Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: RUI: Is it Rocket Science or Brain Science? Developing an Approach to Measuring Engineering Intuition

合作研究：研究启动：RUI：是火箭科学还是脑科学？

基本信息

批准号：
1927250
负责人：
Elif Miskioglu
金额：
$ 13.76万
依托单位：
Bucknell University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-10-01 至 2022-09-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1927250&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Initiation RUI Rocket

项目摘要

Engineers are tasked with designing, developing, and building solutions to complex problems. By nature, their decisions can have critical consequences, such as in the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the Boeing 737 Max 8 faulty sensor incident. In both of these events, the vehicle was cleared to fly by an engineer. Avoiding such engineering mistakes requires not only technical knowledge but also the ability to rapidly assess whether a solution is feasible and appropriate. The skill of engineering intuition (often referred to as a "gut feeling") becomes increasingly important as engineers become further removed from the problem-solving process. Today's engineers rely on sophisticated software tools where the assumptions and computations leading to a solution are hidden from the user. They must be able to evaluate whether a computer output is reasonable or ridiculous. This intuition is thought to be developed through professional experience but could also be acquired in the classroom as part of the formal development of engineering expertise. No clear definition of intuition or methods for identifying an individual's level of intuition exist despite the well-documented importance of intuition in developing expertise. The gap in knowledge and resources around engineering intuition limits educators as there is no clear path on how to develop engineering intuition in the classroom. A definition and means of measuring engineering intuition is needed to equip engineering educators with the tools to create classroom activities that promote intuition development as currently engineers must rely on variable experiences and opportunities to gain intuition. Furthermore, building intuition has the potential to foster student confidence, which disproportionately affects the persistence and resilience of underrepresented minorities in engineering majors and careers. The link between intuition, experience, and access to opportunity can empower students to persist in engineering careers and narrow the existing opportunity gaps in engineering.This project initially defines engineering intuition as the ability to assess solution feasibility and predict outcomes or options within an engineering scenario. The project will begin by interviewing practicing expert engineers to determine the alignment of their definition of intuition with ours and identify the constructs that encompass engineering intuition. This study will use a mixed-methods approach to provide qualitative insights into expert engineering intuition that can be leveraged to create a quantitative instrument with acceptable validity and reliability evidence to support further use by engineering scholars and educators. Grounded in frameworks for expertise development such as the Dreyfus model and Fuzz-Trace Theory, the project aims to answer the following research questions: (1) What are practicing professional engineers' perceptions of discipline-specific intuition and its use in the workplace?; (2) Where does intuition manifest in expert engineering decision-making and problem-solving processes?; (3) How does the motivation and identity of practicing professional engineers relate to discipline-specific intuition?; and (4) What would an instrument designed to validly and reliably measure engineering intuition look like? The proposed research bridges the theory-to-practice gap to develop engineering intuition by defining intuition and its relationship to other constructs (e.g., motivation) and developing a procedure for measuring and identifying how discipline-specific intuition is developed.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

工程师的任务是设计、开发和构建复杂问题的解决方案。从本质上讲，他们的决定可能会产生严重后果，例如挑战者号航天飞机灾难和波音 737 Max 8 传感器故障事件。在这两次事件中，工程师都批准了飞行器飞行。避免此类工程错误不仅需要技术知识，还需要快速评估解决方案是否可行和适当的能力。随着工程师越来越远离解决问题的过程，工程直觉（通常称为“直觉”）技能变得越来越重要。当今的工程师依赖于复杂的软件工具，其中导致解决方案的假设和计算对用户隐藏。他们必须能够评估计算机输出是否合理或荒谬。这种直觉被认为是通过专业经验发展起来的，但也可以在课堂上获得，作为工程专业知识正式发展的一部分。尽管直觉在发展专业知识方面的重要性已得到充分证明，但对于直觉或识别个人直觉水平的方法尚无明确的定义。围绕工程直觉的知识和资源方面的差距限制了教育工作者，因为没有明确的路径来指导如何在课堂上培养工程直觉。需要一种测量工程直觉的定义和方法，为工程教育者提供创建促进直觉发展的课堂活动的工具，因为目前工程师必须依靠不同的经验和机会来获得直觉。此外，建立直觉有可能培养学生的信心，这会极大地影响工程专业和职业中代表性不足的少数群体的坚持和适应力。直觉、经验和获得机会之间的联系可以使学生能够坚持工程职业并缩小工程领域现有的机会差距。该项目最初将工程直觉定义为评估解决方案可行性并预测工程场景中的结果或选项的能力。该项目将首先采访执业专家工程师，以确定他们对直觉的定义与我们的一致，并确定包含工程直觉的构造。本研究将使用混合方法来提供对专家工程直觉的定性见解，可用于创建具有可接受的有效性和可靠性证据的定量工具，以支持工程学者和教育工作者的进一步使用。该项目以德雷福斯模型和模糊追踪理论等专业知识发展框架为基础，旨在回答以下研究问题：（1）实践专业工程师对学科特定直觉的看法及其在工作场所的使用是什么？ (2) 专家工程决策和问题解决过程中的直觉体现在哪里？ (3) 执业专业工程师的动机和身份与学科特定直觉有何关系？ (4) 旨在有效且可靠地测量工程直觉的工具会是什么样子？拟议的研究通过定义直觉及其与其他构造（例如动机）的关系并开发衡量和识别特定学科直觉如何发展的程序来弥合理论与实践的差距，以发展工程直觉。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（5）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

Nurses, Managers, and Engineers – Oh My! Disciplinary Perceptions of Intuition and Its Role in Expertise Development

护士、经理和工程师 — 天哪！

DOI：
10.1109/fie44824.2020.9274026
发表时间：
2020-10
期刊：
2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE
影响因子：
0
作者：
Aaron, Caitlyn;Miskioglu, Elif;Martin, Kaela M.;Shannon, Brooke;Carberry, Adam
通讯作者：
Carberry, Adam

Is it Rocket Science or Brain Science? Developing an Approach to Measure Engineering Intuition

是火箭科学还是脑科学？

DOI：
发表时间：
2021-01
期刊：
ASEE Annual Conference proceedings
影响因子：
0
作者：
Miskioglu, E.;Martin, K. M.;Carberry, A. R.;Bolton, C.;Aaron, C.
通讯作者：
Aaron, C.

Predicting and Evaluating Engineering Problem Solving (PEEPS): Instrument Development

预测和评估工程问题解决 (PEEPS)：仪器开发

DOI：
发表时间：
2021-12
期刊：
Research in Engineering Education Symposium & Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference
影响因子：
0
作者：
Martin, Kaela M.;Miskioglu, Elif;Noble, Cooper;McIntyre, Allison;Bolton, Caroline;Carberry, Adam R.
通讯作者：
Carberry, Adam R.

Practicing Engineers’ Definition of Their Expertise: Emergent Themes and Frequency by Gender Identity and Role Change into Management

执业工程师的专业知识定义：按性别认同和管理角色转变划分的新兴主题和频率