Examining the Literacy Practices of Engineers to Develop a Model of Disciplinary Literacy Instruction for K-12 Engineering (Work in Progress)

Despite efforts to diversify the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce, engineering remains a White, male-dominated profession. Often, women and underrepresented students do not identify with STEM careers and many opt out of STEM pathways prior to entering high school or college. In order to broaden participation in engineering, new methods of engaging and retaining those who are traditionally underrepresented in engineering are needed. This work is based on a promising approach for encouraging and supporting diverse participation in engineering: disciplinary literacy instruction (DLI). Generally, teachers use DLI to provide K-12 students with a framework for interpreting, evaluating, and generating discipline-specific texts. This instruction provides students with an understanding of how experts in the discipline read, engage, and generate texts used to solve problems or communicate information. While models of disciplinary literacy have been developed and disseminated in several humanities and science fields, there is a lack of empirical and theoretical research that examines the use of DLI within the engineering domain. It is thought that DLI can be used to foster diverse student interest in engineering from a young age by removing literacy-based barriers that often discourage underrepresented students from entering and pursuing careers in STEM fields. This work-in-progress paper describes a new study underway to develop and disseminate a model of disciplinary literacy in engineering. During this project, researchers will observe, interview, and collect written artifacts from engineers working across four sub-disciplines of engineering: aerospace/mechanical, biological, civil/environmental, and electrical/computer. Data that will be collected include interview transcripts, observation field notes, engineer logs of literacy practices, and photographs of texts that the engineers read and write. Data will be analyzed using constant comparative analytic (CCA) methods. CCA will be used to generate theoretical codes from the data that will form the basis for a model of disciplinary literacy in engineering. As a primary outcome of this research, the engineering DLI model will promote the use of DLI practices within K-12 engineering instruction in order to assist and encourage diverse, underrepresented students to engage in engineering courses of study and pursue STEM careers. Thus far, the research team has begun collecting and analyzing data from two electrical engineers. This work in progress paper will report on preliminary findings, as well as implications for K-12 classroom instruction. For instance, this study has shed insights on how engineers use texts as part of the process of conducting failure analysis, and the research team has begun to conceptualize how these types of texts might be used with K-12 students to help them conduct failure analyses during design testing. Ultimately, this project will result in a list of grade-appropriate texts, evaluative frameworks, and activities (e.g., failure analysis in testing) that K-12 engineering teachers can use to prepare their diverse students to think, act, read, and write like engineers

Task Affect and Task Understanding in Engineering Problem Solving

Within the self-regulated learning literature, motivation is considered to be an essential feature of students’ self-regulatory processes. Additionally, task affect (i.e., personal objectives and task value) is thought to influence students’ self-regulatory processes; insufficient task affect may lead to failures to self-regulate effectively. In a school setting, task affect is a form of motivation for completing the course tasks in order to attain course-level goals that are inherently valued. In this study, motivation is operationalized as students’ personal objectives and task values, and self-regulation refers to students’ understanding of tasks (also called task interpretation skill) involved in a course. This study investigates changes in students’ task interpretation skill, personal objectives for learning, and task values, if any, while engaged in engineering problem-solving activities in a 2nd-year introductory thermodynamics course. This study also seeks to explore whether patterns exist between students’ task understanding, personal objectives for learning, and task value while engaged in problem-solving activities throughout the course. The findings suggest that, as the semester progressed, both students’ task value for the course and their focus on mastering the course material were continuously developed. Similarly, students’ explicit and implicit task interpretation skills also improved as they engaged in problem-solving activities. However, it was found that implicit task interpretation skill was not developed as fully as explicit task interpretation when solving a complex problem; students seemed to understand 64–77% of the explicit and 39–49% of the implicit information presented to them

Perspectives of Pedagogical Change within a Broadcast STEM Course

As calls for pedagogical transformation of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction intensify, the pace of change remains slow. The literature shows that research-based instructional strategies transfer only sporadically into STEM instructional practice. Difficulties associated with implementation and sustainment of instructional change may appear daunting— if not insurmountable—to many STEM change agents and teaching faculty. Subsequently, the path towards systematic and lasting pedagogical transformation in post-secondary STEM stands largely uncharted. To understand how challenges faced by STEM educators engaged in pedagogical change may be overcome, this paper uses qualitative inquiry to explore an emergent process of teacher change. The change process took place during implementation of an online innovation within an undergraduate engineering calculus course taught via synchronous broadcast at a mid-size, Western, public university. The instructional innovation required first year calculus students to participate in an asynchronous, online discussion forum for graded credit. Data, consisting of written reflections and transcribed interviews, were gathered from three STEM faculty members who each played a different role in the change process: a mathematics instructor implementing the online forum within his course; an engineering faculty peer-mentor assisting with the implementation of the online forum; and a STEM education faculty member evaluating the implementation and observing the process of change. Situated within the interpretive research paradigm, this study uses exploratory thematic analysis of narrative data to understand the ways in which contextual factors may influence pedagogical change

