Individual Design Experiences Improve Students’ Self-Efficacy on Team-Based Engineering Design Projects

Abstract

In her role, Amy works collaboratively with K-12 science and engineering teachers to develop and implement standards-based curricula and assessments. She also provides mentoring and coaching and co-teaching support to K-12 teachers across the entire trajectory of the profession. Her research focuses on teacher education, classroom assessment, and P-16 environmental and engineering education.

Within-team Task Choices: Comparison of Team-based Design Project Engagement in Online and Face-to-face Instruction

“…This exploratory study was conducted as an extension of a larger study aimed at understanding disparities between majority group members and members of underrepresented groups in the context of a team-based engineering design projects [22,29,30]. Conducted over multiple years, the former study entailed iterative cycles of research design, data collection, data analysis, and instructional adaptations in the style of design-based research (DBR) [32,33].…”

“…The team-based design project at the core of the course was developed for use in either OL or F2F modes of instruction [28]. The primary data collection tool, the WTCS, emerged as part of a research agenda aimed at understanding how members of underrepresented groups (URGs) experience team-based design projects [22,29,30]. The WTCS was designed for the express purpose of supporting research aimed at gaining a nuanced understanding of how individual students allocate time, complete tasks, and refine their identity as an engineer within team-based design projects [31].…”

Promoting Individuals’ Teamsmanship and Goal Achievement while Working on Team Design Projects

“…Thus, in addition to the mechanical Table 1 shows the design project schedule over its two-semester span, which is utilized by the present study to time its data collection. Overall, the design project follows a four-phase design process [2] (Phase 1: Problem Definition, Phase 2: Conceptual Design, Phase 3: Detailed Design, Phase 4: Design Validation) and is scaffolded by requiring teams to achieve set milestones every 2-3 weeks alongside individual skill exercises throughout both semesters [1,21]. Data gathered for this study coincides with major project milestones, as described in the following paragraphs.…”

“…These skill exercises are evaluated using a specifications grading system: students must demonstrate competence in each of the required skills and may keep retrying any failed demonstrations until they pass. Each skill is graded on a pass/fail basis, and students must pass every skill to pass each course [21].…”

Redesign of a Machine Design Course Sequence to Align with Current Industry and Pedagogical Practices

“…There is a growing body of research suggesting that teambased engineering design projects must be carefully designed and implemented to ensure meaningful and equitable experiences for individual learners [12][13][14][15][16][17], particularly as it relates to task choice and self-efficacy around hands-on prototyping tasks [13,16,17]. Equitable learning experiences on team-based projects can be promoted through various pedagogical strategies, including scaffolded assignments, regular peer evaluations, and more frequent opportunities for individual and team-based skills mastery and self-reflection [18][19][20][21].…”