Learning Ethnographies of New Engineers: A New Approach to Understanding the Transition from School to Work

学习新工程师的民族志：理解从学校到工作过渡的新方法

• 批准号: 1252372
• 负责人: Reed Stevens
• 金额: $ 149.99万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1252372&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Learning; Ethnographies; New; Engineers; Approach

This collaborative research study seeks to develop a detailed, empirically grounded understanding of new engineers'transitions from schools to workplaces, and thereby to identify continuities and discontinuities between undergraduate education and professional practice in engineering. The study builds upon NSF-funded research by two of the investigators that followed engineering students through their undergraduate engineering experiences; this project represents a next step towards improving engineering education and furthering learning sciences research in neglected areas like STEM workplace learning. The engineers studied in this project will be recent graduates, taking positions typical of students from their institutions, and in economically important or expanding engineering sectors. The central methodology will be learning ethnographies, an innovative approach using ethnographic fieldwork to discover what these new engineers need to learn, how they learn it, what they appear to adapt or use readily from their prior educational experience, and the consequences of these for their workplace participation and developing identities as engineers. The learning ethnographies will ground two further aspects of the study: a comparison of workplace practices with those of these engineers' undergraduate programs, and a survey generalizing ethnographic findings to a broader population. Women and members of underrepresented minority groups will be oversampled to provide a basis for comparative analysis intended to understand distinctive experiences and challenges that members of these groups may face as they move into the workplace. Lack of continuity between school and work in engineering is often noted, but details of mismatches are insufficiently understood to effectively inform practice; this research addresses this gap in understanding. For industry, it can inform reorganization of workplace practices to better facilitate transitions from school to work. For undergraduate programs, the research can provide a basis for educational practices to be adopted or deemphasized, allowing schools of engineering to better prepare students to be creative and successful engineers. For students, this research may lead to the development of more relevant and practically useful engineering knowledge and more accurate understandings of their possible future careers. It is also expected that this research will inform attempts at recruitment and retention of members of underrepresented groups.

这项合作研究旨在建立对从学校到工作场所的新工程师转移的详细，依据的理解，从而确定本科教育与工程学专业实践之间的连续性和不连续性。这项研究基于两名研究人员的NSF资助的研究，这些研究人员跟随工程专业的学生通过本科工程经验。该项目代表了在STEM工作场所学习等被忽视领域改善工程教育和进一步发展学习科学研究的下一步。该项目中研究的工程师将是最近的毕业生，担任机构的典型学生以及在经济上重要或不断扩大的工程领域的职位。 中心方法将是学习民族志，一种创新的方法，利用人种志现场工作来发现这些新工程师需要学习的内容，他们如何学习，他们似乎可以从以前的教育经验中适应或轻松地使用这些方法，以及这些对工作场所参与的后果以及他们作为工程师的身份。 学习民族志将扎根研究的进一步方面：将工作场所实践与这些工程师本科课程的实践进行比较，以及一项调查，将民族志发现概括为更广泛的人群。 妇女和代表性不足的少数群体的成员将被过采样，为比较分析提供基础，以了解这些团体成员进入工作场所时可能面临的独特经验和挑战。 通常会注意到学校和工程工作之间缺乏连续性，但是不匹配的细节不足以有效地为实践提供信息。这项研究解决了这一差距。 对于行业，它可以为工作场所实践的重组提供信息，以更好地促进从学校到工作的过渡。 对于本科课程，该研究可以为采用或被视为强调的教育实践提供基础，从而使工程学校能够更好地使学生成为创造性和成功的工程师。对于学生而言，这项研究可能会导致发展更相关，实际上有用的工程知识，并对他们可能未来的职业进行更准确的理解。还可以预期，这项研究将为招募和保留人数不足的群体的成员的尝试提供信息。