Conference Session

First-Generation Track - Technical Session IV

Collection

2018 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference

Authors

Jennifer Blue, Miami University; Brielle Johnson, Miami University; Amy Summerville, Miami University; Brian P. Kirkmeyer, Miami University

Tagged Topics

Diversity, First Generation

disadvantages [6].C. Sense of belonging In addition to beliefs, students’ feelings of belonging and acceptance in their collegecommunity are important in predicting their academic success. The need to belong and affiliatewith others is a fundamental motivation, and this motivation influences various interpersonalbehaviors [17]. Research conducted with elementary students has suggested that sense ofschool belonging is the most impactful contextual variable on classroom achievement, andbelonging is positively correlated with academic self-efficacy [18]. In another study looking atwomen’s persistence in engineering, rates of retention were associated with feelings ofbelonging to the major and the department [19]. A sense of belongingness often

Conference Session

First-Generation Track - Technical Session IV

Collection

2018 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference

Authors

Dina Verdín, Purdue University, West Lafayette (College of Engineering); Allison Godwin, Purdue University, West Lafayette (College of Engineering); Adam Kirn, University of Nevada, Reno; Lisa Benson, Clemson University; Geoff Potvin, Florida International University

Tagged Topics

Diversity, First Generation

. However, for students to see themselves as legitimate creators and contributors ofknowledge in engineering they must first see themselves as engineers by participating in theengineering community of practice. Forming an identity within a community of practice issubsequently tied to feeling as though one belongs in that community. When students feel asthough they belong in engineering and have developed an engineering identity, they are morelikely persist. In this study, we move away from using degree completion or GPA as a measure ofpersistence for first-generation college students and focus on the personality trait of grit. First-generation college students by definition come from families “where neither parenthad more than a high-school