Applying physical principles is important for designs of various products with tailored performances. However, one of the long-standing issues of the students' design projects (or school's interdisciplinary projects) is the post-hoc imposition of the knowledge learned in their content subjects. This post-hoc imposition significantly diminishes the…

Science fairs offer potential opportunities for students to learn first-hand about the practices of science. Over the past six years we have been carrying out voluntary and anonymous surveys with regional and national groups of high school and post high school students to learn about their high school science fair experiences regarding help…

Most contemporary reforms in American science education center around ideas of improving student science literacy (Dauer & Forbes, 2016) with the goal of enabling informed engagement on scientific issues (NRC, 2012). This is particularly true for decisions that affect the public interest, including public health, the environment, and the…

Despite the growing evidence of informational interventions on college and major choices, we know little about how such light-touch interventions affect the gender gap in STEM majors. Linking survey data to administrative records of Chinese college applicants, we conducted a large-scale randomized experiment to examine the STEM gender gap in the…

Background: Graduate engineering students are required to write for academic audiences; however, very few engineering programs teach engineering academic writing, and similarly, little research has been conducted on graduate engineering student writing. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purposes of this study were to investigate the argumentation patterns…

In this paper, we report and expand on research questions designed to improve undergraduate engineering education. These questions are based on a yearlong process that included a three-step Delphi study and a subsequent two-day workshop. The Delphi study, conducted during winter and spring of 2015, engaged subject matter experts from engineering…

In this paper, the effectiveness of employing rubric as a self-assessment technique of the project method is investigated, which covers a wide range of knowledge, skills and abilities in a variety of learning objects and activities. The assessment rubric is defined as a descriptive rating guide, which consists of specific pre-defined performance…

This study examines the initial integration of engineering design in an introductory preservice elementary biology content course using a life science design task focused on composting. The task, informed by a three-dimensional learning approach, required preservice teachers to research and model the process and use of composting to help the…

Military student veterans' distinct life pathways often make it difficult for educational researchers to adequately capture and represent the challenges and opportunities they face in college. Thus, student veteran educational programs and policies are often built on inaccurate notions about their experiences and identities. Using Veteran Critical…

This paper describes the use of a large-scale, multi-semester design project as a means of integrating six courses in the mechanical engineering curriculum. The project, a bench-scale hybrid powertrain, is built up -- component by component -- as students advance through the curriculum. The authors used the project to test two research hypotheses:…

The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Visualization of Rotations (PSVT: R) is a widely used assessment of spatial ability. In this report, the factor structure of the PSVT: R test items was examined through confirmatory factor analysis with data from 541 engineering design graphics students. Stata 15 and Mplus 8.2 statistical software were used…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between students' patterns of reflective thinking and their performance in solving design problems. Reflective thinking is a critical element in the process of solving ill-defined design problems. Many educators are dedicated to finding ways to promote students' reflection. Yet few…

This study aimed to examine the structural relationships among factors that affect learner satisfaction and achievement in project-based learning for capstone design courses in engineering education. Specifically, problem-solving efficacy, task value, teamwork competency, and task authenticity are suggested as critical factors that affect learner…

How to get more girls involved in Technology and Engineering courses--career and Technical Education departments across Virginia face this question every year. Typical Technology and Engineering classes see 2-3% female students. At Granby High School, the average class had 25 seats, and many were male-only or included only one or two female…

Contribution: A systematic approach to MATLAB problem design and automated assessment is described, based on the experience working with the MATLAB server provided by MathWorks and integrated with the edX massive online open class (MOOC) platform. Background: New technologies, such as MOOCs, provide innovative methods to tackle new challenges in…