overcomingstruggles, and described their negative perceptions of engineering before entering the major. Participants with alllevels of CSE highlighted their own creativity with respect to the performing and visual arts, before reflecting oninnovation as creative. Most participants with low CSE described their lack of creativity in the arts. They alsodiscussed being “intimidated” by negative classroom experiences more than their peers with higher levels of CSE.Those with low CSE were also exposed to more engineering centered experiences in high school, and most had aparent who worked in the profession. It is expected that this research will provide a more comprehensiveunderstanding of CSE, perceptions of engineering as a creative field, and the educational
the scienceprofessions, researchers have identified an enduring strong association of science as a disciplinefor men [4]. This association of gender and career field also impacts young people before theycommit to a career path: middle schoolers have parroted the assumption that engineering is acareer for men [8].The Media and Women in STEMThese disciplinary norms and perceptions are reflected in the ways in which, and if, women inSTEM are portrayed in art, media, and popular culture around the world [3, 7, 9, 10, 11]. Themedia reflects the truth of underrepresentation in STEM [7, 10]. Of the 391 most popular STEM-themed YouTube channels, only 32 hosts presented themselves as female [9]. In acomprehensive study of entertainment media
of us. (Mohr p.xxvii-iii)The book presents tools and concepts to support women to share their ideas, their voices, andtake actions that align with their aspirations and life’s purpose. It is important to note thatMohr’s definition of ‘playing big’ is not about traditional ideas like wealth generation, prestige,or power. Instead, it is about taking bold, unencumbered strides toward work that is meaningfulto the individual.Book club objectives and organizationOne of the goals of the book club was to carve out time for participants to reflect on their pastexperiences and uncover what playing big means to them. Undergraduate engineering andcomputer science students’ schedules tend to be fast paced and packed with curricular, co-curricular, and
are likely to continue to have long and substantial effects onengineering students [1]. Such effects will likely be reflected in student perceptions of theirlearning experience as well as their well-being, mental health, and retention in engineeringprograms [10] [11] [12]. In a spring 2020 survey of nine public research universities (30,725undergraduates), 35% of students screened positive for a major depressive disorder and 39%screened positive for generalized anxiety disorder based on the PHQ-2 and GAD-2 screeningtools [4]. Such results are consistent with the reported loss of motivation by students incompleting coursework reported in other national surveys and disengagement with classes anduniversity activities [2]. These relatively high
of ally development created by Broido[19]: 1. Students are given information needed to understand the purpose of their work as allies within the COE, including why the issue of retaining women and URMs in engineering is relevant to their work and to the field. 2. The students are then given the opportunity to reflect and make meaning of the content, how it impacts them personally, and how it impacts their peers in the COE. 3. The students then have the self-confidence to act as allies in an academic setting.Since the original goal was to develop men as allies for women in engineering, the course wasonly offered to students who identified as men in the first year (2015). An analogous
representationof women in science (62%) while Argentina has 52%, Chile trails with 30% [2].STEM disciplines mirrors this underrepresentation, with areas such as computer science, physics andmathematics the least represented by women [1]. Factors that influence career selection in STEMdisciplines are deep-rooted gender stereotypes in Latin America, reflected both at family and societallevel [4], [5], [6]. Many countries and / or universities have yet to incorporategender equality as policy.Various initiatives are being developed that focus on promoting equality and empowerment of women(UN and UNESCO) [1] [2] The European W-STEM project coordinated by a research group operatingout of a university in Barranquilla, Colombia, has focused on three relevant
f5 Geography How the environment and physical location affect individuals’ perceptions of STEM f6 Finances How the economic status of a country and individuals affect STEM and individuals f7 Prestige Having the latest trend and showing off had affected STEM and individuals SOCIOCULTURAL: the ways habits, traditions, and beliefs consciously or unconsciously reflect a majority of F3 society groups F3.1 Institutions Group of people who come together for a common purpose f8 Family Certain life situations between common ancestors that help shape preferences f9 Friends Relationship of mutual affection between people that helps shape preferences f10 Schools
education, gender issues, women in engineering, students' perceptions,educational innovationIntroductionParticipation of women in the engineering industry is meager, and their under-representation inengineering remains despite the industry's efforts. Attracting more women into the field has notyet been achieved, and their participation is still judged as insufficient by several authors [1].This fact is reflected initially in the low number of women enrolled in careers in the engineeringarea. If we specifically analyze the construction sector, it is not effective to push more women toenter these careers since the percentage of women employed in construction is proportional toincome. The probability that they will finish the degree and serve the
