Service Learning Projects to Improve Engineering Students' Civic Engagement and Capacity for Innovation

提高工科学生的公民参与和创新能力的服务学习项目

• 批准号: 2021317
• 负责人: Ekundayo Shittu
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: George Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2021317&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Service; Learning; Projects; Improve; Engineering

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving engineering students’ learning. To do so, it will engage students in an interdisciplinary engineering service-learning model focused on civic engagement. The project will seek to develop students’ capacity for innovation while they use their engineering skills and knowledge to decrease suffering, marginalization, or exclusion of particular groups. Many engineering programs emphasize the economic opportunities that engineering degrees will open to graduates, such as working for the private sector. However, engineering students are increasingly interested in ways to use their engineering education to pursue careers in which they can see the human impact of their work. The premise of this project is that opportunities for civic engagement can improve student engagement in engineering education. These opportunities require students to learn new approaches and skills that are not typically taught in the engineering curriculum, such as human centered design and problem solving with empathy. By helping students develop these skills, students will be better positioned to use their engineering knowledge in the future to benefit society. The project will test the hypothesis that mentoring, oriented towards civic engagement and addressing societal challenges, will enhance the engagement of undergraduate engineering students in STEM learning. This project expects to enhance students’ learning experiences and provide opportunities to strengthen communities, while simultaneously encouraging students’ development of civic responsibility.With the goal of improving engineering education through the cultivation of innovative civic engagement, this project will: (i) develop, implement, and evaluate a pedagogical intervention that engages students in service learning projects; (ii) assess the effectiveness of the intervention in supporting student learning with respect to engagement in their engineering program and capacity for innovation; and (iii) refine a theoretical model of how the intervention helps students develop civic responsibility. This project will contribute to constructs of learning by combining theories on social learning into an “engagement by innovation and situated cognition” theory. The intervention will include two one-credit seminar courses designed to promote students’ innovation and civic engagement. The courses will use case-based learning based on cases drawn from local studies in the DC-metro region. Students will learn problem-solving based on principles of systems thinking, human-centered design, and ethnographic field research. In this study, quantitative and qualitative data will be collected through regular surveys, interviews, and video diaries to assess student engagement, development of civic responsibility, and capacity for innovation. The service-learning projects will benefit the region by generating engineering solutions that address community challenges. The problem-solving experiences will help prepare engineering students for success in the engineering workforce. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.

该项目旨在通过改善工程学生的学习来满足国家利益。为此，它将让学生参与跨学科的工程服务学习模型，该模型以公民参与为例。该项目将寻求发展学生的创新能力，同时他们使用工程技能和知识来减少痛苦，边缘化或排除特定群体的能力。许多工程计划强调了工程学位将向毕业生开放的经济机会，例如为私营部门工作。但是，工程专业的学生对使用其工程教育的方式越来越感兴趣，他们可以看到他们的工作对人类的影响。该项目的前提是，公民参与的机会可以改善学生参与工程教育的机会。这些机会要求学生学习通常在工程课程中教授的新方法和技能，例如人类以人为中心的设计和同理心解决问题。通过帮助学生发展这些技能，学生将在未来利用其工程知识来使社会受益。该项目将检验以下假设，即心理方面面向公民参与并应对社会挑战，将增强本科工程专业学生在STEM学习中的参与。该项目希望增强学生的学习经验，并为加强社区提供机会，同时鼓励学生发展公民责任。以创新的公民参与来改善工程教育的目标，该项目将：（i）开发，实施，实施和评估一项指导学生，使学生参与服务学习项目； （ii）评估干预措施在支持其工程计划和创新能力方面的学生学习方面的有效性； （iii）完善一种理论模型，即干预如何帮助学生发展公民责任。该项目将通过将社会学习理论结合到“创新和位置认知理论的参与”理论中，从而有助于学习的结构。干预措施将包括两项单学课程，旨在促进学生的创新和公民参与。这些课程将根据DC-Metro地区的本地研究的案例来使用基于案例的学习。学生将根据系统思维，以人类以人种的设计和人种学现场研究的原则来学习解决问题的问题。在这项研究中，定量和定性数据将通过定期调查，访谈和视频日记收集，以评估学生参与度，公民责任的发展和创新能力。服务学习项目将通过生成应对社区挑战的工程解决方案来使该地区受益。解决问题的经历将有助于工程学生在工程劳动力中的成功做好准备。 NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习轨道，该计划支持了承诺实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估的评估来支持的。