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1. Correlation between Asynchronous Module Comprehension and Traditional Comprehension Assessments

   Youssef, S. (August 2021, First-Year Engineering Experience)

   Over the past year, institutions have explored various manners to advance education while remaining socially distant, namely, through online and hybrid delivery methods. While these methods are actively employed now, the question regarding their effectiveness on student comprehension of the concepts highlighted remains. The aim of this work is to establish how effective online, asynchronous modules are for such. With respect to first-year programs geared towards establishing the foundational concepts of engineering design, two asynchronous, interactive modules were developed and deployed. Specifically, these modules introduced the foundational design concepts of stakeholders, need statements, information gathering, and design specifications. They were also developed in such a way that required student input such as identifying stakeholders or matching need statements. Student responses for each input was recorded and previously utilized to complete basic statistical analysis and derive preliminary trends. Upon completion of both modules, students completed an individual homework assignment that assessed their comprehension of the content covered in both modules. The assignment was comprised of several sections with multiple questions per section. Each question highlighted various aspects of the engineering problem framing process such as stakeholders or need statements. Basic statistical analysis was conducted for the scored items followed by correlation analysis with student performance on the modules previously completed. This work was intended to establish student comprehension of fundamental engineering design concepts after learning such through distance-learning methods, namely, asynchronous, interactive modules. Conclusions drawn from this work will possess broad ramifications and enable educators to determine if such methods are as sufficient as traditional in-person methods, if portions of the modules must be modified to enhance student comprehension, or if alternative methods must be employed altogether. 

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2. Assessing Problem-Framing Skills in Secondary School Students Using the Needs Identification Canvas

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34178  

   Herak, Patrick J; Wellman, Bruce; France, Todd; West, Meg E; Hylton, J Blake (June 2020, 2020 ASEE Virtual Conference)

   With programs like Project Lead The Way, engineering activities and curricula have increased in frequency in secondary school programs. In 2013, Next Generation Science Standards were published formalizing the importance of science and engineering practices in secondary schools as part of the ‘Three Dimensions of Science Learning’. For a typical secondary science department, the current engineering options can either be very expensive and/or very time consuming (often requiring engineering courses outside of traditional science courses). The purpose of a broader NSF-funded project is to create and evaluate a more accessible system for engaging students in one of the key components of engineering design: problem framing. This work presents one tool developed as part of that effort, the Need Identification Canvas (NIC), and the assessment methods developed for evaluating students’ engineering problem-framing skills using the NIC. The NIC is a tool for guiding novice designers through the need identification process, specifically addressing four key subcategories: stakeholders, stakeholder needs, a need statement, and information gathering. Student responses in each category were evaluated using a rubric, developed as part of this effort. The canvas has been implemented with suburban high school biology, chemistry, physics, and physical science classes (N=55) as well as first-year engineering students (N=18) at a private undergraduate university to provide a basis of comparison for the higher levels of achievement. In addition to comparisons between grade levels, secondary students that have and have not been taking supplemental engineering courses as part of their program of study were compared. Significant differences were found amongst a variety of these subgroups. 

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3. Change in student understanding of modeling during first-year engineering courses

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--34269  

   Marbouti, Farshid; Rodgers, Kelsey J.; Verleger, Matthew A. (June 2020, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   All engineers must be able to apply and create models to be effective problem solvers, critical thinkers, and innovative designers. To be more successful in their studies and careers, students need a foundational knowledge about models. An adaptable approach can help students develop their modeling skills across a variety of modeling types, including physical models, mathematical models, logical models, and computational models. Physical models (e.g., prototypes) are the most common type of models that engineering students identify and discuss during the design process. There is a need to explicitly focus on varying types of models, model application, and model development in the engineering curriculum, especially on mathematical and computational models. This NSF project proposes two approaches to creating a holistic modeling environment for learning at two universities. These universities require different levels of revision to the existing first-year engineering courses or programs. The proposed approaches change to a unified language and discussion around modeling with the intent of contextualizing modeling as a fundamental tool within engineering. To evaluate student learning on modeling in engineering, we conducted pre and post surveys across three different first-year engineering courses at these two universities with different student demographics. The comparison between the pre and post surveys highlighted student learning on engineering modeling based on different teaching and curriculum change approaches. 

