Act Idea Test Learn - Imperial College London

Learning based on Research and Research based Learning 4/19/2011
Embedding Research in University Education
Learning based on Research
and Research based Learning
Dr. David Radcliffe
Kamyar Haghighi Head, School of Engineering Education
Epistemology Professor of Engineering Education
Education Day, Imperial College
7 April, 2011
Conceptual Framework
& Starting Assumptions
Effective Learning Environments
Seven Principles of Learning
Bransford, Brown and
Cocking (2003)
How People Learn,
National Academies
Press.
Community Centered
Learner
Centred
Alignment
Assessment
Centred
Knowledge
Centred
1. Learning is fundamentally social
2. Knowledge is integrated in the life of
communities
3. Learning is an act of membership
4. Knowing depends on engagement in practice
5. Engagement is inseparable from empowerment
6. "Failure" to learn is the result of exclusion from
participation
7. We already have a society of lifelong learners
The Institute for Research on Learning (IRL), Palo Alto, CA.
“Research” as Inquiry and Imagination (design)
find
brainstorm
ask
Idea
observe
make
Act
iterate
Learn
Scientists study the world as it is,
engineers create the world that
never has been.
— Theodore von Karman
model
Test
reflect
analyze
measure
prototype
make
Holt and Radcliffe (1985)
Educating “Renaissance” Engineers
Royal Academy of
Engineering, UK
2006
• engineer as specialist
– recognizes the continued need for engineering graduates who
are technical experts of world‐class.
• engineer as integrator
– reflects the need for graduates who can operate and manage
across boundaries, be they technical or organizational, in a
complex business environment.
• engineer as change agent
– highlights the critical role engineering graduates must play in
providing the creativity, innovation, and leadership needed to
guide the industry to a successful future.
http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/releases/henley/default.htm
Education Day, Imperial College: Radcliffe 1

Learning based on Research and Research based Learning 4/19/2011
School of Engineering Education at Purdue
Historical Firsts in Engineering @ Purdue
• First Department of Freshman Engineering (1953 ‐2004).
• Interdisciplinary Engineering Program (1969 ‐ onwards).
• First Women in Engineering Program (1969 ‐ onwards).
• NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers) born (1971‐75).
• Co‐founding site of WEPAN (Women in Engineering i Programs
and Advocates Network) (1990 ‐ onwards).
• EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) (1995 ‐ ).
• First Department of Engineering Education (2004).
• School of Engineering Education (2008).
Armstrong Hall
of Engineering
http://www.owenstaylor.com/2010/10/neil-armstrong-hall-of-engineering.html
Evolution of the School of Engineering Education
April 9, 2004 January, 2008
College of Engineering Structure at Purdue
11 Schools
Aeronautical and Astronautics
Agricultural and Biological Engineering
1953 Freshman Engineering
1969
IDE Program
Department of
Engineering
Education
PhD in
Engineering
Education
2005
School of
Engineering
Education
College of Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Engineering Education
Industrial Engineering
Materials Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Nuclear Engineering
2 Divisions
Construction
Engineering
Management
Environmental
and Ecological
Engineering
10,000
engineering
students
Motivation: No More Guess Work
• When it comes to educating our future
engineers, we can no longer afford “an
enterprise of methodical guessing” (Bertrand
Russell).
• Our foremost job is to advance a time-critical
coherent research agenda that integrates a
vital cycle of knowledge production and
improvement of practice.
• Grand questions:
– What are the characteristics of engineering
learning and knowing?
– How can we best prepare engineers for
their role in society?
Vision: School of Engineering Education
A more inclusive, socially connected
and scholarly engineering education
We envision engineers who, in collaboration with others, help communities globally to
achieve their aspirations in creative yet responsible and sustainable ways. Their
education is informed by sophisticated knowledge about how people learn to engineer,
one that attracts and develops a diverse range of people and is suited to addressing
complex socio-technical issues. This implies we radically re-think the boundaries of
engineering and the purpose of engineering education.
