2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Development of an assessment for measuring knowledge transferred between the classroom and structural engineering practice.

Presented at Instrument Design and Development

It is well documented that humans are not adept at the process of transferring knowledge learned in one setting to another in which the underlying principles are the same, but the outward appearance is different from that in which the learning took place [1]-[7]. Knowledge transfer (or just ‘transfer’) is something that is assumed in upper division structural engineering courses: the instructor assumes that the student can apply fundamental principles of mechanics such as equilibrium, compatibility, and state of stress to practical engineering problems such as bridge design. Acknowledging that this assumption is faulty, at best, has led us to explore an anchored civil engineering curriculum in which these fundamental principles are situated (or anchored) in a specific practical engineering context. The goal of this investigation is to demonstrate that the process of anchoring will lead to better prepared bridge engineers and may lead to a positive shift in attitudes about careers in bridge engineering. This would, in turn help address the need for more practice-ready bridge engineers. This goal is part of a broader study funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), entitled “Creating More Practice-Ready Bridge Engineers through Anchored Instruction”. As part of the study, we identified a need for an assessment tool to measure whether anchoring has an influence on the transfer of fundamental engineering knowledge to practical bridge engineering problem solutions. As no existing instrument was available to meet this need, we embarked upon the development of such an instrument which is the focus of this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to present the in-progress development of an assessment instrument, called the “Fundamental Engineering Knowledge (FEK) Assessment”. This instrument is aimed at measuring undergraduate engineering students’ ability to transfer fundamental engineering knowledge to bridge engineering practice. To date, we have completed two iterations of instrument development and have achieved a Fleiss’ Kappa inter-rater reliability, = 0.445 (95% CI, 0.415 to 0.475), p < 0.001, without reconciliation between the raters. The resulting instrument will be deployed through the end of the FHWA project (Summer 2025).

The study described in this paper will provide engineering educators with a descriptive road map of the development process and evidence of the results, which can be used towards refining and improving future assessments of similar pedagogical interventions.

Authors

Dr. John Tingerthal Northern Arizona University [biography]

John Tingerthal joined the Construction Management faculty at Northern Arizona University in 2007 and was appointed as a Distinguished Teaching Fellow in 2015. His engineering career spans a wide variety of design and forensic engineering experiences. He spent the first eight years of his career performing structural consulting engineering in Chicago. This work culminated with design work on the Minneapolis Public Library and the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, Wisconsin. He was also involved with forensic investigations in Iowa and Wisconsin and participated in structural coordination efforts at Ground Zero in September of 2001. He holds professional engineering licenses in the states of Arizona and Illinois. John's academic interests lie in the field of student-centered learning and teaching and discipline-based educational research.
Davis Ray [biography]

My name is Davis Ray. I am 21 years old, and a life-long resident of Arizona. I am a first year Mechanical Engineering graduate student at Northern Arizona University. My primary research project is sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, and focuses on improving engineering education methods. I am also contributing to a research project sponsored by the US Department of Energy, in which I am assisting with the solid mechanics modeling of moisture swing polymers for use in low-energy carbon capture. For my senior capstone, I led the development of a theoretical offshore wind farm for the 2022 Collegiate Wind Competition, and helped our team earn second place at the competition. This experience led me to become the current president of NAU's Energy Club, where I now manage two interdisciplinary engineering teams who are working to complete the Collegiate Wind Competition and Hydropower Collegiate Competition. I am also the president of NAU Skate Club, which I founded this semester in order to provide enriching opportunities for community members, and share the benefits of skateboarding with others. I enjoy holding leadership roles, and apply myself entirely to the projects I am involved in.
Dr. Joshua T. Hewes P.E. Northern Arizona University
Dr. Benjamin Z. Dymond http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4752-3445 Northern Arizona University [biography]

Ben Dymond obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech before obtaining his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Ben is currently an associate professor of structural engineering at Northern Arizona University.
Dr. Robin Tuchscherer Northern Arizona University [biography]

Dr. Tuchscherer is a Professor of Structural Engineering and has served at Northern Arizona University since 2011. His teaching and research interests focus on structural engineering, structural concrete, infrastructure, and educational reform.

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