Gender neutral engineering: an impossible dream? ‐ the case of Eastern Europe

A total of 189 engineers, both students and qualified engineers of both sexes at two universities in Bulgaria, were given a questionnaire addressing the issue of why such a high proportion of engineers in Bulgaria were women compared with Britain. Answers were both fixed answer and open ended. The responses stressed the importance of the need for women to work for economic reasons and the role of the previous (communist) system in emphasizing the importance of both engineering and gender equity in its policies, including its educational policy. Qualified engineers were slightly more ready to stress these ‘system’ factors than student engineers. Engineering in Bulgaria had not been altered in any way which would take account of Western feminist criticism of engineering, but was perceived as being taught more theoretically and via lectures than in Britain. A contemporary strong switch away from engineering into economics and business was perceived. It is not clear yet whether gender neutral engineering will survive in Bulgaria.     

The renaissance engineer: educating engineers in a post-9/11 world * Presented at the SEFIrenze Conference, 11 September 2002, Florence,Italy.

Technology that fuels the economy and adds to the quality of life can also bring with it unexpected complexities. The events of 11 September bring into sharp relief some of the vulnerabilities that exist in the world, and also challenge us to re-examine the role of engineers in society. To date, the traditional responsibilities of the engineering communities in preventing future catastrophes have been defined purely in terms of technological advances. However, it is clear that engineering must go beyond pure technology to consider also the causes of vulnerabilities and examine if and how engineering can address matters that are often embedded in the social and economic fabric of society. Moreover, engineers must go beyond being technical experts who understand and consider social, financial and political factors in their work, and become leaders in all arenas of society. These expectations call for renaissance engineers and the need for a renaissance in engineering education. Recommendations to cultivate a new generation of renaissance engineers centre on recognition of individual talent and customizing education accordingly.     

Predicting Engineering Student Attrition Risk Using a Probabilistic Neural Network and Comparing Results with a Backpropagation Neural Network and Logistic Regression

As the need for engineers continues to increase, a growing focus has been placed on recruiting students into the field of engineering and retaining the students who select engineering as their field of study. As a result of this concentration on student retention, numerous studies have been conducted to identify, understand, and confirm relationships between student attributes and attrition. Methods of prediction have also been evaluated and compared. Utilizing the attributes found in previous studies to have correlation with student attrition, this study considers the results of three different prediction methods—logistic regression, a multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network, and a probabilistic neural network (PNN)—to predict engineering student retention at a case study university. The purpose of this study was to introduce the PNN to the study of engineering student retention prediction and compare the results of the PNN to other commonly used methods in this field of study. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and overall results for each method are reported, compared, and discussed as the major contribution of this paper.     

现代工程师的胜任力及其高等教育准备——来自“青藏铁路工程”技术人员的质化研究报告

本研究以对27位参与过国家重大工程项目——青藏铁路建设的优秀工程师进行深度访谈的资料为基础,借助于社会科学的质化研究工具,以主题分析和频率分析方法为主,努力在第一手数据的基础上探讨国家重大工程项目中优秀工程师的胜任力模型,进而分析了当前我国高等工程教育对工程师职前准备的优势和不足。我们认为,这些优秀工程师的有关见解及其本人丰富的成长经历极具本土意义和中国特色。研究这些访谈资料,对我国政府工程教育政策的实施、企业工程技术人力资源的开发、高校工程教育以及普通民众对工程师职业的认知来说都有重要的政策启示意义。     

How Middle Schoolers Draw Engineers and Scientists

The perceptions young students have of engineers and scientists are often populated with misconceptions and stereotypes. Although the perceptions that young people have of engineers and of scientists have been investigated separately, they have not been systematically compared. The research reported in this paper explores the question “How are student perceptions of engineers and scientists similar and how are they different?” Approximately 1,600 middle school students from urban and suburban schools in the southeastern United States were asked to draw either an engineer or a scientist at work. Drawings included space for the students to explain what their person was doing in the picture. A checklist to code the drawings was developed and used by two raters. This paper discusses similarities and differences in middle school perceptions of scientists and engineers. Results reveal that the students involved in this study frequently perceive scientists as working indoors conducting experiments. A large fraction of the students have no perception of engineering. Others frequently perceive engineers as working outdoors in manual labor. The findings have implications for the development and implementation of engineering outreach efforts.     

