Conference Session

Student Division Diversity and Persistence Related Technical Session

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Blake Gegenheimer, Louisiana State University STEP ; Charles Algeo Wilson IV, Louisiana State University; Adrienne Steele, Louisiana State University; Warren N. Waggenspack Jr., Louisiana State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Student

% lower than males at LSU. The same confidence issues that ethnicminorities feel might explain this small decrease. The stigma that engineering is a maledominated career field can subconsciously affect female students by reducing their confidenceand self-efficacy, and a correlation clearly exists between self-efficacy and success in STEMfields (11, 12).2.3 The LSES Minority Students of low socioeconomic status (LSES) have to overcome many barriers to gettingan education that other students do not face. These students are often solely responsible forpaying their own way through college, having to work full-time jobs while taking a full load ofdifficult classes. These students often have additional financial burdens that can make the path

Conference Session

Student Division Early Introduction to Engineering Technical Session

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashley Evanoski-Cole, Colorado State University; Kimberly Catton P.E., Colorado State University; Bert Vermeulen, Colorado State University; Jamison Taylor Bair, Colorado State University; Thomas H. Bradley, Colorado State University

Tagged Divisions

Student

performance and attitudes towards theengineering core courses of math, physics, and chemistry are also important in understandingstudent retention.6,13 Confidence in math and science has been identified as one of the mostimportant factors in first-year students who are retained in engineering.5,14In addition to the many factors influencing students to persist in engineering, there are alsonumerous and often overlapping factors that affect a student’s decision of what engineeringmajor to study. Students will be more likely to choose a STEM major if they have higherconfidence in their academic abilities.15 In particular, it has been long known that self-confidence and self-efficacy in math is an important factor in choosing and persisting in a

Conference Session

Student Division Diversity and Persistence Related Technical Session

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Blake Gegenheimer, STEP; Charles Algeo Wilson IV, Louisiana State University; Adrienne Steele, Louisiana State University; Warren N. Waggenspack Jr., Louisiana State University

Tagged Divisions

Student

as standardizedtest scores, such as the ACT, seem to be the best indicators of academic preparation. Persistswere found to also be more likely to use services and programs such as SI (9). One of the mostimportant psychological factors that affect persistence is self-efficacy, or the confidence astudent has in their own academic abilities (10, 11, 12). One study found that a student’s academicpreparation was not correlated to his belief that they would pass the course (9). High self-efficacycan lead students to perform better than expected as compared to their peers with similar testscores. Along with confidence is how a student sees their own academic abilities with respect totheir peers (9, 11). If a student feels that their prerequisite

Conference Session

Student Division Diversity and Persistence Related Technical Session

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stacy Lynn Mann, Kettering University ; Diane L. Peters, Kettering University; Rebecca Marie Reck, Kettering University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Student

in their engineering education and earlycareers 2 . Research has been done on counteracting this perceived lack of belonging. Rosenthal,London, Levy, and Lobel 3 showed that single gender programs created a greater sense ofbelonging and compatibility in women in their STEM majors and their co-educationaluniversities. Miyake et al. 4 looked at how value affirmation had a strong effect on decreasing theachievement gap in college STEM classes. Additionally, a study from Harvard Kennedy Schoolof Women and Public Policy Program found that female students exposed to female faculty hadincreased self-identification with the STEM field and a greater sense of self-efficacy in pursuing acareer in STEM with no negative effects to their male counterparts