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Optimizing Design Experiences for Future Engineers in a Chemistry Laboratory

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topics

Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--37549

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/37549

Download Count

149

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Paper Authors

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Lorelie Imperial University of Florida

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School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, University of Florida

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Corey Payne

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Kent J. Crippen University of Florida Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-8981-2376

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Kent Crippen is a Professor of STEM education in the School of Teaching and Learning at the University of Florida and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His research involves the design, development, and evaluation of STEM cyberlearning environments as well as scientist-teacher forms of professional development. Operating from a design-based research perspective, this work focuses on using innovative, iterative and theoretically grounded design for the dual purpose of addressing contemporary, complex, in situ learning problems while concurrently generating new theoretical insight related to the process of learning and the relationships among the people, tools and context of the problem space.

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Maria Korolev University of Florida

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Maria Korolev is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida.

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Philip J. Brucat University of Florida

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Department of Chemistry, University of Florida

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Chang-Yu Wu University of Florida

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Professor Chang-Yu Wu received his BS from Mechanical Engineering Department at National Taiwan University and PhD from the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. His teaching and research interests range from air pollution control, aerosol science, environmental nanotechnology, dust control to engineering education. He has published more than 150 refereed journal articles and given 300+ conference presentations and 70+ invited lectures. His research has resulted in 6 US patents and 3 pending applications. He has received several awards recognizing his accomplishments in education, research and service.

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Abstract

Our approach to general chemistry laboratory for engineers in our NSF-funded IUSE project (DUE-1625378) involves the use of design challenges (DCs), an innovation that uses authentic context and practice to transform traditional tasks. These challenges are scaled-down engineering problems related to the NAE Grand Challenges that engage students in collaborative, team-based problem solving via the modeling process. With features aligned with professional engineering practice, DCs are hypothesized to support student motivation for the task as well as for the profession. As an evaluation of our curriculum design, we use Expectancy Value Theory to test our hypotheses by investigating the association between students’ value beliefs and confidence with experiences of the DC and student characteristics (i.e., gender and URM status). Using linear regression analysis, we reveal that students find value in completing a DC when they feel like an engineer, are satisfied, perceive the task as collaborative, are provided help by TAs and the tasks are not too difficult. Students report feeling confident under similar conditions. We highlight that although female and URM students feel less confident, their perceptions of collaboration and sense of belongingness to engineering supported their confidence. Given the lack of representation for certain groups in engineering, this study suggests that specially designed curriculum interventions can afford a more inclusive learning experience.

Imperial, L., & Payne, C., & Crippen, K. J., & Korolev, M., & Brucat, P. J., & Wu, C. (2021, July), Optimizing Design Experiences for Future Engineers in a Chemistry Laboratory Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37549

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