The new engineer: between employability and social responsibility

The reasons behind the demand for what is sometimes called the New Engineer are critically examined and it is argued that a focus on employability alone is not sufficient to prepare socially responsible engineers. By examining issues around work organisation and sustainability it is proposed that engineers need to understand the wider social context in which they work. It is argued that the focus of ethics education should be broadened to focus on the social structure and the way it both enables and constrains socially responsible conduct. There is a call to refocus engineers’ attitudes towards the systems of regulation so they see them not only as constraints but as potential enablers supporting socially responsible engineering.     

Assessment of student learning: Evolution of objectives in engineering education and the consequences for assessment

The focus of objectives of engineering education has evolved from knowledge to skills. This is a logical consequence of the changing demands of employers of graduated engineers. This change is referred to as a paradigm shift in engineering education. It is therefore not surprising that the views on assessment of student learning are changing as well. In this paper the relation between the demands and the educational objectives are reviewed. Consequently, the implications for assessment are discussed. Assessment is introduced as a feedback procedure. It is discussed that in fact four different feedback pathways can be identified. Finally, the relation between educational methods and their relation to assessment is discussed in detail. As an example, the problems in assessment of group work are discussed.     

Implementing feminist theory in engineering: obstacles within the gender studies tradition

Scholars have noted that there is hesitation to utilise findings from gender studies in engineering education. Issues within gender studies may be part of the matching problem. Debates concerning two concepts for new engineering paradigms are investigated: care and heterogeneity. Their appeals and the respective complications which they tend to be associated with are revisited. Two examples are explored in detail. The tensions revealed lead to the contents of technical work. More social sciences content in engineering education is sometimes suggested, as a way to support more humane approaches. But, if the calculations that decide how many bolts of what dimension are to be put where are ‘masculinist reductionism’, it still remains that someone will have to do those calculations. Is emphasis on social issues really what we want from engineers?     

Student‐teachers' perspectives on positive and negative social processes in school

In recent years, the Standards for Qualified Teacher Status in England have placed new emphasis on student‐teachers' ability to become integrated into the ‘corporate life of the school’ and to work with other professionals. Little research, however, has been carried out into how student‐teachers perceive the social processes and interactions that are central to such integration during their initial teacher education school placements. This study aims to shed light on these perceptions. The data, gathered from 23 student‐teachers through interviews and reflective writing, illustrate the extent to which the participants perceived such social processes as supporting or obstructing their development as teachers. Signals of inclusion, the degree of match or mismatch in students' and school colleagues' role expectations, and the social awareness of both school and student‐teacher emerged as crucial factors in this respect. The student‐teachers' accounts show their social interactions with school staff to be meaningful in developing their ‘teacher self’ and to be profoundly emotionally charged. The implications for mentor and student‐teacher role preparation are discussed in this article.     

核反应堆工程专业生产实习的实践探索

核反应堆工程专业生产实习是普通高等院校实现核反应堆工程专业人才培养目标的重要实践环节,是专业知识联系生产实践的有效途径,直接影响学生适应社会的能力。南华大学于2011年6月在中国原子能科学研究院开展了核反应堆工程专业生产实习的实践探索。生产实习前的充分准备工作、严格的实习管理、实习单位优越的硬件和软件条件,确保了生产实习工作的平稳开展。学生的认可和实习单位的好评,表明了核反应堆工程专业生产实习的成功性。     

An Australian study of generic competencies required by engineers

Engineering curricula have expanded in recent decades. In addition to science and technical engineering, they now include several non-technical competencies. This is a trend reinforced by programme accreditation. The authors take the viewpoint that it is important to ensure that graduates have the competencies they will require for their work. The following question is addressed: What are the generic competencies that engineers graduating in Australia require for their work as engineers?

