for Engineering Education, 2017 The Influence of Gender Grouping on Female Students’ AcademicEngagement and Achievement in Engineering and Biology: A Case of Small Group Work in Design-Based Learning (Work in Progress) IntroductionDuring the past 30 years, much attention has been drawn to the lack of women in STEMfields and the need to attract and retain them in these fields. In the relevant literature, theinfluence of gender grouping on variables such as female students’ interest, self-efficacy,participation/engagement and achievement in STEM subjects has been a salient line ofresearch. However, researchers have arrived at mixed findings. Also, while researchers haveinvestigated the influence of
-richprograms in their classrooms is a lack of both self-efficacy and a support network to help themprepare and teach such lessons. Supporting conclusions can be found in the literature,particularly highlighting the pitfalls of teachers having only a superficial understanding of theEDP5. Working through an EDP with proper guidance gives teachers the tools and confidence topush their students outside of the comfort zone of concrete answers and encourages creativityand innovative thinking5, 6.For these reasons, every participant in this program is immediately immersed in the EDP so thatthey can become comfortable playing the role of an engineer. One of the foundational conceptsof real-world Engineering is that there is not one right solution to a problem
groups in STEM fields such as black, Hispanic, and femalestudents. A persistent gender gap exists for STEM majors and careers which involve rigorousmath and science such as engineering6. Currently, the national average for women enrolled inundergraduate engineering programs is roughly 18%5 and is 20% at Texas Tech University. The difficulty of recruiting and retaining women in engineering stems from a variety offactors which can be summarized by several themes: low self-efficacy in STEM4,12, differingexpectations for male and female students2, curricula which do not emphasize real-worldproblem solving7, and a lack of institutional commitment to diversity11. Outreach efforts whichaddress some or all of these factors have been effective for
Affective/Non- Measure of student experience, interest, self-efficacy, or similar, typically Cognitive using a survey Achievement or Measure of factual, conceptual knowledge or of practices, including Learning standardized examsQuantitative methods Disaggregation Compares sub groups (male/female; White/nonwhite students, etc.) Control or Compares an experiential or intervention group top a control or Compare comparison group Pre Includes a pre-test Post Includes a post-testDelayed Post test Includes a delayed post-testQualitative Methods Details how analysis was done, such as by coding data or interaction Analysis analysis
similar summer research programs offered at universitiesaround the country. The framework of the supporting features of Northeastern University’sprogram is what enables participants to succeed in the labs, build self-efficacy in STEM andprepare them for their academic journey into college. The weekly schedule is supported throughmorning homerooms during which a variety of topics and activities are introduced, in addition tolunchtime technical seminars, and field trips to local companies and research facilities. Utilizingformative evaluations, such as weekly reflections to inform program design and implementation,allows staff to make adjustments that might be necessary to ensure a high level of participant andfaculty satisfaction with the program
,students followed a set of directions to build their heat engines provided by the instructor; next,students redesigned their heat engines with the goal of increasing the device’s efficiency. At theend of the class, students completed some questions to help them reflect on the activity and itsconnection to efficiency, the design process, and the operation of power plants, and the instructorled a brief discussion during which participant groups shared their results.Analysis and Discussion Several assessment methods were implemented to determine the effectiveness of the E-GIRLprogram with respect to the students’ technical skill, self-efficacy, perceptions of engineering,and interest in engineering. Pre- and post-surveys were conducted asking
. Since educational robotics activities are often designed to promote situated cognitionand learning, we believe that the lack of trust in robotics may adversely affect student’s cognitionand understanding of STEM concepts underlying the robotics lesson. Note that the concept of trustin robots for young age middle school students, who may have less experience with technologiesin general and robots in particular, may differ from the concept of trust in robots for moreexperienced technology persons, including the teachers. Moreover, it may be necessary to examinewhether different STEM disciplines and gender affect students’ trust levels in robots for theirrobotics-aided lessons. The concept of trust in robots may also be connected to teachers’ self
