Interdisciplinary Engineering Education Research Collaborations

Interdisciplinary Engineering Education Research Collaborations
Author: Medha Dalal
Publisher:
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2019
Genre: Engineering students
ISBN:

There has been a growing emphasis on the education of future generations of engineers who will have to tackle complex, global issues that are sociotechnical in nature. The National Science Foundation invests millions of dollars in interdisciplinary engineering education research (EER) to create an innovative and inclusive culture aimed at radical change in the engineering education system. This exploratory research sought to better understand ways of thinking to address complex educational challenges, specifically, in the context of engineering-social sciences collaborations. The mixed methods inquiry drew on the ways of thinking perspectives from sustainability education to adapt futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking to the context of EER. Using the adapted framework, nine engineer-social scientist dyads were interviewed to empirically understand conceptualizations and applications of futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking. The qualitative results informed an original survey instrument, which was distributed to a sample of 310 researchers nationwide. Valid responses (n = 111) were analyzed to uncover the number and nature of factors underlying the scales of futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking. Findings illustrate the correlated, multidimensional nature of ways of thinking. Results from the qualitative and quantitative phases were also analyzed together to make recommendations for policy, teaching, research, and future collaborations. The current research suggested that ways of thinking, while perceived as a concept in theory, can and should be used in practice. Futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking, when used in conjunction could be an important tool for researchers to frame decisions regarding engineering education problem/solution constellations.

The Interdisciplinary Future of Engineering Education

The Interdisciplinary Future of Engineering Education
Author: Plato Kapranos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2018-12-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1351060775

The Interdisciplinary Future of Engineering Education discusses the current state of engineering education and addresses the daily challenges of those working in this sector. The topics of how to do a better job of teaching a specific audience, how to facilitate learning and how to prepare students for their future careers are extensively covered, and innovative solutions are proposed throughout. This unique book brings together a breadth of expertise, attested by the broad backgrounds of the experts and educational practitioners contributing to this volume, to lay the foundations for the future direction with the improvement of education of engineers in mind. This collaborative effort by a group of uniquely placed educational practitioners provides guidance on the status of current engineering education and lays the foundations for its future direction. The reasons ‘why we teach’, ‘what we teach’, ‘how we teach’, ‘when we teach’, ‘where we teach’ and ‘who teaches’ are all re-examined in a new light and ideas and solutions are proposed and evidentially supported. The book sets out ideas for the need to develop a systemic and interdisciplinary approach to the education of future engineers on a model of student-based learning. This book will be of great interest to academics and educational researchers in the fields of engineering education and higher education. It will also appeal to higher education policymakers, educators, and university teachers.

Enhancing Communication & Collaboration in Interdisciplinary Research

Enhancing Communication & Collaboration in Interdisciplinary Research
Author: Michael O'Rourke
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2013-07-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1483312089

Enhancing Communication & Collaboration in Interdisciplinary Research, edited by Michael O'Rourke, Stephen Crowley, Sanford D. Eigenbrode, and J. D. Wulfhorst, is a volume of previously unpublished, state-of-the-art chapters on interdisciplinary communication and collaboration written by leading figures and promising junior scholars in the world of interdisciplinary research, education, and administration. Designed to inform both teaching and research, this innovative book covers the spectrum of interdisciplinary activity, offering a timely emphasis on collaborative interdisciplinary work. The book’s four main parts focus on theoretical perspectives, case studies, communication tools, and institutional perspectives, while a final chapter ties together the various strands that emerge in the book and defines trend-lines and future research questions for those conducting work on interdisciplinary communication.

Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research

Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2005-04-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309165482

Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research examines current interdisciplinary research efforts and recommends ways to stimulate and support such research. Advances in science and engineering increasingly require the collaboration of scholars from various fields. This shift is driven by the need to address complex problems that cut across traditional disciplines, and the capacity of new technologies to both transform existing disciplines and generate new ones. At the same time, however, interdisciplinary research can be impeded by policies on hiring, promotion, tenure, proposal review, and resource allocation that favor traditional disciplines. This report identifies steps that researchers, teachers, students, institutions, funding organizations, and disciplinary societies can take to more effectively conduct, facilitate, and evaluate interdisciplinary research programs and projects. Throughout the report key concepts are illustrated with case studies and results of the committee's surveys of individual researchers and university provosts.

Interdisciplinary Research Methodologies in Engineering Education Research

Interdisciplinary Research Methodologies in Engineering Education Research
Author: David Reynolds
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre:
ISBN:

As Engineering Education Research (EER) develops as a discipline it is necessary for EER scholars to contribute to the development of learning theory rather than simply being informed by it. It has been suggested that to do this effectively will require partnerships between Engineering scholars and psychologists, education researchers, including other social scientists. The formation of such partnerships is particularly important when considering the introduction of business-related skills into engineering curriculum designed to prepare 21st Century Engineering Students for workplace challenges. In order to encourage scholars beyond Engineering to engage with EER, it is necessary to provide an introduction to the complexities of EER.With this aim in mind, this paper provides an outline review of what is considered 'rigorous' research from an EER perspective as well as highlighting some of the core methodological traditions of EER. The paper aims to facilitate further discussion between EER scholars and researchers from other disciplines, ultimately leading to future collaboration on innovative and rigorous EER.