Competencies were identified from a broad range of literature and then rated by 300 established engineers for importance to their jobs. The results indicated that non-technical, attitudinal and technical competencies were perceived to be important. Eleven competency factors were revealed empirically. Profiles of these competency factors among graduates would assist evaluation and improvement of engineering programmes. This is the first quantitative study conducted in Australia that encompassed all engineering disciplines and focused on established engineers rather than recent graduates.     

Factors Influencing Postsecondary STEM Students’ Views of the Public Communication of an Emergent Technology: a Cross-National Study from Five Universities

Recent efforts in the science education community have highlighted the need to integrate research and theory from science communication research into more general science education scholarship. These synthesized research perspectives are relatively novel but serve an important need to better understand the impacts that the advent of rapidly emerging technologies will have on a new generation of scientists and engineers including their formal communication with engaged citizenry. This cross-national study examined postsecondary science and engineering students’ (n?=?254 from five countries: Austria, Finland, France, Israel, and USA) perspectives on the role of science communication in their own formal science and engineering education. More broadly, we examined participants’ understanding of their perceived responsibilities of communicating science and engineering to the general public when an issue contains complex social and ethical implications (SEI). The study is contextualized in the emergent technology of nanotechnology for which SEI are of particular concern and for which the general public often perceives conflicting risks and benefits. Findings indicate that student participants’ hold similar views on the need for their own training in communication as future scientists and engineers. When asked about the role that ethics and risk perception plays in research, development, and public communication of nanotechnology, participants demonstrate similar trajectories of perspectives that are, however, often anchored in very different levels of beginning concern. Results are discussed in the context of considerations for science communication training within formal science education curricula globally.     

Preparing engineers for the challenges of community engagement

Despite calls to address global challenges through community engagement, engineers are not formally prepared to engage with communities. Little research has been done on means to address this ‘engagement gap’ in engineering education. We examine the efficacy of an intensive, two-day Community Engagement Workshop for engineers, designed to help engineers better look beyond technology, listen to and learn from people, and empower communities. We assessed the efficacy of the workshop in a non-experimental pre–post design using a questionnaire and a concept map. Questionnaire results indicate participants came away better able to ask questions more broadly inclusive of non-technological dimensions of engineering projects. Concept map results indicate participants have a greater understanding of ways social factors shape complex material systems after completing the programme. Based on the workshop’s strengths and weaknesses, we discuss the potential of expanding and supplementing the programme to help engineers account for social aspects central to engineered systems.     

Learning from the Professions: Examining How,Why, and When Engineers Read and Write

With the advent of the Next Generation Science Standards in engineering (NGSS, 2013), teachers of multiple subject areas are being asked to do more than ever before—not only to teach engineering content in the K-12 classroom but also to engage students in authentic disciplinary reading and writing as part of content learning. These standards sound good, but they beg several questions; namely, what do we know about how, why, and when do engineers read and write as they do their work every day? What do teachers charged with engineering education know about the daily practices of engineers, let alone the literacy practices? In short, little is known about the literacy practices of engineers in the course of their daily work. This article draws on participant observation, interviews, and document analysis of one research engineering laboratory to illustrate the literacy practices of one group of engineers and begins to draw implications from this work for teacher practice in achieving the NGSS engineering education standards.     

关于高等工程教育师资队伍建设的几点思考

工科类大学教师是培养＂卓越工程师＂的核心力量,结合＂卓越工程师教育培养计划＂的要求,提出工科类大学教师应是＂卓越工程师＂与＂卓越大学教师＂的结合体。工科类大学教师要具有卓越的工程实践教学能力、真实丰富的工程实践经历、卓越的工程技术创新能力、优良的职业道德。同时,教育管理者们在制定相关的入职资格标准时不仅要考虑学历、专业等因素,更需要重视＂准工科类大学教师＂们的内在能力与素养,科学合理地制定相关资格标准,为培养新时期的＂卓越工程师＂提供师资保障。     