such, teachers need to have access to high quality STEM curriculum that isaligned with the academic content standards or to professional development opportunities thatwill enhance their capacity and self-efficacy in engineering if they are to be successful inimplementing the NGSS.Professional development in STEM is available to teachers through a variety of engineering andeducational professional organizations such as ASM, American Society of EngineeringEducation (ASEE), and through various National Science Foundation sponsored programs.17-20One such program is the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Teacher (NSF-RET) program.21 This program seeks to provide authentic engineering research experiences forteachers in university
2013, researchers have evaluated FIRST® roboticsprograms (FLL, FTC, FRC) across the state. As Jr. FLL was not implemented in AZ with asignificant number of teams, researchers did not include Jr. FLL in the assessment measures.The purpose of evaluation was to indicate the 1) overall success and program impact on students,teachers and mentors; 2) the impact of hands-on learning to interest students in STEM subjects;3) the impact of developing workplace skills that can be transferred to the classroom; and 4)impact on career choice.In addition to compiling data to understand increasing students' technical skills and self-efficacy,researchers embedded outcomes that are aligned to the Accreditation Board for Engineering andTechnology (ABET
; Middle School Student Interactions. Students in attendance during the fourth Saturday were asked if they enjoyed interacting and working with the undergraduate student volunteers. In the future, we hope to encourage more robust mentor/mentee relationships by allowingfor more interactions outside of the program. These strategies could include a PenPal program, ora visit day on campus so students can see what a typical day at a university looks like for theirmentors.Future Plans Research shows that providing long-term engagement is crucial in moving youth fromsimply having an interest in science to actually having the skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy topursue careers in science13
, conducteda longitudinal study to determine if a summer camp was effective in increasing the interest andunderstanding of the engineering profession and in developing self-efficacy in engineering forfemale camp participants. Results of this study showed that this camp was successful in meetingthese goals and also served as a successful recruitment tool for the host university.38 Otherresearch suggests that engineering projects that show the humanitarian side or social relevance ofengineering have been effective at attracting and retaining females.52-54Although many universities are engaged in engineering outreach, there are several barriers thatmake it difficult for universities to offer effective outreach to a large number of K-12 students
the interrelationship among individual, environmental, andbehavioral variables that have key impacts on academic and career choice5. Additionally, TPBsuggests that any behavior, like STEM choice and performance, can be explained by a person’sintentions to engage in the behavior. The predictors of a behavior are an evaluation of thebehavior, perceived social pressure to perform the behavior (viz, teamwork) self-efficacy inrelation to the behavior, also known in TPB as behavioral control, and intention to perform thebehavior6. SCCT, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goals operate together with personalcharacteristics and environmental contexts to help shape academic and career development7.While it is claimed that SCCT is comprised of
” within an individual. The intellectual “equipment” is comprised of the learner’sknowledge and beliefs, whereas the value-based equipment are solely driven by the learners’personal goals and interests. Also, Deci 10 proposes that learners’ interests motivate them toparticipate in learning activities. According to Atkinson and Wickens 11 this motivation toengage in learning is a function of learners selecting activities that pique their interests, and alsopersisting and making efforts to accomplish goals they find interesting. Further, activities thatcater to students’ interests have also been claimed to be related with self-efficacy, educationalchoices, and career outcomes 12–14. The role of interests and the humanistic nature of
implicitlearning.There has been little to no work done to understand how learners learn in Makerspaces, andto find or develop tools to assess this learning. In the recent ASEE conference Morocz et al.11 presented plans of measuring the impacts of a university makerspace “through engineeringdesign self-efficacy, retention in the engineering major; and idea generation ability".A study by the Maker Ed Open Portfolio Project 12 strengthens the promise of our proposal toemploy self-reflection to assess learning in Makerspaces. This work presents self-reporteddata by Makerspaces all over the United States about their alignment with nationaleducational initiatives. Most sites reported themselves as being aligned with STEM (94%)(Science, technology, engineering, and
