional development course as part of a training grant. We examined artifacts from the course through multiple rounds of thematic coding. We used a grounded theory approach to gain insights into how graduate students navigate their journey toward transdisciplinary thinking. We propose a model of this journey. It traces students’ trajectories from prior experiences, through reflexive thinking about several crucial skills and dispositions, towards a transdisciplinary “prism” that transforms their thinking. We conclude that becoming a transdisciplinary researcher is not a matter of acquiring competencies, but a life-long process. Fostering this process may require fundamental reimagining of graduate education.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031438