Factors affecting perceived learning of engineering students in problem based learning supported by business simulation

Although literature about problem based learning (PBL) is not scarce, there is little research on experiences about learning methodologies that combine PBL and the use of simulation tools. This lack of studies is even more notable in the case of engineering courses. The motivation for this study is to show how such a combination of PBL and simulation has been designed in a group work course for engineers and to analyze how the underlying factors of this methodology are related to perceived learning. This exploratory study focuses on how perceived enjoyment, interaction, collaborative learning, perceived satisfaction, and time dedicated to the course affect the learning perceived by the students in an engineer's degree course. The outcomes of this pilot study show that only three of these factors (satisfaction, time dedication, and collaborative learning) affect the students' perceived learning. Despite the high ratings obtained for interaction and perceived enjoyment, no significant relation between these factors and perceived learning was found. The reasons behind these findings are discussed.     

Preparing Practitioners for the Professoriate

ABSTRACT

All doctoral programs in social work in the United States were surveyed as to their ways, if any, of preparing their students for teaching and the faculty role. Forty five out of a possible 51 replied. Although there was no agreement as to the way to do this, all but four programs made some planned effort to help their students acquire some knowledge and/or expertise in the areas of teaching, curriculum, learning theories or some combination of these. Almost all were elective for the student.     

广州番禺区制造业工程技术人才现状的调查

据调查,番禺区制造业工程技术人才主要以已婚男性、青壮年、本科毕业生和外省人士为主。工程师队伍相对较稳定,超过一半的工程师现从事的是第一份工作,有60％多的工程师在现企业工作时间达5年以上;57％的工程师上一份工作地也在番禺,且81．7％工程师表示没有回乡创业的打算;97％的工程师一直在制造业内工作,且88．24％的工程师表示未来将继续在制造业内工作。工程师对现工作的企业及番禺区工作、生活环境均比较满意,且社会保险、住房、配偶就业、落户等方面均比较理想。但如何进一步稳定并发挥工程师的工作积极性与创造性,并提升个体技术能力水平依然是当地人力资源开发工作的重要课题。     

Sixth-Grade Students’ Views of the Nature of Engineering and Images of Engineers

This study investigated the views of the nature of engineering held by 6th-grade students to provide a baseline upon which activities or curriculum materials might be developed to introduce middle-school students to the work of engineers and the process of engineering design. A phenomenographic framework was used to guide the analysis of data collected from: (1) a series of 20 semi-structured interviews with 6th-grade students, (2) drawings created by these students of “an engineer or engineers at work” that were discussed during the interviews, and (3) field notes collected by the researchers during the interviews. The 6th-grade students tended to believe that engineers were individuals who make or build products, although some students understood the role of engineers in the design or planning of products, and, to a lesser extent in testing products to ensure that they “work” and/or are safe to use. The combination of drawings of “engineers or engineering at work” and individual interviews provided more insight into the students’ views of the nature of engineering than either source of data would have offered on its own. Analysis of the data suggested that the students’ concepts of engineers and engineering were fragile, or unstable, and likely to change within the time frame of the interview.     

Paired peer learning through engineering education outreach

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate education incorporating active learning and vicarious experience through education outreach presents a critical opportunity to influence future engineering teaching and practice capabilities. Engineering education outreach activities have been shown to have multiple benefits; increasing interest and engagement with science and engineering for school children, providing teachers with expert contributions to engineering subject knowledge, and developing professional generic skills for engineers such as communication and teamwork. This pilot intervention paired 10 pre-service teachers and 11 student engineers to enact engineering outreach in primary schools, reaching 269 children. A longitudinal mixed methods design was employed to measure change in attitudes and Education Outreach Self-Efficacy in student engineers; alongside attitudes, Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy and Engineering Subject Knowledge Confidence in pre-service teachers. Highly significant improvements were noted in the pre-service teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy, while both the teachers and engineers qualitatively described benefits arising from the paired peer mentor model.