education researchers have long grappled with impact questions (in the ASEEconference archives alone, “impact” is mentioned in 568 titles; “measuring impact” is in 24titles), and proposed various study-specific methods to probe impact. In one study, for example,student impact of project-based service learning (PBSL) was described through engineeringcollege retention, participation by underrepresented students, fulfilment of ABET learningoutcomes, and enhanced student preparation to practice engineering design.16 Another study thatfocused on measuring the impact of infusing entrepreneurship across engineering curriculumused measures of self-efficacy and locus of control.17 Student attitudes towards math and sciencewere used to measure the impact of
year of UUR, a survey instrument was developed which assessed eachstudent’s interest and self-efficacy in STEM 23. The assessment was influenced by related STEMassessments, such as the STEM semantics survey and the STEM Career interest Questionnaire 20.The assessment asked questions regarding students understanding of STEM principles, interest inSTEM topics, careers, and fields of study. According to Wright, in that first year of study,quantitative data received from the surveys did not reveal that the ROV activity had made anystatistically significant impact on student interest in STEM areas. Researchers still believed,however, based on observations, and on teacher, student, and administrative feedback, that theROV program had potential to
the pre- and post-surveys ask “What do you think it means tobe an engineer?” and the difference in answers allow researchers to determine if theirunderstanding of what an engineer is/does has changed after attending the camp.An additional note on the research surveys involves the ranking questions. The researchquestions draw from the NSF project “Assessing Women and Men in Engineering” 10. Theranking questions are identical from the pre- and post-surveys in order to determine if significantchanges in self-efficacy were made. These questions include, “I consider myself to be good atscience” and “I consider myself to be good at math”. However the camp does not focus onteaching any specific aspects of these subjects or explicitly building self
Internet.Many participants took advantage of this option. The program integrated experiential learningtheory [5], 21st Century skills such as creativity and technology proficiency [6]–[8] and ethnicallymatched mentorship [9], [10] to increase academic success, self-efficacy and a sense of belongingin STEM. Where possible, instruction and activities were aligned with the Next GenerationScience Standards for engineering and Common Core Mathematical practices. In addition, near-peer mentoring was provided by undergraduate and graduate students in related disciplines.Summer ProgramThe components of the four week summer program are described below: 3D Modeling: Participants were introduced to visualization in three dimensions, geometry, isometric drawing
mentioned ona high-level within the internal report. For example, the evaluator stated that two particular sitesleadership team members received overwhelming poor feedback from classroom mentors andthat NSBE SEEK should further investigate the potential causes [9].LITERATURE REVIEWThe unique structure of the NSBE SEEK program requires that it is youth led. For the purposesof this review, youth are defined as 18 - 25. Within this youth led model, it is necessary for thereto be components of service, cultural competency, and self-efficacy. Youth participation canhave a considerable effect on community change. Since the community of the NSBE SEEKprogram is one of youth leaders, you essentially have youth leading other youth. It is importantto note
we would focus more on theeducation of project based learning but instead we simply worked on projects using project basedlearning. I would not have taken the course had I known this is what it would be.”Through the course evaluations students expressed the value of the course in stimulating ideas onincorporating engineering in their future teaching. “Before the design challenges I never thoughtthat I could design and build things. Now I have so much more confidence in myself to apply allof these skills and techniques in the classroom.” “… the course taught me multiple ways ofintroducing and teaching the engineering design cycle…” Students also spoke of improved self-efficacy - “I feel as though I learned a lot about what goes into the
