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Engineering education research is the field of inquiry that creates knowledge which aims to define, inform, and improve the education of engineers. It achieves this through research on topics such as: epistemology, policy, assessment, pedagogy, diversity, amongst others, as they pertain to engineering. [1]
Engineering education research gained visibility during the 1980s, although the formal education of engineers in the United States traces back to as early as 1802, with the establishment of the United States Military Academy at West Point for the purpose of training the U.S. Army's corps of engineers. [2] [3] The Rensselaer School (now Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) was founded in 1824 and conferred degrees in civil engineering upon four students in 1835. [4]
Spurred by concerns of national competitiveness and the insufficient number of graduating engineers [5] the Neal Report called for research to improve teaching and learning in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. [6]
Similar to other disciplines, the 1990s brought a focus on the scholarship of teaching as demonstrated by the 1995 NRC Report, [7] "Engineering education: Designing an adaptive system", influenced by Ernst Boyer. [8] This focus was primarily motivated by the need to improve the quality of engineers produced by universities in the US. Additionally, 1993 marked the relaunch of the Journal of Engineering Education , which served as a clearinghouse for scholarly research. [9]
As concerns regarding globalization and the need for innovation increased during the late 1990s and 2000s, engineering education research was influenced by calls of reform to produce the quantity and diversity of engineers needed to address global problems. [9]
Continuing the development of the field, centers for engineering education research emerged in the early 2000s. The National Academy of Engineering formed a Committee on Engineering Education in 1999, the academy's Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education was established in 2002 and the Center for the Advancement of Engineering in 2003. [9]
During the mid-2000s, dedicated funding, specialized publications, centers for research, academic preparation and conferences which connected the distributed community supplied the infrastructure necessary for the burgeoning field of research. [9]
Influential Reports on the History of Engineering Education
The 2006 Report of the Steering Committee of the National Engineering Education Research Colloquies outlined the 5 key topic areas of engineering education research as follows: [13]
There are various doctoral-level (PhD) programs in Engineering Education, with primary research conducted in the aforementioned research areas. [14] The American Society for Engineering Education Student Division [15] created an open source workspace with information on engineering and STEM education, [16] which includes a resource page of degree-granting graduate and/or research programs in Engineering Education. [17]
According to Borrego and Bernhard, [18] international collaborations are developing in an effort to create global competencies in engineering students. Engineering global competency is the possession of "the knowledge, ability, and predisposition to work effectively with people who define and solve problems differently than they do." [19] Educational programs that emphasize global engineering competencies research the development and assessment of global competency within the engineering practice. [20] [21]
Examples of programs in global engineering competency include:
More examples are listed in Global Engineering Education. Research and development departments in transnational companies also contribute to international educational research. There are various methods for assessing competency and debates on how global and cultural competence training impacts engineering education. [30] [31] [32] [33]
In 2008, a project titled "The Engineering Cultures Multimedia Project" was approved by the NSF. It was done by combine effort of "Virginia Tech and Colorado School of Mines to produce CD-based modules exploring how what counts as an engineer and engineering knowledge varies from country to country". https://globalhub.org/topics/AboutEngineeringCultures The main goal of this project was "To develop, disseminate, and assess learning experiences that will help students to identify, understand, and value perspectives other than their own." [34]
Studies indicate that engineers will be better prepared for rigorous study in the engineering sciences if exposed to engineering concepts in the years prior to university study. The following resources have been listed to provide primary- and secondary-level educators with information and online programs that will aide them in bringing engineering material to their classrooms.
“Rigorous” research in engineering education is defined as adherence to the National Research Council’s six guiding principles for scientific inquiry. [35] The six guiding principles for scientific inquiry are: [36]
Engineering education research is conducted based on the demands and patterns of engineering in industry, policy, and education. Globally, emphasis of research focuses on educational application. Research into industry and practice have yet to gain greater attention. [37]
In the United States, there has been a greater push for development of formal policy for educating engineers. In 1918, the Mann Report noted an imminent lack of qualified engineers that could rapidly enter the workforce. There should be more hands-on experience, engineering educators should have practical work experience, and teaching should be more prominent even though research is also important. In 1955, the Grinter report [11] specifically outlined undergraduate and graduate level engineering studies. Since then, some of these suggestions, including the senior capstone design course, have been implemented in public and private engineering institutions.
