Recent advances in technology and ideology have unlocked entirely new directions for education research. Mounting pressure from increasing tuition costs and free, online course offerings are opening discussion and catalyzing change in the physical classroom. The flipped classroom is at the center of this discussion. The flipped classroom is a new pedagogical method, which employs asynchronous video lectures, practice problems as homework, and active, group-based problem-solving activities in the classroom. It represents a unique combination of learning theories once thought to be incompatible—active, problem-based learning activities founded upon constructivist schema and instructional lectures derived from direct instruction methods founded upon behaviorist principles. The primary reason for examining this teaching method is that it holds the promise of delivering the best from both worlds. A controlled study of a sophomore-level numerical methods course was conducted using video lectures and model-eliciting activities (MEAs) in one section (treatment) and traditional group lecture-based teaching in the other (comparison). This study compared knowledge-based outcomes on two dimensions: conceptual understanding and conventional problem-solving ability. Homework and unit exams were used to assess conventional problem-solving ability, while quizzes and a conceptual test were used to measure conceptual understanding. There was no difference between sections on conceptual under- standing as measured by quizzes and concept test scores. The difference between average exam scores was also not significant. However, homework scores were significantly lower by 15.5 percentage points (out of 100), which was equivalent to an effect size of 0.70. This difference appears to be due to the fact that students in the MEA/video lecture section had a higher workload than students in the comparison section and consequently neglected to do some of the homework because it was not heavily weighted in the final course grade. A comparison of student evaluations across the sections of this course revealed that perceptions were significantly lower for the MEA/video lecture section on 3 items (out of 18). Based on student feedback, it is recommended that future implementations ensure tighter integration between MEAs and other required course assignments. This could involve using a higher number of shorter MEAs and more focus on the early introduction of MEAs to students.

For many years, colleges of engineering across the nation have required that a foundational set of courses be completed for entry into upper division coursework or into a specific engineering major. Since 1998, The Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU) has required that incoming first-time enrolling students complete a Core Body of Knowledge (CBK) with specific cumulative grade points required for specific majors. However, considerations of the time to completion of coursework and other student characteristics and academic factors have not been taken into consideration by TAMU, like most institutions. The purpose of this study is to determine for first year engineering students at TAMU the relationship of gender, ethnicity, engineering major, unmet financial need, cumulative grade point average, and total transfer hours on time to completion of CBK courses. The results of the analysis showed that cumulative grade point average (CGPA) had the strongest relationship to completion of CBK of any independent variable in this study. Statistical significance was found for the following variables in this study: CGPA, gender, ethnicity, and unmet financial need. For the study's variable of major, statistical significance was found for Chemical, Electrical, and Computer Engineering majors. The one variable in this study that did not show statistical significance in relation to time to completion of CBK was transfer credit. Findings with implications for recruitment and retention of underrepresented in engineering is a statistical significance indicating that on average females are taking less time than males to complete CBK. The conclusion from the study is that efforts to attract more women into engineering have merit as do programs to support underrepresented students in order that they may complete CBK at a faster pace. Further study to determine profiles of those majors where statistical significance was found for students taking a greater or lesser amount of time for CBK completion than the mean is recommended, as is ongoing data collection and comparison for current cohorts of engineering majors at TAMU.

For many years, colleges of engineering across the nation have required that a foundational set of courses be completed for entry into upper division coursework or into a specific engineering major. Since 1998, The Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU) has required that incoming first-time enrolling students complete a Core Body of Knowledge (CBK) with specific cumulative grade points required for specific majors. However, considerations of the time to completion of coursework and other student characteristics and academic factors have not been taken into consideration by TAMU, like most institutions. The purpose of this study is to determine for first year engineering students at TAMU the relationship of gender, ethnicity, engineering major, unmet financial need, cumulative grade point average, and total transfer hours on time to completion of CBK courses. The results of the analysis showed that cumulative grade point average (CGPA) had the strongest relationship to completion of CBK of any independent variable in this study. Statistical significance was found for the following variables in this study: CGPA, gender, ethnicity, and unmet financial need. For the study's variable of major, statistical significance was found for Chemical, Electrical, and Computer Engineering majors. The one variable in this study that did not show statistical significance in relation to time to completion of CBK was transfer credit. Findings with implications for recruitment and retention of underrepresented in engineering is a statistical significance indicating that on average females are taking less time than males to complete CBK. The conclusion from the study is that efforts to attract more women into engineering have merit as do programs to support underrepresented students in order that they may complete CBK at a faster pace. Further study to determine profiles of those majors where statistical significance was found for students taking a greater or lesser amount of time for CBK completion than the mean is recommended, as is ongoing data collection and comparison for current cohorts of engineering majors at TAMU.