-age women often lack interest in STEM disciplines because of prejudices andstereotypes that have discouraged them. Chile is one of the countries that has made significantprogress in reducing the gender gap. However, progress in training women in STEM disciplineshas been low compared to other Latin American countries.The Engineering Faculty of the Universidad Andres Bello has carried out the "Biobio Women inScience and Technology Meeting" for two consecutive years. The first was an in-person event,and the second in online mode. The sessions aimed to encourage young women in the last twoyears of high school (ages 16 to 17) to have greater interest and access to university STEMdisciplines.This study reflects on young Chilean women's needs and
activities; and (4) opportunities for reflective learning regarding their leadershipexperiences. As seen in the graphic of Fig. 1 that depicts the central elements of RAMP, thisprogram supports the first two of these conditions through students interacting with professionalsfrom industry, building a community of peers who look like them, and creating social networkswith faculty, staff, and administrators in the new environment they are transitioning into. The facilitation of FGs by women (including both women of color and White women)and their reflections on this activity as discussed in this study are among the co-curricularprograms being designed to promote leadership roles and the formation of engineering identities.It is also of interest
discussed thenegative health impacts to the locals cited by LYG (38%). Few students discussed the more‘emotional’ side of LYG in relation to the situation.Overall, requiring the students to tie the code of ethics to the situation described by LYG on theTampa highway system seemed to work moderately well. If the instructor had time to read thestudent reflections in the homework prior to class, a richer discussion could have been facilitated.It was interesting to see what elements students picked up on. For example, some misinterpretedor seemed to minimize the situation.The ethics assignment was followed by a lecture and homework assignment on JEDI. JEDI wasintegrated into the course as a required CU101 topic for all first-year students. The
of belonging and engineering identity sometimes overlapsbecause they have some similarities but there are also some distinctions between the twoconstructs. Students sense of belonging relates to their reflection on current experiences andgreater affective components in their majors, like- how comfortable they feel in engineeringclassroom or college. It emerges from the self-reflection of the students’ feelings when theycompare themselves with their peers [10]. On the other hand, engineering identity is theirbroader sense of fit in the engineering discipline, like- the extent student sees themselves as aprospective engineer [14], [15].In an engineering context, learning engineering content also requires becoming a member ofthe engineering
, similar to Martin and Garza [39]. This approach allows us to centerKayla’s experiences, and dismantle the “researcher-participant hierarchy” [37, p.1]. As Kaylajourneyed through her undergraduate career, she journaled her experiences in a shared document.Gretchen went through the entries probing for deeper reflections, finding underlying themes, andraising new questions. Over the course of a year, Kayla and Gretchen met bi-weekly to go overKayla’s experiences and discuss things such as the impact of gender, impacts on her engineeringexperience, interactions with classmates, and interactions within work settings.Specific to this paper, we focused on Kayla’s experiences with her internship over the summer of2020. Kayla journaled her experiences and
. After the first read-through, we assigned one or more codes to specific lines of text in the transcripts andsupplemented the codes with comments. The comments included further detail explaining whythe codes were used, the feelings of the coder at the time of coding, or possible links to previousliterature or concepts. This thematic analysis led to the four emergent themes based on the datafrom the six interviews. These four themes reflected trends in the experiences of these women.The codes “Confidence/Pride and Empowerment” and “Moment of Pride” were present in theoriginal codebook, but their definitions leaned toward circumstances that did not match thesenew code definitions. Instead, lack of confidence or valuing one’s own achievement
responsibilities, as reflected in a study carried out by the National Commission forScientific and Technological Research (CONICYT, for its acronym in Spanish), which identifiedthat, in engineering careers, women have 14.9% more difficulties in being able to combine bothaspects than do their male colleagues.Some institutions and governments have carried out various initiatives intending to reduce gendersegregation in STEM disciplines. Some of them, for example, are attributed to the UNESCOproject known as SAGA (STEM and Gender Advancement) [6], whose objective is to supportgovernments in developing and formulating policies that reduce the Gender Gap in education andresearch. In Chile's case, some initiatives developed by the government include the