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4. Design by Thread: The E4USA Engineering for Us All Curriculum

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9274008  

   Reid, Kenneth J.; Ladeji-Osias, Jumoke Oluwakemi; Beauchamp, Cheryl; Dalal, Medha; Griesinger, Tina; Eagle, W. Ethan (January 2020, Proceedings of 2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE))

   null (Ed.)

   In the past decade, reports such as the National Academies' "Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects" (2009) have discussed the importance of – and challenges of – effectively incorporating engineering concepts into the K-12 curriculum. Multiple reports have echoed and further elaborated on the need to effectively and authentically introduce engineering within K-12; not just to address a perpetual shortage of engineers, but to increase technological literacy within the U.S. The NSF-funded initiative Engineering for US All (E4USA): A National Pilot Program for High School Engineering Course and Database curriculum was intentionally designed ‘for us all;’ in other words, the design is meant to be inclusive and to engage in an examination and exploration of ‘engineering’. The intent behind the ‘for us all’ curriculum is to emphasize the idea of thinking like an engineer, rather than simply to develop more engineers. Therefore, the focus is not on ‘how to become an engineer’ but ‘what is an engineer’ and ‘who is an engineer’. This paper will discuss the design of the first iteration of the curriculum. The initial design was based on the First Year Engineering Classification Scheme, used to classify all possible content found in first-year, multidisciplinary Introduction to Engineering courses in general-admit (non direct-admit) engineering programs. The curriculum provides progressively larger engineering design experiences relating to student fields of interest and real-world problems. Course objectives are broken into four major threads. Each of these threads is woven through seven modules. The threads are: Discovering Engineering, Engineering in Society, Engineering Professional Skills, and Engineering Design. This paper will discuss the design of the first iteration of the curriculum. The initial design was based on the First Year Engineering Classification Scheme, used to classify all possible content found in first-year, multidisciplinary Introduction to Engineering courses in general-admit (non direct-admit) engineering programs. The curriculum provides progressively larger engineering design experiences relating to student fields of interest and real-world problems. Course objectives are broken into four major threads. Each of these threads is woven through seven modules. The threads are: Discovering Engineering, Engineering in Society, Engineering Professional Skills, and Engineering Design. 

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5. HydroLearn: Improving Students’ Conceptual Understanding and Technical Skills in a Civil Engineering Senior Design Course

   Gallagher, Melissa Ann; Byrd, Jenny; Habib, Emad; Tarboton, David G; Willson, Clinton S (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Annual Conference)

   null (Ed.)

   Engineering graduates need a deep understanding of key concepts in addition to technical skills to be successful in the workforce. However, traditional methods of instruction (e.g., lecture) do not foster deep conceptual understanding and make it challenging for students to learn the technical skills, (e.g., professional modeling software), that they need to know. This study builds on prior work to assess engineering students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge. The results provide an insight into how the use of authentic online learning modules influence engineering students’ conceptual knowledge and procedural skills. We designed online active learning modules to support and deepen undergraduate students’ understanding of key concepts in hydrology and water resources engineering (e.g., watershed delineation, rainfall-runoff processes, design storms), as well as their technical skills (e.g., obtaining and interpreting relevant information for a watershed, proficiency using HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS modeling tools). These modules integrated instructional content, real data, and modeling resources to support students’ solving of complex, authentic problems. The purpose of our study was to examine changes in students’ self-reported understanding of concepts and skills after completing these modules. The participants in this study were 32 undergraduate students at a southern U.S. university in a civil engineering senior design course who were assigned four of these active learning modules over the course of one semester to be completed outside of class time. Participants completed the Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) survey immediately before starting the first module (time 1) and after completing the last module (time 2). The SALG is a modifiable survey meant to be specific to the learning tasks that are the focus of instruction. We created versions of the SALG for each module, which asked students to self-report their understanding of concepts and ability to implement skills that are the focus of each module. We calculated learning gains by examining differences in students’ self-reported understanding of concepts and skills from time 1 to time 2. Responses were analyzed using eight paired samples t-tests (two for each module used, concepts and skills). The analyses suggested that students reported gains in both conceptual knowledge and procedural skills. The data also indicated that the students’ self-reported gain in skills was greater than their gain in concepts. This study provides support for enhancing student learning in undergraduate hydrology and water resources engineering courses by connecting conceptual knowledge and procedural skills to complex, real-world problems. 

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