Student failure is often attributed to a lack of work by students. While this view has some merit, it implies that only students need to change and reduces the incentive for lecturers, curricula, assessment practices to be interrogated. In this thesis, I take a comprehensive look into why students do not work. Firstly, I place social psychology factors in context with other factors that impact student success and show how beliefs about academic ability underpin the academic behaviour that leads to success. By placing a learning theory lens on six characteristics of fixed mindsets (beliefs that ability can only be developed to an individually pre-determined level) and growth mindsets (beliefs that that effective effort will lead to unlimited self-improvement), I develop a theoretical framework that explains how both fixed and growth mindsets can be encouraged by teaching practices. As students with fixed mindsets may be more vulnerable to dropping out of university, lecturers should be aware of the mindset messages they are sending to students through their words, actions and choice of activities and assessment practices. To address the question of how growth mindsets can be developed, I present results from a systematic literature review of growth mindset interventions aimed at engineering students, drawing on databases in education, engineering, and psychology. The findings show that most interventions involved informing students about mindsets and asking students to reflect on or teach others about mindsets, using personal examples. An intervention was devised to develop growth mindsets in engineering students through tutoring groups on the social media platform WhatsApp. Poor group functioning was addressed using a design-based research approach for the establishment of effective groups. Unexpectedly, assessments of engineering students' mindsets through surveys and interviews showed very low numbers of students with fixed mindset views. Reasons for this result are explained by categorizing growth mindset enablers identified from literature and comparing the literature findings with interview data from engineering students. The thesis culminates by contributing a critique on mindset assessment and a framework for creating learning environments conducive to student success.

The engineering undergraduate curriculum presents substantial opportunities for improvement. Society is calling for a transformation. As the culminating experience for undergraduate engineering students, capstone design team projects represent a window on the curriculum and a particularly fertile ground for understanding these opportunities. However, the factors that influence success and failure in capstone remains an area of inquiry. The work presented here proposes to help us develop a deeper understanding of these factors. The research presented here uses a mixed methods analysis approach for identifying the critical factors impacting capstone design team success, where success is defined from both student and faculty perspectives. The framework for the research includes factors and their interactions in three fundamental areas: faculty mentorship, student backgrounds, and various contextual influences. The research capitalizes on the use of survey tools and course data to conduct a mapping of faculty mentor beliefs and practices against student perception and recognition of those practices. In conjunction with student reflective memos containing self-evaluations of their project and team experiences, interactions with faculty mentors, and overall satisfaction with their educational experience, the data will combine to provide a multifaceted assessment of which factors are influential and are value-added to capstone courses. The mixed methods approach will include statistical analysis of programmatic data, student perception of instruction surveys, social network analysis of peer evaluations, faculty teacher belief self-assessments and case-study triangulation with student-authored reflective memoranda. The ultimate objective of this work is to provide an in-depth understanding of the capstone design experience and insights based upon careful analysis and observations of engineering students working on "real-world" projects. It is envisioned that the results of the research will provide meaningful guidance to students, instructors and stakeholders for improved preparation of young engineers for the profession.

Teacher change is about moving from thought, feelings and an understanding of teaching and learning into action and practice (Fullan, 1982). This naturalistic case study describes the initial phases of the teacher change process resulting from the implementation of a restructured undergraduate statics engineering course. The investigation focused on the broad research question of what happens when an educator undertakes the teacher change process to allow himself to move away from what is familiar and known (i.e., the traditional pedagogy) into an unknown, new pedagogy. More specifically, the three research questions investigated by this study were : (a) what were the teacher's intentions for changing his pedagogy? (b) what were the actual teaching events over the course of the semester? (c) what were the participant's (i.e., the instructor, students, undergraduate teaching assistant and researchers) perceptions of the pedagogical change? The collection and analysis of the data occurred simultaneously throughout the Fall semester of 1995, and continued into April 1996. Data were collected from transcribed audio recordings of interviews with the instructor, selected students and the undergraduate teaching assistant,written field notes from observations, questionnaires, electronic mail exchanges, student minute papers, and other documents. The data were summarized and coded according to recurring words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs about the instructor's intent for his change in pedagogy, then organized into categories of three change foci : (a) experiential learning, (b) cooperative learning, and (c) interactive multimedia in order to correspond with his intent for the new statics learning environment. Data were displayed in charts and tables to determine issues related to change. The results of this study are presented in terms of a descriptive analysis of the initial teacher change process portrayed through the "multiple realities" of the participants who experienced the pedagogical change. Three issues were evident : (a) the problem of the simultaneous introduction of three new innovations (experiential, cooperative learning and the interactive multimedia), (b) the frustrations of the teacher change process, and (c) difficulties of a paradigm shift in pedagogy when the instructor commences to relinquish control in the new learning environment. Articulation of these issues helps to increase our understanding of the teacher change process and the need to enact change over time. Moreover, lessons learned from this study can serve as guidelines for future researchers in their efforts to study the change process. This study increases our understanding of the teacher change process particularly when one undertakes a paradigm shift in pedagogy. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to investigate possible gender differences related to Reverse Engineering unit of the Engineer Your World curriculum. A pilot study took place in 4 schools in Texas and 1 in Massachusetts. The sample size was 160 students: 121 males and 39 females. Students taking EYW (both as an elective and as a required course) were surveyed about their experiences and interest in reverse engineering before and after the Reverse Engineering unit. Results reported some differences in responses between genders. Females reported a higher curiosity for taking things apart but fewer experiences than the males did, although the difference was not necessary statistically significant. A difference between genders was reported differences in learning about how things that they use on a daily basis (IPhones, digital cameras) work. Despite the students' reported lack of expectation that they would use information learned in the reverse engineering outside of class, they reported an interest in learning more about how things work. / text