Learning from Engineers to Develop a Model of Disciplinary Literacy in Engineering (Year 3)

Purpose This paper will the describe the overall project goals, activities, preliminary findings, and future work on this project. The purpose of this project is to develop a model of Disciplinary Literacy Instruction (DLI) in engineering that can be used in both K-12 and undergraduate engineering settings. This model of DLI will be informed by knowledge about the ways practicing engineers across four disciplines of engineering (i.e., electrical/computer, mechanical/aerospace, civil/environmental, and chemical/biological) read, interpret, evaluate, and generate texts in the context of their work environment. This information will be translated into a model of DLI in engineering to teach students how to use authentic engineering literacy practices as they learn discipline specific engineering content. Project Activities During the first year of this project, we conducted on-site observations with two electrical engineers and two mechanical engineers. In addition, we held interviews and conducted think-aloud protocols that were informed by the observations with each engineer. From these data sources, we developed a codebook describing the types of texts that the engineers interpreted, evaluated, and generated at the workplace. worked with both mechanical and electrical engineering consultants to help refine and revise the codes and code definitions to enhance their authenticity to each discipline. To further ensure the quality of our data analysis procedures, we sought feedback on our codes from three advisory board consultants having expertise in disciplinary literacy, engineering, and K-12 engineering education. During the second year of this project, we analyzed the interview and think-aloud protocol transcripts from the electrical and mechanical engineers to generate themes that described the interpretive and evaluative frameworks the engineers used as they solved a technical problem or generated a solution for a client or customer. Similarly, we developed themes that described the socially situated activities in which the previously defined genres were embedded. Taken together, these frameworks and activities inform the development of the DLI model in engineering. We also began collecting observation, interview, and think aloud data with one civil and one environmental engineer during this year. Currently, in the third year of this project, we are analyzing the observation field notes and the interview and think-aloud protocol transcripts from the civil and environmental engineers. Simultaneously, we are generating data with the final pair of engineers: one biological and one chemical engineer. We continue to refine our codebook by adding new genres as they appear and merging any similar, existing genres to capture the range of texts with which the engineers engaged. Engineering consultants from both the civil and environmental disciplines will provide feedback on our codes. Combined data from this phase with previous phases will be used develop disciplinary specific curricular materials for K-12 and undergraduate engineering education. Future Activities The data collected and analyzed throughout the project will inform the development of a model for DLI in engineering that can be used by teachers in both undergraduate and K-12 educational settings. This model will provide a framework for teachers to instruct students on how to use the authentic reading and writing strategies that practicing engineers use while solving problems. By providing a diverse set of students with exposure to these literacy practices in school at a young age, a model of DLI in engineering has the potential to remove literacy-based barriers that may deter students from pursuing engineering pathways

Towards Alternative Pathways: Nontraditional Student Success in a Distance-delivered, Undergraduate Engineering Transfer Program

Today, postsecondary engineering education stands perched on the edge of transformation. A precursor to impending change is national recognition that nontraditional students—adults and working students with socioeconomic backgrounds not currently well-represented in engineering education—possess untapped potential to improve the diversity as well as increase the size of the U.S. engineering workforce. To support nontraditional student participation in engineering, a qualitative investigation was undertaken to examine the ways in which nontraditional engineering undergraduates defined and experienced success during their engineering education. It is thought that, through a deeper, richer understanding of the ways in which the nontraditional engineering undergraduates overcome barriers and experience success, newer, more impactful alternative pathways that assist nontraditional students in becoming part of the engineering profession can be envisioned and developed. During this study, 14 nontraditional student participants were purposefully sampled from the population of undergraduates who participated in a distance-delivered, alternative engineering transfer program offered at a western, land-grant, public university between 2009-2015. Qualitative data from in-depth interviews were used to co-develop life history–style narratives for each of the participants. Completed narratives chronologically ordered and richly described the participants’ experiences leading up to, happening during, and occurring after their engineering education. Narrative analysis revealed that the nontraditional student participants viewed their own educational success contextually, relationally, and in terms of their long-term goals for social mobility through engineering careers. Additionally, the distance-delivered alternative engineering transfer program was seen to promote their educational success in three ways: a) working to promote long-range career goals through job market signaling, b) enabling academic bootstrapping in an adult learning environment, and c) maintaining connection to community-based support through place. Recommendations for engineering programs that seek to broaden nontraditional student participation are offered

Comparing engineering student use of solution manuals and student/faculty perceptions of academic dishonesty