Haghighi (2007)
ENE Strategic Plan (2009-14)
Education Day, Imperial College: Radcliffe 2

Learning based on Research and Research based Learning 4/19/2011
Mission: School of Engineering Education
Transforming engineering education
based on scholarship and research
• Re‐imagine Engineering and Engineering Education
– Diversify engineering
– Embed creativity, innovation and social responsibility
– Enrich the student experience
• Create field‐shaping Knowledge
• Empower Agents of Change
ENE Strategic Plan (2009-14)
A Multi-faceted School
Interdisciplinary
Engineering
Degree
Innovative
Learning
Labs
BS
Engineering
Education
First Year
Engineering
(FYE)
diverse
activities: one
mission
INSPIRE
P‐12
Research
Institute
FYE
Student
Advising
Engineering
Education
Research
Laboratories
PhD in
Engineering
Education
Master of
Engineering
Education
Research Themes in Our School
Knowing our students
Engineering thinking, knowing, and doing
• diversity: race/ethnicity, class, and gender
• engineering epistemologies
• large-scale data analysis
• adaptive expertise in engineering context
• motivation and careers in STEM
• design thinking and engineering decision-making
• P-12 engineering education
• global engineering and international perspectives
• developmental engineering
• mathematical thinking
• recruitment, retention, and student success
• thinking & working in multi-, inter-, & trans-
• self-efficacy and career identity building
disciplinary ways
Transforming engineering education systems
Supporting & assessing learning
• theories of change for engineering education
• conceptual change and concept inventories
• history and nature of engineering
• cyber-learning and cyber-environments
• leadership and policy
• design of learning environments
• evolution of the engineering education research
• instrument design and survey development
community
• learning in out-of-school and informal environments
• faculty and graduate student professional
• models and modeling
development
• service and experiential learning
• teaming and collaborative learning
Million Dollars
Research Funding & Activity Trends
Awards Expenditures No. of Awards No. Proposals Submitted
12
50
45
10
40
8
35
30
6
25
20
4
15
2
10
5
0
0
2003‐04 2004‐05 2005‐06 2006‐07 2007‐08 2008‐09 2009‐10
PhD Program in Engineering Education
20 PhD
Graduates
Prospective Career Trajectories of Our PhDs
Policy
NGOs
Professional societies
Learning to make a difference
Industry
ENE Graduate Open House: Picture Alice Pawley
50 Current
PhD Students
P-12 & Community
Universities
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Learning based on Research and Research based Learning 4/19/2011
Learning based on Research
The Virtuous Cycle of Research & Practice
which help
improve
Innovative
Educational
Practice
identifies and
motivates
Answers
Insights
Questions
Ideas
ASEE, 2009
that results in
Original
Educational
Research
which lead to
Scientific Principles of Research in Education
Breadth of Engineering Education Research
National
Research Council
(2002)
1. Pose significant questions that can be answered
empirically
2. Link research to relevant theory
3. Use methods that permit direct investigation of
the question
4. Provide a coherent and explicit chain of reasoning
5. Replicate and generalize across studies
6. Disclose research to encourage professional
scrutiny and critique
Pre-K K-12 College Industry
understanding knowledge construction & sharing
and community membership processes
in engineering contexts
across all life and career stages
in
formal and informal learning environments
Purdue Engineer of 2020:
Ideas-to-Innovation (i2i) Learning Laboratory
a 21 st century place of learning
“We shape our buildings….
after that our buildings shape us”
innovation based on
engineering education research
Sir Winston Churchill
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Learning based on Research and Research based Learning 4/19/2011
Active, Collaborative, Learner-centered Classes
Creating “Exciting Venues for Learning”
Learning to make a difference
“A goal is to abandon over time the large classes in
which students sit passively in favor of smaller classes
that engage students in experiential learning. We
hope to transform some or all of our gateway classes
that currently seat hundreds of students -- and
ultimately defeat large numbers of them -- into exciting
venues for learning.
