The Effects of Engineering Modules on Student Learning in Middle School Science Classrooms

The Teachers Integrating Engineering into Science (TIES) Program is a collaborative project among faculty from the College of Education and the College of Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. The TIES project paired university faculty with middle school science teachers to create three units that included engineering design using a variety of interactive learning activities in order to engage a wide range of students. The units included a Web‐based simulation activity, lesson plans, a design project, and three types of assessments that were standardized across schools. Results of assessments were disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, special education, and socio‐economic level. Mean scores for these student population groups were compared to mean scores for the same groups on the 2004 Nevada eighth grade science criterion referenced test. These results indicate that engaging students in engineering curriculum activities may diminish achievement gaps in science for some student populations.     

Pre‐College Engineering Studies: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Pre‐college Engineering Studies and Student Achievement in Science and Mathematics

Background The U.S. has experienced a shift from a manufacturing‐based economy to one that overwhelmingly provides services and information. This shift demands that technological skills be more fully integrated with one's academic knowledge of science and mathematics so that the next generation of engineers can reason adaptively, think critically, and be prepared to learn how to learn. Purpose (Hypothesis ) Project Lead the Way (PLTW) provides a pre‐college curriculum that focuses on the integration of engineering with science and mathematics. We documented the impact that enrollment in PLTW had on student science and math achievement. We consider the enriched integration hypothesis, which states that students taking PLTW courses will show achievement benefits, after controlling for prior achievement and other student and teacher characteristics. We contrast this with alternative hypotheses that propose little or no impact of the engineering coursework on students' math and science achievement (the insufficient integration hypothesis), or that PLTW enrollment might be negatively associated with student achievement (the adverse integration hypothesis). Design/ Method Using multilevel statistical modeling with students (N = 140) nested within teachers, we report findings from a quantitative analysis of the relationship between PLTW enrollment and student achievement on state standardized tests of math and science. Results While students gained in math and science achievement overall from eighth to tenth grade, students enrolled in PLTW foundation courses showed significantly smaller math assessment gains than those in a matched group that did not enroll, and no measurable advantages on science assessments, when controlling for prior achievement and teacher experience. The findings do not support the enriched integration hypothesis. Conclusions Engineering education programs like PLTW face both challenges and opportunities to effectively integrate academic content as they strive to prepare students for college engineering programs and careers.     

管理科学与工程学科概念及其体系研究

从管理科学与工程学科产生与发展的影响因素入手,考证学科形成与发展的历史轨迹,尝试建立现代管理科学与工程学科的概念定位及其完整的学科体系,并确立学科在现代科学系统中的地位.     

Styles of Science and Engineering: The Case of Early Long‐Distance Telephony*

Abstract In the historiography of the relationship between technology and theoretical science, electrical communication plays an important role. It was by means of mathematical reasoning based on the new theory of electromagnetism that it was first understood how to extend the range of telephony by inserting self‐inductance in the line. This paper surveys developments from around 1880 to 1910, at a time when ‘pupinization’ had become a reality and mathematical physics an accepted part of the research strategy of a few advanced companies in the electrical industry. It presents the confrontation of two different styles of engineering science, on the one hand there was the empirical approach and on the other an approach more mathematical in nature. This paper offers some reflections on the nature of ‘counterintuitive technologies’ and the general relationship between science, engineering and technology.     

对我国现代工程科学技术发展的思考

在概要地讨论了科学技术发展历程的基础上,阐述了“现代管理科学”,“现代系统科学”和“复杂性科学”对现代工程技术发展的重要作用,并论述了我国工程科学技术发展中值得重视的几个问题。     

基于设计科学的产品设计研究方法综述

目的 智能设计需要符合设计规律的推理机制。目前工业设计师主要是以个人主观意图进行设计,面对国家经济发展的需求,有必要在设计实践的同时,采用科学的方法探究设计规律。方法 采用文献研究方法对比分析设计科学、管理科学、情报学、工程科学领域中有关产品设计方法的研究成果,从设计科学的内涵、研究对象、研究范式和研究方法进行综述,重点对设计思维、设计知识研究方法进行了分析。结论 设计科学是采用科学的研究方法研究人的思维、设计对象、设计过程和设计结果。设计科学研究方法不仅需要规范性研究范式,也需要描述性研究范式,采用基于科学范式的科学方法探究设计规律,才能真正助推智能设计、设计科学和设计学科的发展。     