students’ labor market outcomes. Whether macro or microscale, however, these examples reflect educational practice firmly anchored to the experiences ofstudents journeying through the real problem spaces of our time.In this paper, we take the school-to-work pathways view one step further and place ourinvestigation in a specific real world context: the pathways of environmental engineeringundergraduate students within a time of environmental decline and climate crisis. We see thistime as a revealing societal moment in which beliefs, decisions, and leadership about ourenvironment move us towards sustainable solutions or away from them. We considerenvironmental engineering students as designers and agents of these sustainable solutions, aswell as
focused on gaining exposure tothe engineering in ski resorts including lift operations and snow making processes while buildingstudent-student and student-faculty relationships. During the 4-hour bus ride to the ski resort,students were asked to read a scholarly article on one of eight topics related to ski resorts.Students met in small groups with others that selected the same ski related topic and gave areport out to the larger group. At the ski resort, students had a behind the scenes tour of the liftoperations and of the snow making process. Students had the rest of the day to ski or take alesson with other women on the trip. The evening included a team building workshop whichincluded reflection on the day’s activities and how their
thisarticle, Wasburns suggests providing a gender-neutral classroom by avoiding using sportsexamples or providing assessments earlier and more frequently [3]. Other strategies for gender-focused inclusion can revolve around assigning personal reflections for students to helpunderrepresented engineering students feel a stronger sense of belonging [4]. While thesestrategies may prove useful for building inclusive class-based environments, these strategies mayfall flat when students are utilizing technology as part of their instructional practice.Technology is a critical part of instructional design; however, the types and implementation oftechnology can affect the success and motivation of students. For example, women are heavilyinfluenced by the
form mentoring programs, it is important to monitor theoutcomes over multiple years to accurately monitor the effects. There is also a lack of researchon the effect of mentoring programs on the mental health of students during COVID-19.Methods The mentoring program within the WISE program has now been running for threesemesters since Fall 2019 and the findings after the Fall 2020 semester were measured to 1)assess the cohort’s satisfaction and engagement in the program through a voice of customersurvey including reflections, 2) compare the increase in the number of mentor/mentee pairs fromthe initial pilot period of Fall 2019 compared to the Fall 2020, 3) compare the average GPAs and4) the retention in engineering and science for women
the use of student evaluations ofteaching in peer review and tenure and promotion processes. Given the abrupt switch to onlineeducation in spring 2020, as well as continued virtual delivery of most classes in the 2020-2021academic year, task force members were concerned that traditional course evaluation metrics andstudent feedback would reflect student dissatisfaction with online education, rather thansummative feedback as to teaching quality. This concern was compounded by the known bias instudent evaluations of teaching, where female faculty, faculty of color, and those from othermarginalized groups are disadvantaged [8], [21]. For both spring 2020 and the full 2020-2021academic year, student course feedback is to be included in future
are distinguishable events that cause an individual to pause and reflect on their lifeor career decisions. They can be positive, neutral, or negative; expected or unexpected; internalor external to self-and/or the work environment. Scripts are career-related plans of action basedupon experience, observation of others, materials read, social expectations, and/ or family rules/norms, etc. Image violations are the incongruency perceived by an individual between theirinterests, values, goals, strategies for goal attainment, and their environment (family, school,peers, employer) or specific career.Image violations result when an individual’s values, goals, and strategies do not fit (areincongruent) with those of an organization [or profession]; if
Engineering”, Alonso [11] studied how engineering identities intersect with other identities. This study brings another element to the framework of Intersectionality - the individual’s perception and a peer’s perception of them being identified as an engineer. To clarify, we are not only observing if the individual identifies as an engineer but how that reflection compares to them feeling they are being portrayed as an engineer within their community. It is a matter of discerning which factors contribute to these identities and which factors dissociate the student with that identity. Through our study, it was apparent that this identity could be solidified by being established prior to attending college. Rincon [5] states [that] “...expressing early
39.52 compared to 36.45 from UPRM. Therefore UPRM participantsexhibited characteristics of a collectivist society in which people are born into groups that providesupport and help to others in exchange for loyalty. Thus, the UPRM student population reflects amore ingrained sense of collectivism. Meanwhile, the mainland score of 91 represents anindividualist society, where people expect to take care of themselves. On the contrary, MSUstudent population scores align with the characteristics of a more collectivist culture.The analysis by gender revealed that female students reported a score lower than the generalpopulation at both institutions, with 33.98 for MSU and 36.31 for UPRM. For male students, weobtained a higher score of 46.40 and 37.18
