Alienating Deep Learners: Sense-making, valued by engineers, can be discouraged in class

摘要

It's no secret that many undergraduates feel alienated in their engineering programs and that such students often leave engineering. Our case study of "Michael," an electrical and computer engineering major at a large state university, highlights a previously underexplored reason that some students feel alienated. Michael felt that his ways of knowing and learning conflicted with the norms of his engineering program, which he thought rewarded procedural rather than deep understanding.