The study examined first-year engineering students' responses to a statistics task that asked them to generate a procedure for quantifying variability in a data set from an engineering context. Teams used technological tools to perform computations, and their final product was a ranking procedure. The students could use any statistical measures,…

Today, academics spend a great deal of time--and money--fretting over the state of "STEM" education. STEM--a clever acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics--attempts, wrongly in the author's view, to tightly associate educational enterprises that should be distinctly delineated. To be sure, STEM aims to promote study in areas…

A "humanitarian market" for off-grid renewable energy technologies for displaced populations in remote areas has emerged. Within this market, there are multiple stakeholder agendas. End-user needs and sustainable development goals are currently not considered through the customer-enterprise relationship and the applied product and…

This Afterschool Alert Issue Brief explores how afterschool programs are offering innovative, hands-on computing and engineering education opportunities. Both these subjects have emerged as priority areas within the "STEM" fields. Computing is one of the fastest growing industries, and yet current rates of college graduation in computer…

Mark Van Doren, the noted literary scholar, once remarked, "The college is meaningless without a curriculum, but it is more so when it has one that is meaningless." Many current critics of undergraduate curricula in America assent to the crucial need for programmatic renewal in our colleges and universities. They bemoan the cookie-cutter…

This paper reports findings from the study that assessed the first year Indian ESL students' awareness of reading strategy use. It also investigated the relationship that exists between reading strategy use and the reading comprehension achievements of the Indian ESL students. The study utilized two instruments such as SORS and RCT which is the…

It is commonly observed that training in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) cannot successfully guarantee skills in English for Occupational Purposes (EOP). This study proposes an EOP-oriented course in an academic setting. It is designed to equip undergraduate students of engineering with general skills for EOP practices to meet students' future…

It has long been recognized that engineers need a variety of skills, including technical and social, to succeed professionally. Attempts to include social skills (i.e., communication, teamwork, and leadership) in engineering education are relatively recent (i.e., within the last decade). Thus, the current study investigates whether social goals…

Drawing attention to the institutions graduating Latinos in postsecondary education links the college completion goals of the U.S. with the workforce needs of the country. This third brief in the Finding Your Workforce series provides a summary of the top 25 institutions at each academic level graduating Latinos from certificates to doctoral…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to better understand how female mechanical engineering faculty members' career experiences in academia affect their satisfaction. Specifically, the research considered differences in satisfaction reported by female and male mechanical engineering faculty members in terms of: (a) departmental…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are widely regarded as critical to the national economy. To provide a nationally representative portrait of undergraduate students' experiences in STEM education, these Web Tables summarize longitudinal data from a cohort of first-time, beginning students who started postsecondary…

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of visualizing online writing activities on student behaviors and learning outcomes. A design-based research approach was adopted to develop and integrate theory and practice in natural educational settings (Anderson & Shattuck, 2012). The study was conducted in an 18-week, semester-long…

Multiple initiatives have been launched to try to widen the pipeline for women to enter engineering careers, including reviews of gender differences in enrollment in technology and pre-engineering courses from middle school through doctoral degrees. National agencies have also studied some of the social and cultural forces at play with regard to…

Usability and accessibility have become increasingly important in computing curricula. This article briefly reviews how these concepts may be included in existing courses. The authors conducted a survey of student attitudes toward these issues at the start and end of a usability engineering course that included a group project with an…

The perceptions of students about their teachers have interested the academic and scientific community, regarding the improvement of the quality of higher education. This paper presents data obtained from interviews conducted with ten high achiever engineering students and focuses on the characteristics of teachers that are highly valued by the…