Research Initiation: Understanding Team Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects

研究启动：理解本科工程设计项目中的团队多样性、公平性和包容性

• 批准号: 2306176
• 负责人: Jinjuan She
• 金额: $ 19.87万
• 依托单位: Miami University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306176&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Initiation; Understanding; Team; Diversity

The overwhelming majority of engineering activities in research, design, and manufacturing are accomplished by teams, and this approach is prevalent across sectors as varied as biomedical, aerospace, and consumer goods. High task complexity means that the teams are often multi-disciplinary and quite possibly global in composition and reach. Managing this inherent diversity is critical to team effectiveness. This project seeks to advance the research on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) specific to teamwork dynamics in engineering design teams by exploring the influence of diversity and equity practices on inclusion within the undergraduate engineering design process. Additionally, it also aims to support a community of emerging researchers dedicated to conducting engineering education research. Students’ ability to engage effectively in diverse teams is a key competency to advance holistic engineering formation. Understanding the connection between team-based engineering design and DEI will be instrumental in shaping current and future engineering professionals, by helping prepare engineers who are responsive to the evolving needs of the workforce with a mindset of being equally open and accessible to all. The findings of this project are expected to help uncover valuable insights into how engineering teams work and learn together. Ultimately, by strategically incorporating DEI practices, we can create more functional and effective groups that positively impact student success, particularly by enhancing the ability of marginalized students to participate and thrive. Grounded in the Framework for Participation, this project will develop an understanding of the differences between high-inclusion and low-inclusion teams in undergraduate engineering design collaborations, in terms of team diversity and equity practices, among other factors that influence team dynamics. Further, critical factors that are associated with the positive and negative outcomes of inclusion will be identified to build the theoretical framework for the PI’s long-term research goal to study collaborative design behavior modeling with DEI considerations. The following exploratory research questions will be studied: What are the differences between the high-inclusion and low-inclusion teams with respect to their diversity? What are the differences between the high-inclusion and low-inclusion teams with respect to their equity practices? What are the differences in class-related variables between the high-inclusion and low-inclusion teams (such as student academic levels, collaboration modality, and project types? This project will utilize a mixed-methods approach to closely study team members’ behaviors in project collaboration through classroom data organically collected (i.e., without intentional interventions or influence on team formation from researchers) over the course of three semesters from more than 300 students. Together, the quantitative and qualitative analyses will provide a more comprehensive understanding of what aspects of diversity and equity have been effective, or ineffective, in promoting collaboration inclusion. Furthermore, this project seeks to uncover the mechanisms and reasons behind these findings, providing insights that can inform potential intervention strategies for promoting DEI in engineering design team collaboration. This project will be led by a principal investigator who is an engineering faculty member with mentorship from a team of experienced STEM education researchers.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.

大多数在研究，设计和制造业中的工程活动都是由团队完成的，并且这种方法在生物医学，航空航天和消费品的各个领域都普遍存在。高任务复杂性意味着团队通常是多学科的，并且在组成和覆盖范围内可能是全球性的。管理这种继承多样性对于团队有效性至关重要。该项目旨在通过探索多样性和公平实践对在本科工程设计过程中包含的影响，以推进工程设计团队中的多样性，公平和包容性（DEI）的研究。此外，它还旨在支持致力于进行工程教育研究的新兴研究人员社区。学生有效参与多元化团队的能力是推进整体工程形成的关键能力。了解基于团队的工程设计与DEI之间的联系将有助于塑造当前和未来的工程专业人员，这可以帮助准备对劳动力的不断发展需求的工程师，并以同样开放和可访问所有人的方式。期望该项目的发现有助于发现对工程团队如何共同努力和学习的宝贵见解。最终，通过战略性地纳入DEI实践，我们可以创建更有效和有效的群体，从而对学生的成功产生积极影响，尤其是通过增强边缘化学生参与和成长的能力。基于参与框架，该项目将对本科工程设计合作中高融合和低包含团队之间的差异，在团队多样性和公平实践方面以及影响团队动态的其他因素以及其他因素。此外，将确定与纳入和负面结果相关的关键因素，以建立PI长期研究目标的理论框架，以研究具有DEI考虑的协作设计行为建模。将研究以下探索性研究问题：关于他们的多样性，高融合和低融合团队之间有什么区别？高融合和低融合团队在公平实践方面有什么区别？高融合和低融合团队（例如学生的学术水平，协作方式和项目类型）之间与班级相关变量的差异有什么样的差异？该项目将利用混合方法来密切研究团队成员在项目协作中通过课堂数据进行的项目协作在课堂数据中的项目协作中的行为，而无意地（即，对三个小组的介入）进行了三个小组的培训，而不是研究三个课程。定量和定性分析将对多样性和平等的哪些方面有效或无效，在促进协作包含方面，该项目旨在揭示这些发现的机制和理由，从而可以为促进设计团队的潜在干预策略提供一定的IS IS计划。 STEM教育研究人员的经验团队。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，被认为是珍贵的支持。