Scaffolding Technical Writing Within a First-Year Engineering Lab Experience

Cassondra Wallwey; Tyler Milburn; Brooke Morin

Download Paper | Permalink

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: First-Year Programs: Cornucopia
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs
Page Count: 22
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--37696
Permanent URL: https://216.185.13.131/37696
Download Count: 482

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Cassondra Wallwey The Ohio State University

visit author page

Cassie Wallwey is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Ohio State's Department of Engineering Education. She is Graduate Teaching Associate for the Fundamentals of Engineering Honors program, and a Graduate Research Associate working in the RIME collaborative (https://u.osu.edu/rimetime) run by Dr. Rachel Kajfez. Her research interests include engineering student motivation and feedback in engineering classrooms. Before enrolling at Ohio State University, Cassie earned her B.S. (2017) and M.S. (2018) in Biomedical Engineering from Wright State University.

visit author page

biography

Tyler Milburn The Ohio State University orcid.org/0000-0002-2117-7134

visit author page

Tyler Milburn is currently a Ph.D. student studying Engineering Education at Ohio State University where he serves as a Graduate Teaching Associate for the first-year engineering program. He is co-advised by Dr. Krista Kecskemety and Dr. Rachel Kajfez and his research interests include understanding how students apply to engineering majors and the experiences they face when they are rejected from an engineering major. Tyler earned his B.S. (2016) and M.S. (2018) degrees in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University.

visit author page

biography

Brooke Morin The Ohio State University

visit author page

Brooke Morin is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Engineering at Ohio State University, teaching First-Year Engineering for Honors classes in the Department of Engineering Education. Brooke earned her bachelor's degree and master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Ohio State. Her interests include implementing and assessing evidence-based practices in the first-year engineering classroom.

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

This complete evidence-based practice paper will report on the development and results of a scaffolded approaching to teaching first-year engineering students technical writing skills throughout various laboratory experiences and subsequent assignments over the course of a semester. The need for engineers to be proficient in the communication of technical content has been reiterated many times over in publications and calls for action from engineering industry leaders (e.g. [1], [2]) and engineering educators (e.g. [3], [4]). The identification of technical communication as a continual weakness of graduating engineers has been addressed in a variety of way across engineering programs. For example, universities have introduced assignments and projects focused on technical communication skills into courses across engineering curricula (e.g. [5], [6]). This paper will focus specifically on the integration of the technical communication into a first-year engineering course’s laboratory component by way of scaffolded technical writing assignments. Scaffolding as an educational tool is used to reduce the complexity of tasks and help students focus practice and build component skills [7], [8]. Scaffolding has been shown to be successful in improving student learning at multiple education levels and across various subjects (e.g. [9], [10], [11]). Scaffolding also allows for additional opportunities for students to receive feedback on their practice of component skills, which has been identified in literature as beneficial to student learning [8]. This scaffolded approach to writing has been utilized in other contexts with success (e.g. [12]), but this paper will explore the use of a scaffolding approach to learning technical writing across various engineering laboratory experiences. These experiences are designed to introduce students to basic engineering principles through the data collection, data analysis, and discussion around engineering experiments and designs. Scaffolding was integrated into the students’ laboratory experiences through writing separate sections of a lab report before being asked to write a full report. A new report section was introduced to students approximately every other week, discussing expectations of the section and having them fully write out that section in their assignment. To continue framing each assignment as a lab report, students had to answer questions across all sections of a lab report to give them experience in seeing what information belongs in what section. Throughout the semester, each section was focused on during one of the labs and teaching assistants provided feedback on the assignment with focus on providing detailed feedback on the writing section. Students were given an opportunity after each of these assignments to review the feedback received and make corrections to the writing section. Additionally, this correction submission asked students to reflect on the feedback they received, how they used it to make changes, and what they learned from that specific assignment that they can continue to apply to future technical writing. Toward the end of the semester, students were asked to write two full lab reports, integrating their skills from the individual sections into a full report and using feedback on the first full report to improve upon their skills for the second. By scaffolding technical writing assignments over the course of multiple engineering labs and providing correct and return opportunities to students for each of the scaffolded submissions, a learning environment was created that allows students to develop component skills and implement feedback through lower-stakes assignments. Using this new technical writing assignment structure, it is anticipated that students will spend less time on smaller technical writing assignments early in the semester developing technical writing skills and also spend less time on full lab report assignments at the end of the semester being more comfortable with the skills already developed up to that point. It is also anticipated that by the end of the semester, students will demonstrate greater levels of mastery with regards to technical writing than in previous years, as they were given lower stakes assignments as opportunities for targeted practice and encouraged to implement clear and detailed feedback early and often.