Engineering education policy applied to program requirements and curricula is externally driven to some degree. ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation has incorporated industrial demands as part of the college and university program accreditation process. ABET EC 2000 emphasizes both technical (design, problem solving) and professional skills (teamwork, communication, ethical/global thinking). In 2021, Deans from Big Ten+ University Colleges of Engineering wrote a letter of support to ABET to urge more specific criteria in the general assessment related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). [38]
P-12 Educational Standards:
National policies such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have influenced the recruitment and retention of future engineers.
In April 2013, the Next Generation Science Standards were released as the science standards for K-12 science education in the United States to replace the National Science Education Standards. These include engineering-based standards embedded within the science standards. The National Assessment Governing Board has created a Technology and Literacy Framework for the 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress. This will be a pilot test and may turn into a permanent fixture of future testing.
There is a disconnect between engineering education research findings and implementation of the findings into the classroom. Research findings are published in a variety of journals primarily read by other researchers, not P-12 teachers or university faculty outside of the Education field. This breakdown of transfer between research and practice prevents the desired outcomes at the heart of the research [39] [18] [37]
There have been proposals to connect Engineering Education practice and Engineering Education research. A cyclical model of transfer between research and practice has been proposed by Jesiek et al. (2010) and Borrego & Bernhard (2011). This model allows research and practice to continuously influence and develop one another.
There are several professional organizations devoted to engineering education, including:
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture in his name. The first classes were held on September 16, 1874, with six instructors and 39 students. It has been ranked as among the best public universities in the United States by major institutional rankings, and is known for its engineering program.
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, regulation, safety and cost. The word engineer is derived from the Latin words ingeniare and ingenium ("cleverness"). The foundational qualifications of a licensed professional engineer typically include a four-year bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline, or in some jurisdictions, a master's degree in an engineering discipline plus four to six years of peer-reviewed professional practice and passage of engineering board examinations.
Cooperative education is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience.
Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, commonly referred to as IUPUI, is a public research university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It is a collaboration between Indiana University and Purdue University that offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees from both universities. Administered primarily through Indiana University as a core campus and secondarily through Purdue University as a regional campus, it is Indiana's primary urban research and academic health sciences institution. IUPUI is located in downtown Indianapolis along the White River and Fall Creek.
North China University of Science and Technology is a university in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China. North China University of Science and Technology is one of the key universities of Hebei Province, China. It is a comprehensive university taking engineering and medicine as the backbone and pursuing a harmonious development of engineering, medicine, sciences, economics, management, law and humanities. Education programs are provided for bachelors, masters, doctorate degrees, and adult students. Its education is offered to both domestic and international applicants.
Korea University of Technology and Education, is a 4-year university which was established by the Korean government in 1991 to foster practical engineers and HRD specialists and TVET teachers based on the educational philosophy of "Seeking truth from facts". KOREATECH offers 6 engineering and 1 industrial management courses. With the field-based learning activities, it has been ranked as one of the top tier universities among 4-year engineering universities in Korea (2017) and No1. in education-oriented universities for 9 years.
The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) is a non-profit member association, founded in 1893, dedicated to promoting and improving engineering and engineering technology education. The purpose of ASEE is the advancement of education in all of its functions which pertain to engineering and allied branches of science and technology, including the processes of teaching and learning, counseling, research, extension services and public relations. ASEE administers the engineering technology honor society Tau Alpha Pi.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of education policy or curriculum choices in schools. It has implications for workforce development, national security concerns, and immigration policy, with regard to admitting foreign students and tech workers.
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Research Council.
Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education, and any advanced education and specializations that follow. Engineering education is typically accompanied by additional postgraduate examinations and supervised training as the requirements for a professional engineering license. The length of education, and training to qualify as a basic professional engineer, is typically 5 years, with 15–20 years for an engineer who takes responsibility for major projects.
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Arcot Ramachandran (1923-2018) was an Indian scientist, anthropologist, author and a former Under-Secretary General of United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, known for his scholarship on the subjects of heat and mass transfer and environment and his social commitment to the cause of sustainable development. The Government of India honoured him in 2003, with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the fields of Science and Engineering.
Monica Farmer Cox is a professor of engineering education at Ohio State University. Cox was the first African-American woman to earn tenure in engineering at Purdue University. She won the 2008 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
Roland Tormey is an Irish sociologist, teacher, researcher and curriculum developer. He is the head of Teaching Support Centre at EPFL's College of Humanities.
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