Exploring How Fundamental Beliefs about Knowledge Impact Learning and Collaborations in Engineering

Our beliefs about knowledge and knowing are foundational to how we interpret the world around us. These beliefs influence what we count as knowledge, who we believe can hold knowledge, and how we go about increasing our own knowledge or contributing new knowledge through novel research. Despite the foundational nature of our epistemic beliefs, we are often unaware of them and do not consider how they impact our approaches to acquire, justify, and use knowledge. One of my primary areas of research seeks to uncover these overlooked beliefs and explore how they influence our approaches to learning and collaborating within engineering contexts. In this talk, I will highlight two of my projects that are focused on this theoretical space known as epistemic thinking or epistemic cognition. These projects also serve as examples of how I develop innovative research methods and create resources that put my research into practice. The first project represents some of my past research that focused on investigating the connections between undergraduate engineering students’ epistemic thinking and their identities as researchers. The second project is my current NSF CAREER award that focuses on investigating how differences in thinking and disciplinary knowing are negotiated among members of engineering education research teams.

Dr. Courtney Faber, PhD is a Research Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Engineering Fundamentals and the Director of the Engineering Education Graduate Certificate Program within the Tickle College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee. Her research focuses on empowering engineering education scholars to be more effective at impacting transformational change in engineering and developing educational experiences that consider epistemic cognition. She develops and uses innovative research methods that allow for deep investigations of constructs such as epistemic thinking, identity, and agency. Dr. Faber has a BS in Bioengineering and a PhD in Engineering and Science Education from Clemson University and a MS in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University. Among other awards for her research, she was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2022 to study epistemic negotiations on interdisciplinary engineering education research teams. As an instructor, Dr. Faber has received grants to innovate her classroom curriculum and awards for her teaching.