科学 技术 工程及科学家 工程师 企业家

论述了科学、技术、工程的性质与相互关系以及科学家、工程师、企业家的任务；为科学技术创新，发展经济，振兴国家，指出了应采取的对策。     

Measuring Engineering Design Self‐Efficacy

Background Self‐concept can influence how an individual learns, but is often overlooked when assessing student learning in engineering. Purpose (Hypothesis ) To validate an instrument designed to measure individuals' self‐concepts toward engineering design tasks, three research questions were investigated: (a) how well the items in the instrument represent the engineering design process in eliciting the task‐specific self‐concepts of self‐efficacy, motivation, outcome expectancy, and anxiety, (b) how well the instrument predicts differences in the self‐efficacy held by individuals with a range of engineering experiences, and (c) how well the responses to the instrument align with the relationships conceptualized in self‐efficacy theory. Design /Method A 36‐item online instrument was developed and administered to 202 respondents. Three types of validity evidence were obtained for (a) representativeness of multi‐step engineering design processes in eliciting self‐efficacy, (b) the instrument's ability to differentiate groups of individuals with different levels of engineering experience, and (c) relationships between self‐efficacy, motivation, outcome expectancy, and anxiety as predicted by self‐efficacy theory. Results Results indicate that the instrument can reliably identify individuals' engineering design self‐efficacy (α = 0.967), motivation (α = 0.955), outcome expectancy (α = 0.967), and anxiety (α = 0.940). One‐way ANOVA identified statistical differences in self‐efficacy between high, intermediate, and low experience groups at the ρ < 0.05 level. Self‐efficacy was also shown to be correlated to motivation (0.779), outcome expectancy (0.919), and anxiety (—0.593) at the ρ < 0.01 level. Conclusions The study showed that the instrument was capable of identifying individuals' self‐concepts specific to the engineering design tasks.     

工科院校愉快式双语教学方法探微

文章讨论了工科类院校运用愉快双语教学的最佳方法和手段,并就如何创造最佳的环境来激发学生,使他们既掌握专业知识又能培养学习英语的兴趣作了有益的尝试.     

中国高校材料教育现状与面临的挑战

通过对中国高校材料教育的发展状况进行调研和分析,结合国外材料教育的发展情况,提出了加快我国材料教育改革的建议.     

中国工程科技发展战略研究展望

中国工程科技发展战略研究是中国工程院和国家自然科学基金委员会共同组织和开展的项目,目的是建设一个高水平的国家工程科技智库,搭建我国科技规划平台,发展适合我国国情的科技规划学。展望2035年我国科技水平,通过各项目组明确的顶层设计、两大运行系统的保障,即行政线系统保证战略研究的效率,技术线系统保证战略研究的质量,使之能达到预期的成果。     

工程 工程系统 工程系统论与工程科学体系

从分析工程的基本内容、性质和特征人手,引出了工程系统的概念,接着应用一般系统论思想讨论了工程系统论的研究对象和研究方法,并论述了它在整个工程科学体系中的元学科地位。     

Engineering 2D Architectures toward High‐Performance Micro‐Supercapacitors

The rise of micro‐supercapacitors is satisfying the demand for power storage in portable devices and wireless gadgets. But the miniaturization of the energy‐storage components is significantly limited by their energy density. Electrode materials with adequate electrochemical active surfaces are therefore required for improving performance. 2D materials with ultralarge specific surface areas offer a broad portfolio of the development of high‐performance micro‐supercapacitors in spite of their several critical drawbacks. An architecture engineering strategy is therefore developed to break these natural limits and maximize the significant advantages of these materials. Based on the approaches of phase transformation, intercalation, surface modification, material hybridization, and hierarchical structuration, 2D architectures with improved conductivity, enlarged specific surface, enhanced redox activity, as well as the unique synergetic effect exhibit great promise in the application of miniaturized supercapacitors with highly enhanced performance. Herein, the architecture engineering of emerging 2D materials beyond graphene toward optimizing the performance of micro‐supercapacitors is discussed, in order to promote the application of 2D architectures in miniaturized energy‐storage devices.     

工程科学领域的发展与现代物理学

从工程科学发展的角度探讨了相对论、量子理论和宏观物理学之间的关系,它们之间的矛盾和共同点,以及如何在共同的发展中寻找建立更加深刻的物理理论的可能途经。