Measuring engineering epistemic beliefs in undergraduate engineering students

Board 51: CAREER: Actualizing Latent Diversity: Building Innovation through Engineering Students' Identity Development

“…A student's way of knowing (i.e., epistemic beliefs) is based on how they actualize truth in a body of knowledge such as engineering. Epistemic beliefs influence how students learn and develop problem-solving strategies [22], [23]. The Engineering Related Beliefs Questionnaire (ERBQ) was developed to measure epistemic beliefs of engineering students but has since then been revised to improve internal consistency within the constructs based on content and face validity findings [22].…”

“…Epistemic beliefs influence how students learn and develop problem-solving strategies [22], [23]. The Engineering Related Beliefs Questionnaire (ERBQ) was developed to measure epistemic beliefs of engineering students but has since then been revised to improve internal consistency within the constructs based on content and face validity findings [22]. Faber and Benson [24] identified two constructs of epistemic beliefs that are relevant for engineering students-certainty and source of engineering knowledge.…”

“…Students expressed both their certainty of engineering knowledge and source of engineering knowledge beliefs using a 7point anchored numeric scale from 0-"Not at all" to 6-"Very much so." Certainty of engineering knowledge involves the nature of knowledge and is assessed to understand to what extent students believe knowledge is absolute to emergent [22], [25], [26]. Students responded to questions like the following, "If my experience conflicts with the 'big ideas' in a textbook, the textbook is probably right," and "Engineers can solve engineering problems by just following a step-by-step procedure."…”

“…Students responded to questions like the following, "If my experience conflicts with the 'big ideas' in a textbook, the textbook is probably right," and "Engineers can solve engineering problems by just following a step-by-step procedure." Source of engineering knowledge involves the process of knowing and is assessed to understand to what extent students believe they should obtain knowledge from an instructor (or expert) in comparison to developing their own understanding independent of an instructor [22], [25], [26]. For example, "The best way to develop engineering knowledge is from an expert's teachings.…”

Board # 8 : Assessing Students’ Researcher Identity and Epistemic Cognition

“…A survey with 16 open-ended items pertaining to students' conceptualizations of research and their beliefs about themselves as researchers was developed 13 . This survey also included 45 closed items designed to measure students' engineering epistemic beliefs and need for cognitive closure [14][15][16][17][18][19] , and questions related to participant demographics (self-reported gender, race, ethnicity, year of study, etc.) were placed at the end of the survey.…”