This full research paper assesses the climate literacy of engineering undergraduate students via simulation-based learning. Climate change is listed as one of the global challenges of the United Nations global issues humanity faces today. The impacts of climate change are global in scope. Rising sea levels and an increased risk of flooding are among the chief concerns faced by nations. This, in turn, has become a threat to global food production which can negatively impact all lives. Therefore, it is important to develop climate literacy by understanding how climate influences us and society at large and how we, in turn, influence the climate. Climate literacy has taken on renewed importance in recent years with the United Nations and numerous national governments employing coordinated efforts to bolster climate education. As such, there is an immediate need for the development of climate literacy as this would help to increase awareness of climate consciousness in society. This study focused on characterizing the climate literacy of undergraduate engineering students as given by the Global Learning VALUE rubric. The students were exposed to climate modeling and simulation exercises using the En-ROADS climate change solution simulator. Students worked in teams and reflected on ways to mitigate climate change and have a best-case scenario that aims to lower the global temperature by 2 degrees Celsius. As there is a great emphasis on integrating education for sustainable development in higher education institutions, this study specifically focuses on using simulation tools as a technological device in classrooms to inspire young engineers to combat global climate challenges. This study aims to create and increase global climate change awareness among young engineers and give them scientific tools to explore strategies for tackling the climate change problem by creating a sustainable environment. This manuscript details a mixed-methods approach guided by the following research questions: i) How can the climate literacy of engineering students be characterized using the Global Learning VALUE rubric, specifically through the use of a simulation-based learning tool? ii) What were the strategies proposed by the students to combat climate change? The results suggest that climate simulations can be valuable tools in exposing students to climate literacy while also having the ancillary benefit of introducing variables that they originally may not have considered. The analysis of the student reflections and proposals using the Global Learning VALUE rubric revealed that students demonstrated a high level of personal and social responsibility and understanding of the global system. Students also demonstrated a good understanding of global awareness. They were able to understand the problems from various perspectives and were able to apply their knowledge to propose feasible solutions to the problem.

Intercultural competence has taken on renewed importance due to the increasingly diverse nature of work environments. The prevalence of virtual and remote teams in recent years has also contributed to the growing need for an interculturally trained workforce. There is a demand for graduates to be able to effectively work with those from cultures and backgrounds different from their own. Several higher education institutions in the United States have responded to this by first assessing their students using various assessments to determine their intercultural competence. Universities have further incorporated concepts of intercultural competence into their regular curriculum of study with the goal of equipping students with the skills to be successful in intercultural environments. This study is situated in a STEM classroom at the Polytechnic Institute of a large midwestern university. This study also attempts to address the dearth of literature pertaining to intercultural development in STEM fields with a specific focus on the cybersecurity discipline. This study is guided by the research question, how can intercultural competence be characterized for students enrolled in a first-year introductory cybersecurity course? The students enrolled in this course were provided trainings using portable intercultural learning modules (PIMs) focused on productive conflict management as well as the cultural influences on the intent and impact of communication practices. A rubric adapted from the behavioral rubric of Intercultural Skills Development was used to score 50 student reflections following the aforementioned intercultural training. The data was analyzed using a mixed-methods approach. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted to understand the overall intercultural gains for all students. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering was used to analyze the data. The clustering algorithm helped to divide the students into two clusters, with one displaying high intercultural competence and the other exhibiting low intercultural competence. In addition, patterns of intercultural competence were disclosed in the form of sample quotes from the student reflections. Overall, the results are encouraging as they add to the body of literature at the intersection of cybersecurity education and intercultural competence.

Commitment is a multi-dimensional construct that has been extensively researched in the context of organizations. Organizational and professional commitment have been positively associated with technical performance, client service, attention to detail, and degree of involvement with one’s job. However, there is a relative dearth of research in terms of team commitment, especially in educational settings. Teamwork is considered a 21stcentury skill and higher education institutions are focusing on helping students to develop teamwork skills by applied projects in the coursework. But studies have demonstrated that creating a team is not enough to help students build teamwork skills. Literature supports the use of team contracts to bolster commitment, among team members. However, the relationship between team contracts and team commitment has not been formally operationalized.This research category study presents a mixed-methods approach towards characterizing and operationalizing team commitment exhibited by students enrolled in a sophomore-level systems analysis and design course by analyzing team contracts and team retrospective reflections. The course covers concepts pertaining to information systems development and includes a semester-long team project where the students work together in four or five member teams to develop the project deliverables. The students have prior software development experiences through an introductory systems development course as well as multiple programming courses. The data for this study was collected through the team contracts signed by students belonging to one of the 23 teams of this course. The study aims to answer the following research question: How can team commitment be characterized in a sophomore-level system analysis and design course among the student teams?A rubric was developed to quantify the team commitment levels of students based on their responses on the team contracts. Students were classified as high or low commitment based on the rubric scores. The emergent themes of high and low commitment teams were also presented. The results indicated that the high commitment teams were focused on setting goals, effective communication, and having mechanisms in place for timely feedback and improvement. On the other hand, low commitment teams did not articulate the goals of the project, they demonstrated a lack of dedication for attending team meetings regularly, working as a team, and had a lack of proper coordination while working together.