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This project was designed to address three major challenges faced by undergraduate engineering students (UES) and pre-service teachers (PSTs): 1) retention for UESs after the first year, and continued engagement when they reach more difficult concepts, 2) to prepare PSTs to teach engineering, which is a requirement in the Next Generation Science Standards as well as many state level standards of learning, and 3) to prepare both groups of students to communicate and collaborate in a multi-disciplinary context, which is a necessary skill in their future places of work. This project was implemented in three pairs of classes: 1) an introductory mechanical engineering class, fulfilling a general education requirement for information literacy and a foundations class in education, 2) fluid mechanics in mechanical engineering technology and a science methods class in education, and 3) mechanical engineering courses requiring programming (e.g., computational methods and robotics) with an educational technology class. All collaborations taught elementary level students (4th or 5th grade). For collaborations 1 and 2, the elementary students came to campus for a field trip where they toured engineering labs and participated in a one hour lesson taught by both the UESs and PSTs. In collaboration 3, the UESs and PSTs worked with the upper-elementary students in their school during an after school club. In collaborations 1 and 2, students were assigned to teams and worked remotely on some parts of the project. A collaboration tool, built in Google Sites and Google Drive, was used to facilitate the project completion. The collaboration tool includes a team repository for all the project documents and templates. Students in collaboration 3 worked together directly during class time on smaller assignments. In all three collaborations lesson plans were implemented using the BSCS 5E instructional model, which was aligned to the engineering design process. Instruments were developed to assess knowledge in collaborations 1 (engineering design process) and 3 (computational thinking), while in collaboration 2, knowledge was assessed with questions from the fundamentals of engineering exam and a science content assessment. Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) was also used in all 3 collaborations to assess teamwork across the collaborations. Finally, each student wrote a reflection on their experiences, which was used to qualitatively assess the project impact. The results from the first full semester of implementation have led us to improvements in the implementation and instrument refinement for year 2.
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Scaffolding Project-Based Learning in an Engineering and Education Partnership Using Open-Access Technology.
This paper describes the use of a freely-accessible open-source platform based on Google Apps for Education that combines Google Sites, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Hangouts and script language in a custom-based interface that supports collaborative service-learning projects for teams of Engineering and Education students. The approach discussed in this paper was successful in promoting collaboration among students from two different disciplines working remotely. The analysis suggests that balanced participation in the team, presence of shared goals and clear roles that emphasized individual and collective responsibilities were key to a successful interdisciplinary project experience. While many students still reported struggling with normal teamwork challenges, like finding common meeting times, others were pleased with the dynamics of their team and the opportunity to learn from one another. While SCOL, the open-source collaboration tool, did not significantly predict team satisfaction, the instructors found it very valuable for structuring project tasks, monitoring student progress, and providing timely feedback. The tool was seen as critical in supporting cross-disciplinary course collaboration for which students had limited access to face-to-face interaction. Faculty emphasized the importance of training students to use the asynchronous communication and collaboration tools (e.g., Google Docs and Google Hangouts) to maximize the benefits for students. Training will be included in future implementations of SCOL to ensure a more effective use of the platform.
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- PAR ID:
- 10447548
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International journal of engineering education
- Volume:
- 35
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 0949-149X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1306-1315
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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