学生保留率困境中的美国高校工科专业课程改革探析

Analysis on Curriculum Reconstruction Implemented by American Universities in the Predicament of Students Retention Rate

美国高校一直以来努力提高工科专业学生保留率。宾夕法尼亚州立大学、马里兰大学、普渡大学、科罗拉多大学波尔得分校通过课程改革解决了导致工科学生低保留率的一些问题。这四所高校把工程实践融入基础课程,鼓励优秀工科教师讲授基础课程;同时让学生尽早接触真实的工程设计、参与服务性学习项目等。四所高校的课程改革呈现出三方面特征:促进学生全面发展、强化新生的学习体验、加深学生对工程的认识——从根本上为学生后续学习增强动力。这些理念与举措对于提高我国工科专业人才培养质量具有启示意义。

American universities have always been endeavoring to improve the retention rate of engineering majors. Pennsylvania State University,University of Maryland,Purdue University and the University of Colorado Boulder have solved few problems in retention rate through promoting curriculum reconstruction. Those four universities integrate engineering practices into basic curriculums,encouraging elite engineering professors to lecture basic curriculums;simultaneously,those universities also design to expose students to authentic engineering designs as soon as possible as well as to make them participate in learning programs in service. The curriculum reconstruction of those four universities has presented features in three perspectives：promoting students＇ overall development,strengthening freshmen＇s learning experience and deepening students＇ comprehension of engineering—to fundamentally boost up dynamic of students＇ following studies. Those concepts and measures have presented a referential significance to improving the quality of talents cultivated by domestic engineering education.