: Visualization of Rotations) for secondary and under- graduate students, developed the TESS (Teaching Engineering Self-efficacy Scale) for K-12 teachers, and rescaled the SASI (Student Attitudinal Success Inventory) for engineering students. As a program evaluator, she evaluated the effects of teacher professional development (TPD) programs on elementary teachers’ attitudes toward engineering and students’ STEM knowledge through a NSF DRK-12 project. As an institutional data analyst, she is investigating engineering students’ diverse pathways to their suc- cess.Dr. Johannes Strobel, University of Missouri Dr. Johannes Strobel is Full Professor, School of Information Science & Learning Technologies at Uni- versity of
analysis of presence and extent. Journal of Engineering Education, 101(3), 1-26.Carberry, A. R., Lee, H. S., & Ohland, M. W. (2010). Measuring Engineering Design Self-Efficacy. Journal of Engineering Education, 99(1), 71-79.Dawes, L., & Rasmussen, G. (2007). Activity and engagement—keys in connecting engineeringwith secondary school students. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 13(1), 13-20.Duderstadt, J. 2008. Engineering for a changing world: A roadmap to the future of engineeringpractice, research, and education. Ann Arbor, MI: The Millennium Project, The University ofMichigan.IronCAD (Computer Software). (2015) Retrieved from http://www.ironcad.com/Kelly, A. E. (2014). Design-based research in engineering education: Current
This need for a stronger STEM workforce is a function of education andawareness at all levels of student education, but it has been documented that choosing STEMmajors is largely decided by an early interest in STEM disciplines.4 As such, one of the nationalgoals set forward by the National Science and Technology Council Committee on STEMEducation is to increase participation in authentic STEM experiences for K-12 students in orderto provide students the opportunity to develop and deepen their interests in STEM as well as tobuild student self-efficacy regarding their ability to participate in STEM.1Summer camps are commonly offered as a mechanism for exposing K-12 students to STEMmajors and careers, often with the direct goal of recruiting
, and crosscutting concepts1. Even ifdeveloped tomorrow, it would still take years for most districts to adopt and implementthis new curriculum in elementary classrooms. Curriculum adoption and revisionrequires many levels of professional development, pilot study implementation, anddistrict/board approval. In the meantime, teachers are left to work with the curriculumthey currently have and attempt to meet the demands of the NGSS. Research has shown that, given their limited preparation for teaching science,elementary teachers rely heavily on their science curriculum materials7, 8. This reliancestems from a combination of factors including (1) teachers’ reported low self-efficacy forteaching science9, (2) their reported lack of deep
energy demandburden as they are available through more defined communications, rather than have to operateat pre-determined values. The complexity of these levels was meant to match the expertise of the high school studentsattending the lessons. Smart Grid and Micro-Grid were both highly collaborative lessons withinteraction amongst all parties to promote self-discovery of the system in discussion.Assessment The Young Scholar’s group knowledge and experience gains were observed in several areasincluding science self-efficacy, science understanding, sense of inclusion, and energy beliefs,knowledge, and behavior. (Assessing Women and Men in Engineering (AWE). (n.d.),DeWaters,J. Quaqish, B.,Graham, M., & Powers, S. (2013). Riggs, I.M
elementary schools isworthwhile for students and society at large, its implementation is not a trivial matter. One of thechallenges is that most elementary teachers have not had pre-service coursework or in-serviceprofessional learning experiences related to engineering education, and many elementaryteachers lack self confidence or self efficacy with respect to teaching engineering.10-13 Anotherchallenge has to do with the use of fail words and ideas about what failure means in theelementary context. What it means to fail in engineering is different than what it means to fail ineducation.9 In most elementary school environments the concept of failure and the fail wordsthemselves have very negative connotations. A simple online search of “failing
,” or “making mistakes” rather than to engineering. It isin this environment that the present study examines how students and teachers respond toengineering design failure and how teachers acclimate to an increased use of and comfort levelwith fail words.Literature Review While engineering is now formally included in P12 education due to the NGSS, teachingengineering remains a complex challenge for teachers at all levels, but particularly those inelementary grades. Elementary teachers often lack both self confidence and self efficacy withregard to teaching engineering.5,6 Teachers’ self confidence in a subject is linked to both howthey perceive it and their knowledge of the subject itself.7,8 Teachers at the elementary levelreceive