Design Thinking in Middle School Classroom

Engineering design is an iterative process that supports the solution of problems by applying scientific knowledge to make informed decisions. Assessing different levels of expertise in experimentation is a difficult task since these are not usually visible as part of a student’s final design solution. The purpose of this research is to investigate and characterize students’ experimentation strategies while working on a design challenge. This research explores the various aspects of engineering design behaviors in middle school students. Questionnaires, observations, CAD software logs and focus group methodology are employed for qualitative and quantitative data collection. R scripts models are used to visualize and characterize patterns within educational data and validate them using statistical techniques. This study reveals interesting aspects of design thinking processes in students, provides recommendations and opens the discussion to engineering educators and researchers who are interested in understanding and assessing students’ experimentation strategies in engineering design

The Less Known Alpha Generation

The social interactions, contemporary life style, changing technolgy and their economic effects have its consequence on the way organizations develop the structure, company-wide operations, retain and motivate employees. Hence, organizations need to know about the type of people they are hiring. The \u27next generation\u27, also called the \u27alpha generation\u27 will enter workforce soon and form its major part in about a decade. However, very little is known about them yet. This paper explores the various aspects of organizational behavior that this generation might institute and tries to predict the best strategies to have them in workforce effectively. In person interviews, surveys and focus group methodology are employed for qualitative and quantitative data collection. This study reveals interesting aspects about this new generation and compares it to Generation X, Y and Z. It is recommended that organizations start developing methods for the future workforce

Teamwork dynamics in the context of large-size software development courses

Abstract Background Effectively facilitating teamwork experiences, particularly in the context of large-size courses, is difficult to implement. This study seeks to address the challenges of implementing effective teamwork experiences in large courses. This study integrated teamwork pedagogy to facilitate a semester-long project in the context of a large-size class comprising 118 students organized into 26 teams. The data for this study were collected from two online teamwork sessions when teams collaborated and self-recorded during the in-class time. The video recordings were qualitatively analyzed to identify patterns in team dynamics processes through visualizations. The study aims to provide insights into the different ways team members engaged in team dynamics processes during different phases of the semester. Results Findings suggest that members of teams were mostly active and passive during meetings and less constructive and interactive in their engagement. Team members mainly engaged in communication, team orientation, and feedback behaviors. Over time, team members' interactions with one another remained about the same, with feedback behaviors tending to diminish and coordination behaviors staying about the same or slightly increasing over time. Conclusion The implications of this study extend to both practice and theory. Practically, combining cooperative learning and scrum practices enabled a blend of collaborative and cooperative work, which suggests providing teams with tools and structures to coordinate teamwork processes and promote interaction among team members. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the understanding of temporal aspects of teamwork dynamics by examining how team interactions evolve during working sessions at different points in time. Overall, this research provides valuable insights for educators, practitioners, and researchers aiming to enhance teamwork experiences in large courses, particularly in software development disciplines

Information Technology Undergraduate Students’ Intercultural Value Orientations and Their Beliefs about the Influence of Such Orientations on Teamwork Interactions

Companies and their executives are concluding that to accomplish their complex tasks and all-encompassing missions and goals, they must step outside the traditional realms of teamwork and partnership and engage in cross-cultural and multinational alliances. One of the principal areas affecting teamwork today, especially in diverse workplaces, is the variety of cultural value orientations that the members relate to. To better prepare students for joining global enterprises, it is necessary to understand their cultural orientations and how those may influence their teamwork interactions. This study used a mixed methods design to characterize computer and information technology undergraduate students’ cultural orientations and their cultural awareness in the context of teamwork experiences. The data for the study was collected in the form of a reflection assignment that was implemented during the first week of classes as a way to promote students’ cultural awareness and how that may play out in their teamwork interactions. The reflection assignment had two parts: (i) a survey and (ii) reflection questions. The study used descriptive statistics and t-tests to analyze the survey (quantitative data), and thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the reflection questions (qualitative data). Our analysis of the quantitative data revealed that students identified the following core values they are Individualism, Equality, Monochronic, Meritocracy, Informality, Personal Efficacy, and Directness, and these values resonated with most of the students in class. Corresponding qualitative themes that emerged regarding students’ beliefs of how those values may play out in their teamwork experience were (a) Treating everyone equally and understanding others, (b) Increasing temporal Awareness, (c) Enacting effective communication, (d) Monitoring the progress of team members and (e) Establishing rules and boundaries