Conference Session

Engineering Cultures and Identity

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anita Patrick, University of Texas, Austin; Maura Borrego, University of Texas, Austin

Tagged Topics

ASEE Diversity Committee, Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

engineering. Studies show that a lack of identification with engineering and byengineers often motivates students to migrate out of engineering into other majors.1 Attempts todefine identity in the context of engineering education necessitate a deeper understanding of theterm “identity.” While definitions of identity vary across disciplines, how identity is formed isstill a central and driving question. For example, what are the components that predictengineering identity and what does engineering identity predict? We posit there is more to engineering identity than just feeling like an engineer or seeingoneself as an engineer. This definition is limited and does not take into account the various facetsof personal identity that contribute to

Conference Session

Engineering Cultures and Identity

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alexis Prybutok, The University of Texas, Austin; Anita D. Patrick, University of Texas, Austin; Maura J. Borrego, University of Texas, Austin; Carolyn Conner Seepersad, University of Texas, Austin; Mary Jo Kirisits, University of Texas, Austin

Tagged Topics

ASEE Diversity Committee, Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

students.3 Though much research has been conducted on predicting what willlead students to pursue engineering, exposing P-12 students to engineering to foster interest at anearlier age2, and determining why students leave engineering4, few studies have been conductedon how undergraduate engineers who persist to graduation develop throughout their collegecareers. Thus, in recent years, the framework of engineering identity and the factors thatencompass it, based on previous research on physics and math identities, has been used as a lensto study engineering students.Engineering identity is both a subset of and affected by the larger student identity, which alsoincludes personal and social identities.1 Identity can be defined as how students

Conference Session

Engineering Cultures and Identity

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Allison Godwin, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Topics

ASEE Diversity Committee

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

participation and recognition withinthat social sphere37. Based on prior work in science education and a symbolic interactionismapproach to understanding engineering role identity, the construct of identity, in our framework,is based on three measurable dimensions of students’ beliefs about theirperformance/competence, the recognition they receive from others, and their interest inengineering. These are not the only identities that an individual may hold, but they capture astudents’ subject related identity within engineering. A representation of this framework can befound in Figure 1.Recognition plays a significant part in identity development and has more recently become afocus in science identity research. A student’s perception of how others view

Conference Session

Engineering Cultures and Identity

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hank Boone, University of Nevada, Reno; Adam Kirn, University of Nevada, Reno

Tagged Topics

ASEE Diversity Committee, Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

engineering students who have made it beyond traditional exit points inengineering, and into upper division courses. This understanding will be developed throughaddressing the following research questions (RQ):RQ 1) What experiences, affective domain traits, and social capital resources explainengineering students’ development of engineering role identity and feelings of belongingness?RQ 2) In what ways are these experiences unique for first generation engineering students whencompared to continuing generation peers?This increased understanding will be further utilized by the research team in subsequentqualitative phases of the research project by exploring grounds for causation and thedevelopmental role of any significant factors play in development

Conference Session

Engineering Cultures and Identity

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen Secules, University of Maryland, College Park; Andrew Elby, University of Maryland, College Park; Ayush Gupta, University of Maryland, College Park

Tagged Topics

ASEE Diversity Committee, Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

having theproblem, and the many more who support the common cultural understanding of thephenomenon as a problem. To help focus the thinking in this framework, McDermott proposes athree-stage framework to take different levels of the problem into account. In Stage 1, anindividual is conceptualized as having problems completely on their own; any problemsidentified are simple evidence of the individual’s own intellectual, moral, cultural, etc. deficits.In Stage 2, an individual is viewed as experiencing problems on the basis of social structuresmuch larger than them; and any problems identified can be explained as the natural result ofhaving been socialized to occupy that position in society. Finally in Stage 3, the problem isviewed as being

Conference Session

Engineering Cultures and Identity

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dina Verdin, Purdue University, West Lafayette ; Allison Godwin, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Brenda Capobianco, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Topics

ASEE Diversity Committee, Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

science teachers’ integration of the engineering design process to improve science learning. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Systematic Review of the Funds of Knowledge Framework in STEM EducationIntroductionFor over two decades, there have been significant and consistent calls to increase the quantity anddiversity of engineering graduates to not only support the workforce demand but also to improveengineering solutions to better reflect the demographics of the U.S. population.1–4 However, thecall to increase the diversity of engineering often has been centered on simply increasing thepercentages of underrepresented groups in engineering. Once these