A role model is our College of Engineering that
is transforming its classrooms with 450 freshman
students into a five-module, hands-on design
experience called Ideas to Innovation”.
25
President Cordova, Inaugural Speech, April 11, 2008
Institute for P-12 Engineering Learning and Research
P-12 Engineering: Context
• Mission: To study engineering thought and learning at the P‐12
level and to inspire diverse students to pursue engineering and
science for the benefit of humanity and the advancement of
society.
• Research: Basic and applied multidisciplinary research focusing on–
teacher professional development, assessment, student learning,
and informal learning.
• People:
– 9 academic staff
– 5 postdoctoral fellows
– 13 graduate (PhD) students
– 15 undergraduate researchers
– 3 support staff
Katehi, Pearson,
and Feder (Ed)
(2009) NAE/NRC
Engineering is Elementary:
Museum of Science, Boston
Threshold Concept: Design
Changing gthe
Conversation
(2008) National
Academy of
Engineering
Building Teaching Capacity based on Evidence
• Concept based curriculum; centred on design
• Engineering as integrative element
• Informal learning about engineering in families
• Engineering identity interventions (Yr 2‐4)
• Engineering Teacher‐in‐Residence program (K‐5): unique onlocation,
in‐time teacher professional development model
• AssessmentHub: online repository for P‐12 research and
evaluation instruments
• New Journal: Journal of Pre‐College Engineering Education
Research (J‐PEER) –first issue April 2011
• Impacted 600+ teachers and > 17,000 Grade 2‐4 students
Research-based Learning
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2006/vomit-collicot.jpg
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Learning based on Research and Research based Learning 4/19/2011
Undergraduate Research Programs at Purdue
Multi-subject / Multi-disciplinary
CIC Summer Research Opportunities
Discovery Park Undergraduate Research Internship Program (AY)
Interns for Indiana (Entrepreneurial; semester credit or summer)
Purdue Summer Research Opportunities Program
Summer Bridge Program
Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURF)
Biomedical Engineering (credit)
Joint Transport Research Program (summer)
Life Sciences, Agriculture and Medicine Program (semester)
Entomology Undergraduate Research Program (semester; credit)
Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Internships (summer)
Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Dean’s Summer Program
Purdue University Center for Cancer Research (summer)
Summer Program for Pre‐veterinary Students
Science, Mathematics, Computer and Technology Programs (summer)
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
• Integrated, research‐related, hands‐on learning through discovery
• Conduct mentored research full time for 11 weeks over summer
• Participate in weekly professional development activities and social events
• Present results in poster symposium and get assessment feedback
SURF Statistics
Started 2003
Number grew to 162 by 2005
Cumulative 997 by 2010
(828 Purdue; 169 other)
Women up to 25%
Minorities up to 20%
Eligibility
• Undergraduate students enrolled at Purdue and other U.S. institutions of
higher education in a baccalaureate degree program.
• Due to the requirements of the research projects, the SURF program is
designed for undergraduates who have completed at least four semesters
• Cumulative GPA of 3.0+ (out of 4)
• 18 years old.
Apply to grad Purdue school ‐ 48%
Admitted to Purdue – 40%
Accept (enroll) at Purdue – 29%
Expectations of Students
• Take a proactive approach to your work and to develop your research skills.
• Forge good relationships with your research mentors and peers.
• Be on time to scheduled events and actively participate as needed.
• Participate in the SURF 2011 program assessment.
• Communicate to any changes to your participation status.
• Seek assistance and ask questions to meet your educational & personal goals.
• Take advantage of ALL resources available to you (people and facilities).