Since 2002, student access to engineering textbook solution manuals has dramatically increased due to the advent of their electronic availability.1, 2 Newfound access to electronic solution manuals poses fresh ethical questions concerning when and how their use is considered “honest”. Research3 indicates that undergraduate engineering students agree that the instructor/ institution holds the primary responsibility for defining and limiting acts of academic dishonesty, not the student. Anecdotal evidence1 suggests that faculty may perceive academic dishonesty in the use of solution manuals when students do not. This attitudinal mismatch can be a cause for misunderstanding and discord between and among engineering students and faculty that, ultimately, has a detrimental effect on student learning and assessment of teaching effectiveness. This paper summarizes the results of a pilot study conducted within the College of Engineering (CoE) at a western, land-grant, state university to extend the original work conducted at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo (SLO). In 2006, Cal Poly SLO researchers reported student and faculty perceptions of the ethics of student use of textbook solution manuals, as measured by direct question surveys of engineering faculty and students, differed significantly.1 In 2007, researchers reported that levels of engineering student academic achievements, as measured by homework and exam scores, were higher when students did not have access to solution manuals during homework preparation.2 Replicating previous work, the current study uses direct survey of engineering undergraduates and faculty engaged in teaching undergraduate engineering courses to assess differences in the perceptions of academic honesty related to student use of solution manuals. Student participants are enrolled in one of two sophomore-level engineering mechanics courses (Statics and Dynamics) or a junior level environmental engineering course (Environmental Management). As in the previous Cal Poly SLO studies,1,2 courses involved in the current study make use of assigned homework as the primary mechanism of problem solving practice. The results of the current study are important in helping to 1) clarify the nature of the attitudinal mismatch between engineering students and faculty concerning the use of solution manuals, 2) develop means to promote acceptable learning-based uses for online and electronic textbook solution manuals, and 3) extend the body of knowledge concerning engineering student and faculty perceptions of academic integrity

Disciplinary Literacy in Engineering

People who practice engineering can make a difference through designing products, procedures, and systems that improve people\u27s quality of life. Literacy, including the interpretation, evaluation, critique, and production of texts and representations, is important throughout the engineering design process. In this commentary, the authors outline texts and interpretive frameworks that are common to each stage of the engineering design process as it is defined by the Next Generation Science Standards. The authors describe how disciplinary literacy can also account for students’ home languages and local bodies of knowledge, in addition to these engineering design standards. Finally, they conclude with a vision of disciplinary literacy as a tool to promote equity by rigorously supporting diverse students through the process of critiquing designs in society and creating ethical and equitable designs

Developing a Model of Disciplinary Literacy Instruction for K-12 Engineering Education: Comparing the Literacy Practices of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (Fundamental)

Despite efforts to diversify the engineering workforce, the field remains dominated by White, male engineers. Research shows that underrepresented groups, including women and minorities, are less likely to identify and engage with scientific texts and literacy practices. Often, children of minority groups and/or working-class families do not receive the same kinds of exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and practices as those from majority groups. Consequently, these children are less likely to engage in school subjects that provide pathways to engineering careers. Therefore, to mitigate the lack of diversity in engineering, new approaches able to broadly support engineering literacy are needed. One promising approach is disciplinary literacy instruction (DLI). DLI is a method for teaching students how advanced practitioners in a given field generate, interpret, and evaluate discipline-specific texts. DLI helps teachers provide access to to high quality, discipline-specific content to all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic status, Therefore, DLI has potential to reduce literacy-based barriers that discourage underrepresented students from pursuing engineering careers. While models of DLI have been developed and implemented in history, science, and mathematics, little is known about DLI in engineering. The purpose of this research is to identify the authentic texts, practices, and evaluative frameworks employed by professional engineers to inform a model of DLI in engineering. While critiques of this approach may suggest that a DLI model will reflect the literacy practices of majority engineering groups, (i.e., White male engineers), we argue that a DLI model can directly empower diverse K-16 students to become engineers by instructing them in the normed knowledge and practices of engineering. This paper presents a comparative case study conducted to investigate the literacy practices of electrical and mechanical engineers. We scaffolded our research using situated learning theory and rhetorical genre studies and considered the engineering profession as a community of practice. We generated multiple types of data with four participants (i.e., two electrical and two mechanical engineers). Specifically, we generated qualitative data, including written field notes of engineer observations, interview transcripts, think-aloud protocols, and engineer logs of literacy practices. We used constant comparative analysis (CCA) coding techniques to examine how electrical and mechanical engineers read, wrote, and evaluated texts to identify the frameworks that guide their literacy practices. We then conducted within-group and cross-group constant comparative analyses (CCA) to compare and contrast the literacy practices specific to each sub-discipline Findings suggest that there are two types of engineering literacy practices: those that resonate across both mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines and those that are specific to each discipline. For example, both electrical and mechanical engineers used test procedures to review and assess steps taken to evaluate electrical or mechanical system performance. In contrast, engineers from the two sub-disciplines used different forms of representation when depicting components and arrangements of engineering systems. While practices that are common across sub-disciplines will inform a model of DLI in engineering for K-12 settings, discipline-specific practices can be used to develop and/or improve undergraduate engineering curricula