This work examines the integration of engineering topics and design in an Advanced Placement (AP) Physics I course as taught in a large urban district in Texas, herein referred to as the school district, and examines whether engineering integrated into physics instruction accomplishes the same educational objectives as dedicated engineering courses such as the Engineer Your World designed by UTeach Engineering Program at The University of Texas at Austin. (Innovative Curriculum for High School Engineering Design, 2013). Observations were conducted in physics classrooms to view the enactment of district prescribed performance tasks. These performance tasks are open-ended, engineering-type challenges involving real-world scenarios in which students generate products. In addition, two AP Physics I instructors from the district were interviewed, one of whom is affiliated with UTeach engineering. A third instructor outside of the district, who teaches physics and Engineer Your World was also interviewed. The findings reported in this work indicate that AP Physics I courses have the potential to include steps of engineering design in traditional physics project-based instruction as well as the opportunity for instructors to utilize engineering-based examples during instruction. However, AP Physics I with its many curriculum requirements and accelerated pace cannot provide an experience comparable to that of an authentic engineering course. A more effective instructional model would be to teach the two courses concurrently, rather than substituting engineering modules in physics courses for an engineering course. To better integrate physics and engineering instruction, professional development geared towards physics teachers interested in incorporating engineering components into their lessons and projects is needed. / text

Problems can be solved using existing knowledge and methods derived from past experiences; and in building design, where buildings are sufficiently similar to those already built, this process can be optimised by creating standardised solutions to common problems. There is significant demand for specialist engineers who can apply these standardised solutions to established problems quickly and accurately; but novel designs generate entirely new problems for which established solutions are not always applicable. Generalist engineers working on novel designs must first define the problems before they can develop options and if necessary, create optimised solutions. Fire safety engineering (FSE) is the process of achieving fire safety in our built environment. The field requires both specialists trained in current practice and generalists skilled in creative and critical thinking. Current fire safety engineering education is mostly aimed at producing specialists, yet there is growing demand for generalists in high-end architecture, hindered by a lack of generalist education. Current education literature in FSE explains in detail what to teach, however they do not explain how to motivate students to learn what is taught; how to create the ‘need to know’ - the purpose that drives learning. The purpose can either be intrinsically motivating (i.e. the subject is interesting) or extrinsically motivating (i.e. if you don’t learn it then you will fail the exam). The former is sustained by autonomy and choice; the latter is sustained by control. Control increases the likelihood that the predicted outcome will be realised, but by definition reduces the likelihood of realising any other outcome, including potential innovation.Initially a study was created to test the effects of creating an autonomous learning environment within a traditional lecture-based ‘fundamentals’ course at the University of Edinburgh. This study, along with observations at a range of US universities led to the formation of an overarching theory of education. Ultimately, purpose is the goal students strive to achieve; autonomy creates the opportunity to think and learn independently; and structure provides the constraints that converge students towards an optimised result, supported by sound evidence and reasoning. Thus the key to generalist education was to provide purpose, autonomy and structure (PAS) in that order. The PAS concept was trialled at EPFL (Switzerland) and the participating students, with no prior knowledge of fire engineering, produced work of exceptional quality. In summary, the present study offers an observational validation that Purpose, Autonomy & Structure (PAS) can be used to effectively support the generalist way of thinking and although the examples given in this paper are related to fire safety engineering (due to the need for generalists in that field), the qualitative evidence on which the conclusions are based is not subject-specific, implying that the PAS methodology could be applied to other disciplines.

To find the beginning of the use of audio-visual aids in the teaching of industrial arts is difficult, if not impossible. The very nature of the work makes the use of audio-visual teaching methods absolutely indispensable. Long before the term "audio-visual aids" had been coined and before any attention had been given to the teaching method, as such, teachers of inudstrial arts were making use of the demonstration, the model, the exhibit, and many other teaching devices since included in the scope of the meaning of audio-visual teaching aids. The objective of this study is to ascertain which one or two, or more, of the many audio-visual aids available to industrial arts teachers, help most to make the subject matter vital and meaningful to the students in each of the subject matter areas included in the industrial arts programs of the junior high schools of Utah.