Board 105: Exploring Enculturation in the First-year Engineering Program (Year III)

Abstract

Station (TEES). She received a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with specialties in Gifted Education and a M.S.Ed. in Educational Psychology with specialties in Research Methods and Measurement both from Purdue University. She also holds a M.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics and a B.S. in Astronomy and Meteorology both from Kyungpook National University in South Korea. Her work centers on engineering education research, as a psychometrician, program evaluator, and institutional data analyst. She has research interests on spatial ability, creativity, gifted education, STEM education, and meta-analyses. She has authored/co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings and served as a journal reviewer in engineering education, STEM education, and educational psychology, as well as a co-PI, an external evaluator or advisory board member on several NSF-funded projects (CA-REER, iCorps, REU, RIEF, etc.).

Student performance impacted from modifying a first-year/semester engineering core course during a global pandemic

“…First-year and first-semester courses are the general introduction to the major disciplines that students get when they first enter college. First-year engineering (FYE) courses in particular have been focusing on getting engineering students a closer experience to the engineering profession 17,18 . The FYE courses engage students in engineering activities to get them to better learn the engineering disciplines as intended by experiential learning theory (ELT) 19,20,21 .…”

“…The FYE courses engage students in engineering activities to get them to better learn the engineering disciplines as intended by experiential learning theory (ELT) 19,20,21 . The university in this study made major changes in the design of their FYE courses from project-based 22,17,18 to a more subject-specific format 23,24 in 2018 to improve retention.…”

“…According to some surveys, many students did not feel connected to their peers and the college classroom experience, reflecting a broader body of related research on COVID effects 28,29 , importance of peer interactions in FYE education 17,18 , and teaming 25,22,19,26,27 . Therefore, the university decided to have onsite classes for Fall 2020 with a virtual option for students who were not comfortable attending class in-person or face-to-face, in other words, a hybrid format: combined virtual and onsite class meetings (again with synchronous and asynchronous content delivery options).…”

Computational Thinking in the Formation of Engineers (Year 1)

“…Moreover, many introductory engineering courses worldwide have a component of programming or computational thinking. A preliminary study of enculturation to the engineering profession found that computational thinking was deemed a critical area of development at the early stages of instruction (Mendoza Diaz et al, 2018, 2019Richard et al, 2016;Wickliff et al, 2018).…”

Student performance impacted from modifying a first-year/semester engineering core course during a global pandemic

“…The FYE courses engage students in engineering activities to get them to better learn the engineering disciplines as intended by experiential learning theory (ELT) 19,20,21 . The university in this study made major changes in the design of their FYE courses from project-based 22,17,18 to a more subject-specific format 23,24 in 2018 to improve retention.…”