References [1] F. Gurcan and C. Kose, “Analysis of software engineering industry needs and trends: Implications for education,” Int. J. Eng. Educ., vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 1361–1368, 2017. [2] J. A. Donnell, B. M. Aller, M. Alley, and A. A. Kedrowicz, “Why industry says that engineering graduates have poor communication skills: What the literature says,” 2011. [3] R. W. Schneiter, “Writing and undergraduate engineers - A continuing problem,” 2003, doi: 10.18260/1-2--12401. [4] B. Bridgeman and S. Carlson, “Survey of academic writing tasks required of graduate and undergraduate foreign students,” 1983. [5] R. Bercich, S. Summers, P. Cornwell, and J. Mayhew, “Technical Communication Across the ME Curriculum at Rose-Hulman,” in ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings, 2018, vol. 2018-June, doi: 10.18260/1-2--31067. [6] K. Wright, P. E. Slaboch, and R. Jamshidi, “Technical writing improvements through engineering lab courses,” Int. J. Mech. Eng. Educ., 2020, doi: 10.1177/0306419020939621. [7] J. Hammond and P. Gibbons, “What is Scaffolding,” in Teachers’ Voices 8, A. Burns and H. De Silva Joyce, Eds. Sydney: Macquarie University, 2005, pp. 8–16. [8] S. A. Ambrose, M. W. Bridges, M. DiPietro, M. C. Lovett, and M. K. Norman, How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. John Wiley & Sons, 2010. [9] G. Lichtenstein, H. L. Chen, K. A. Smith, and T. A. Maldonado, “Retention and Persistence of Women and Minorities Along the Engineering Pathway in the United States,” in Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research, A. Johri and B. Olds, Eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 311–334. [10] B. E. Dasilva and Suparno, “Development of the Android-Based Interactive Physics Mobile Learning Media (IPMLM) to Improve Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) of Senior High School Students,” J. Educ. Gift. Young Sci., vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 659–681, 2019, doi: 10.17478/jegys.610377. [11] I. N. Gita and R. A. Apsari, “Scaffolding in problem based learning to increase students’ achievements in linear algebra,” J. Phys. Conf. Ser., vol. 1040, no. 012024, 2018, doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/1040/1/012024. [12] J. Mackiewicz and I. Thompson, “Instruction, Cognitive Scaffolding, and Motivational Scaffolding in Writing Center Tutoring,” Compos. Stud., vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 54–78, 2014.

Citation
Format

Wallwey, C., & Milburn, T., & Morin, B. (2021, July), Scaffolding Technical Writing Within a First-Year Engineering Lab Experience Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37696