Creating Interdisciplinarity

Creating Interdisciplinarity
Author: Lisa R. Lattuca
Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2001
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780826513830

Interdisciplinarity, a favorite buzzword of faculty and administrators, has been appropriated to describe so many academic pursuits that it is virtually meaningless. With a writing style that is accessible, fluid, and engaging, Lisa Lattuca remedies this confusion with an original conceptualization of interdisciplinarity based on interviews with faculty who are engaged in its practice. Whether exploring the connections between apparently related disciplines, such as English and women's studies, or such seemingly disparate fields as economics and theology, Lattuca moves away from previous definitions based on the degrees of integration across disciplines and instead focuses on the nature of the inquiry behind the work. She organizes her findings around the processes through which faculty pursue interdisciplinarity, the contexts (institutional, departmental, and disciplinary) in which faculty are working, and the ways in which those contexts relate to and affect the interdisciplinary work. Her findings result in useful suggestions for individuals concerned with the meaning of faculty work, the role and impact of disciplines in academe today, and the kinds of issues that should guide the evaluation of faculty scholarship.

Discipline-Based Education Research

Discipline-Based Education Research
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2012-08-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309254140

The National Science Foundation funded a synthesis study on the status, contributions, and future direction of discipline-based education research (DBER) in physics, biological sciences, geosciences, and chemistry. DBER combines knowledge of teaching and learning with deep knowledge of discipline-specific science content. It describes the discipline-specific difficulties learners face and the specialized intellectual and instructional resources that can facilitate student understanding. Discipline-Based Education Research is based on a 30-month study built on two workshops held in 2008 to explore evidence on promising practices in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This book asks questions that are essential to advancing DBER and broadening its impact on undergraduate science teaching and learning. The book provides empirical research on undergraduate teaching and learning in the sciences, explores the extent to which this research currently influences undergraduate instruction, and identifies the intellectual and material resources required to further develop DBER. Discipline-Based Education Research provides guidance for future DBER research. In addition, the findings and recommendations of this report may invite, if not assist, post-secondary institutions to increase interest and research activity in DBER and improve its quality and usefulness across all natural science disciples, as well as guide instruction and assessment across natural science courses to improve student learning. The book brings greater focus to issues of student attrition in the natural sciences that are related to the quality of instruction. Discipline-Based Education Research will be of interest to educators, policy makers, researchers, scholars, decision makers in universities, government agencies, curriculum developers, research sponsors, and education advocacy groups.

A New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research

A New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 103
Release: 2017-08-18
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0309459052

The future security, economic growth, and competitiveness of the United States depend on its capacity to innovate. Major sources of innovative capacity are the new knowledge and trained students generated by U.S. research universities. However, many of the complex technical and societal problems the United States faces cannot be addressed by the traditional model of individual university research groups headed by a single principal investigator. Instead, they can only be solved if researchers from multiple institutions and with diverse expertise combine their efforts. The National Science Foundation (NSF), among other federal agencies, began to explore the potential of such center-scale research programs in the 1970s and 1980s; in many ways, the NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) program is its flagship program in this regard. The ERCs are "interdisciplinary, multi-institutional centers that join academia, industry, and government in partnership to produce transformational engineered systems and engineering graduates who are adept at innovation and primed for leadership in the global economy. To ensure that the ERCs continue to be a source of innovation, economic development, and educational excellence, A New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research explores the future of center-based engineering research, the skills needed for effective center leadership, and opportunities to enhance engineering education through the centers.

Cases on Interdisciplinary Research Trends in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Studies on Urban Classrooms

Cases on Interdisciplinary Research Trends in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Studies on Urban Classrooms
Author: Lansiquot, Reneta D.
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2012-10-31
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1466622156

Involving two or more academic subjects, interdisciplinary studies aim to blend together broad perspectives, knowledge, skills, and epistemology in an educational setting. By focusing on topics or questions too broad for a single discipline to cover, these studies strive to draw connections between seemingly different fields. Cases on Interdisciplinary Research Trends in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Studies on Urban Classrooms presents research and information on implementing and sustaining interdisciplinary studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics for students and classrooms in an urban setting. This collection of research acts as a guide for researchers and professionals interested in improving learning outcomes for their students.

A Vision for the Future of Center-Based Multidisciplinary Engineering Research

A Vision for the Future of Center-Based Multidisciplinary Engineering Research
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 59
Release: 2016-09-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0309449731

Out of concern for the state of engineering in the United States, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created the Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) with the goal of improving engineering research and education and helping to keep the United States competitive in global markets. Since the ERC program's inception in 1985, NSF has funded 67 ERCs across the United States. NSF funds each ERC for up to 10 years, during which time the centers build robust partnerships with industry, universities, and other government entities that can ideally sustain them upon graduation from NSF support. To ensure that the ERCs continue to be a source of innovation, economic development, and educational excellence, NSF commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a 1-day symposium in April 2016. This event featured four plenary panel presentations on: the evolving global context for center-based engineering research, trends in undergraduate and graduate engineering education, new directions in university-industry interaction, and emerging best practices in translating university research into innovation. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the symposium.