classroom observations, analytic and reflective notes [34]were generated and logged in an audit trail, while the identification of codes and their origins werecarefully noted. It was also during this process that emerging themes were identified, whichinformed interview protocols for member check interviews. Throughout the coding process, wecompiled transcripts and field notes with the help of hyperRESEARCH. We assigned codes toeach data set, extracted the list of codes and used those to assign codes to the next data set, addingnew codes as they were generated.Once all qualitative data were completely coded, we analyzed them to identify themes in thecodes. With trustworthiness in mind, we identified themes that were common to at least threedifferent
haveunderscored the importance of individual-level psychological variables to diversity dynamics inorganizations as well [24].Such attitudes reflect individuals’ impressions and beliefs about people, objects, or issues [25]and are often deeply ingrained during early life and last throughout adulthood [26]. Connectingemployees’ attitudes about diversity to their prior socialization, Roberson et al. [22] state that,“[E]mployees not only bring their personal experiences with them but generational and historicalexperiences from their families and social groups” (p. 495). The attitudes that are more popularor carry more weight at a certain level, such as a nation, organization, or workgroup, thenbecomes that shared culture at that level [27], a phenomenon
men opt for technology [1]. Within different fields, thesegregation shows as differences in occupations, wages, and career paths. Research hasshown that the careers of women and men diverge upon labor market entry and continue todiverge along the career [2]. Much of the divergence reflects the horizontal segregation ineducational choices, but also the career paths of women and men with the same educationalbackground differ in many respects. This vertical segregation has not been studiedextensively in Finland. Understanding the gender differences is necessary to design effectivemeasures to reduce the vertical segregation and promote equality in the engineeringprofession.Horizontal and vertical gender segregationAll over the world, women and
college consistently ranked at the bottom of student concerns across everyyear and engineering major. We also needed a better understanding of how the studentsexperienced the program structure of our women in engineering program and if it could beimproved to better reflect the needs of this new student cohort. Finally, we wanted to know howprevalent these declining engagement trends were on campus and what, if any, steps could betaken to improve them. This paper focuses on focus groups held with undergraduate women inengineering students, and contextual interviews held with other campus programs, clubs andorganizations. First, we present a summary of what we learned about this new cohort of studentsas well as the key survey findings that informed
departments.AcknowledgmentsThis material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) No.EEC-1653140 and 2123016 given to the second author. Any opinions, findings, and conclusionsor recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect those of the NSF. Wewant to give a special thanks to the institutional liaisons, Dr. Hector Cruzado, Dr. Sindia Rivera-Jimenez, Dr. Heather Shipley, Dr. Kimberly Cook-Chennault, and Dr. Paul Barr who assisted uswith collecting participant data in the first stage of sampling. We also want to thank theparticipants for sharing their experiences with us and the readers of this work.References[1] National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, “Women, Minorities, and Persons with
for women in science expanded but gendersegregation still existed. In the nineteenth century, women participated in aspects of science butmainly engaged in data-gathering rather than idea-creation [26] and were largely invisible andconcentrated in nurturing career tracks [39]. Prior to the 20th century and beyond, womensupported science but not pioneers in the field; reflective of the patriarchal society they lived in.Commonly known as biological determinism, the physical, psychological, and intellectual natureof women prohibited them from producing great science [38]. The Nineteenth and earlyTwentieth centuries posited if women were incorporated into scientific employment, they weresegregated in it with stereotypes of appropriate sex roles
rooted at the intersection of my identity as ablack woman. I have had to defend myself at times against tenured professors and illuminatemaltreatment and disrespect. The most frequent abuses I have experienced were at the handsStaff Researchers that direct and maintain campus user facilities (like a cleanroom, or an opticalanalysis laboratory). A Staff Researcher or technician (white males in my instances) either threwaway equipment while I was using it (disposing of my gloves while I was using the scanningelectron microscope) or antagonizing and questioning my “right” to be in the space, in aninstance where I was using an x-ray diffraction tool in a characterization laboratory.Summary: Panelists describe both internal reflection and external