TY - CPAPER
AB - This complete evidence-based practice paper will report on the development and results of a scaffolded approaching to teaching first-year engineering students technical writing skills throughout various laboratory experiences and subsequent assignments over the course of a semester.
The need for engineers to be proficient in the communication of technical content has been reiterated many times over in publications and calls for action from engineering industry leaders (e.g. [1], [2]) and engineering educators (e.g. [3], [4]). The identification of technical communication as a continual weakness of graduating engineers has been addressed in a variety of way across engineering programs. For example, universities have introduced assignments and projects focused on technical communication skills into courses across engineering curricula (e.g. [5], [6]). This paper will focus specifically on the integration of the technical communication into a first-year engineering course’s laboratory component by way of scaffolded technical writing assignments.
Scaffolding as an educational tool is used to reduce the complexity of tasks and help students focus practice and build component skills [7], [8]. Scaffolding has been shown to be successful in improving student learning at multiple education levels and across various subjects (e.g. [9], [10], [11]). Scaffolding also allows for additional opportunities for students to receive feedback on their practice of component skills, which has been identified in literature as beneficial to student learning [8]. This scaffolded approach to writing has been utilized in other contexts with success (e.g. [12]), but this paper will explore the use of a scaffolding approach to learning technical writing across various engineering laboratory experiences. These experiences are designed to introduce students to basic engineering principles through the data collection, data analysis, and discussion around engineering experiments and designs.
Scaffolding was integrated into the students’ laboratory experiences through writing separate sections of a lab report before being asked to write a full report. A new report section was introduced to students approximately every other week, discussing expectations of the section and having them fully write out that section in their assignment. To continue framing each assignment as a lab report, students had to answer questions across all sections of a lab report to give them experience in seeing what information belongs in what section. Throughout the semester, each section was focused on during one of the labs and teaching assistants provided feedback on the assignment with focus on providing detailed feedback on the writing section. Students were given an opportunity after each of these assignments to review the feedback received and make corrections to the writing section. Additionally, this correction submission asked students to reflect on the feedback they received, how they used it to make changes, and what they learned from that specific assignment that they can continue to apply to future technical writing. Toward the end of the semester, students were asked to write two full lab reports, integrating their skills from the individual sections into a full report and using feedback on the first full report to improve upon their skills for the second.
By scaffolding technical writing assignments over the course of multiple engineering labs and providing correct and return opportunities to students for each of the scaffolded submissions, a learning environment was created that allows students to develop component skills and implement feedback through lower-stakes assignments. Using this new technical writing assignment structure, it is anticipated that students will spend less time on smaller technical writing assignments early in the semester developing technical writing skills and also spend less time on full lab report assignments at the end of the semester being more comfortable with the skills already developed up to that point. It is also anticipated that by the end of the semester, students will demonstrate greater levels of mastery with regards to technical writing than in previous years, as they were given lower stakes assignments as opportunities for targeted practice and encouraged to implement clear and detailed feedback early and often.

References
[1] F. Gurcan and C. Kose, “Analysis of software engineering industry needs and trends: Implications for education,” Int. J. Eng. Educ., vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 1361–1368, 2017.
[2] J. A. Donnell, B. M. Aller, M. Alley, and A. A. Kedrowicz, “Why industry says that engineering graduates have poor communication skills: What the literature says,” 2011.
[3] R. W. Schneiter, “Writing and undergraduate engineers - A continuing problem,” 2003, doi: 10.18260/1-2--12401.
[4] B. Bridgeman and S. Carlson, “Survey of academic writing tasks required of graduate and undergraduate foreign students,” 1983.
[5] R. Bercich, S. Summers, P. Cornwell, and J. Mayhew, “Technical Communication Across the ME Curriculum at Rose-Hulman,” in ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings, 2018, vol. 2018-June, doi: 10.18260/1-2--31067.
[6] K. Wright, P. E. Slaboch, and R. Jamshidi, “Technical writing improvements through engineering lab courses,” Int. J. Mech. Eng. Educ., 2020, doi: 10.1177/0306419020939621.
[7] J. Hammond and P. Gibbons, “What is Scaffolding,” in Teachers’ Voices 8, A. Burns and H. De Silva Joyce, Eds. Sydney: Macquarie University, 2005, pp. 8–16.
[8] S. A. Ambrose, M. W. Bridges, M. DiPietro, M. C. Lovett, and M. K. Norman, How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. John Wiley &amp;amp; Sons, 2010.
[9] G. Lichtenstein, H. L. Chen, K. A. Smith, and T. A. Maldonado, “Retention and Persistence of Women and Minorities Along the Engineering Pathway in the United States,” in Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research, A. Johri and B. Olds, Eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 311–334.
[10] B. E. Dasilva and Suparno, “Development of the Android-Based Interactive Physics Mobile Learning Media (IPMLM) to Improve Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) of Senior High School Students,” J. Educ. Gift. Young Sci., vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 659–681, 2019, doi: 10.17478/jegys.610377.
[11] I. N. Gita and R. A. Apsari, “Scaffolding in problem based learning to increase students’ achievements in linear algebra,” J. Phys. Conf. Ser., vol. 1040, no. 012024, 2018, doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/1040/1/012024.
[12] J. Mackiewicz and I. Thompson, “Instruction, Cognitive Scaffolding, and Motivational Scaffolding in Writing Center Tutoring,” Compos. Stud., vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 54–78, 2014.

AU - Cassondra Wallwey
AU - Tyler Milburn
AU - Brooke Morin
CY - Virtual Conference
DA - 2021/07/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Scaffolding Technical Writing Within a First-Year Engineering Lab Experience
UR - https://216.185.13.131/37696
DO - 10.18260/1-2--37696
ER -