Requirements
Commit to the research project
Organize a weekly meeting with faculty mentor
Conduct research 40 hours a week
Attend the SURF orientation & seminar series
Plan ahead
Complete assignments on time
Complete online modules on research
Complete Responsible Conduct of Research
Write a problem statement & research abstract
Write a research summary or lab report
Present findings at Research Symposium
Education Day, Imperial College: Radcliffe 6

Learning based on Research and Research based Learning 4/19/2011
Engineering Projects
in Community Service
Pedagogical Principles
Service Learning
Multi‐level learning
Experiential learning
Active learning
Problem‐based learning
Inquiry‐guided id d learning
Design based education
Engaging the community
Tied to academic learning outcomes
Reciprocity
Reflection
https://engineering.purdue.edu/EPICS/About/ovpresentation.pdf
Multi-disciplinary, Life Cycle Projects
Example Projects
• Life‐Cycle: Define‐Design‐Build‐Test‐Deploy‐Support
• Long‐term partnerships with community organizations
• Vertically‐integrated teams:
– First year +Sophomores+ Juniors+ Seniors
• Large‐team experience: 8‐18 students
• Multidisciplinary teams:
– Engineering (ECE; ME, IE; IDE)
– Computer Science
– Sociology, Education,
– Child Development
– Biology, Audiology,
– Natural Resources
– Visual Design, Technical Writing
Habitat for Humanity
Boiler Green Initiative
Columbian Park Zoo
Community and Family
Resource Center
Electric Vehicle Event
Infrastructure
Engineering gfor World Health
Greater Lafayette Area Special
Services
Greater Lafayette Elementary
Education
Habitat for Humanity
Haiti Education
Imagination Station
Laser Harp
Learning Science and Math
through Engineering
Riley Children’s Hospital
Advancement Team
Soap Box Derby, Challenger
Division
Speech‐Language and Audiology
Clinics
St. Vincent Advancement Team
Water Resources Management
Web‐based Interactive Software
Engineering
West Lafayette Public Library
Young Women's Christian
Association
https://engineering.purdue.edu/EPICS/About/ovpresentation.pdf
https://engineering.purdue.edu/EPICS/Projects/Teams
Impact on Students
“EPICS completely changed my opinion of engineering.”
“Working on this project has helped me guide the rest of my course work and
ideas for a future profession.”
“Other engineering courses only directly benefit me. EPICS benefits everyone
involved.”
“I have learned that engineering includes more than theory, it includes
teamwork, communication, organization and leadership.”
“It made me understand how every aspect of engineering (design,
implementation, team work, documentation) come together.”
“No longer is engineering just a bunch of equations, now I see it as a means to
help humankind.”
“Opened my heart.”
National Recognition
William C. Oakes, Leah Jamieson and Edward J. Coyle
Bernard M. Gordon Prize
for Innovation in
Engineering and
Technology Education
National Academy of
Engineering
2005
https://engineering.purdue.edu/EPICS/About/ovpresentation.pdf
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Learning based on Research and Research based Learning 4/19/2011
Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation
Concluding Thoughts
To substantially increase the
quantity and quality of students,
especially minorities, in Science,
Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM).
Undergraduate Funding Opportunities
– Academic year research stipend
– Summer research stipend
– Conference Travel Awards
– Purdue Graduate School Expo Fair
Faculty Funding Opportunities
– Research supplies stipend
– Summer research supplies stipend
– LSAMP Annual Research Conference
Rethinking the Formation of Engineers
Global Challenges: Educational Opportunities
Acquiring (de-contextualized)
engineering and other
knowledge and skills
OR
Knowing, acting,
being an (apprentice)
engineer
Resource Depletion
Ecological Damage
Climate Change
If the purpose of education is
that of learning to learn,
learning to know, learning to
do and, above all else,
learning to be, it is hard to find
where the lecture fits into this
scheme of things.
[Sir Graham Hills; see also D.A.Bligh, 1972]
Dec 7, 1972
Water
Food
Shelter
Energy
Transport
Sustainable Futures
46
Thank You
Dedication of Armstrong Hall, Oct, 2007
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