Paper ID #46475Can I Be An Engineer? Factors Influencing Women’s Decisions to PursueUndergraduate Engineering Studies in Lebanon (Fundamental)Rasha Malaeb, American University of Beirut Rasha Malaeb (she/her) is a Computer and Computer Engineering student at the American University of Beirut. She is a research assistant and event coordinator at the Pipeline and Mentorship Initiative at the American University of Beirut where she works on student support-projects as the Peer2Peer Mentorship . Rasha is an applicant of the Women Leader’s in Engineering Full Scholarship and her research is focused on enhancing women’s
Paper ID #44419Scaffolding AI Research Projects Increases Self-efficacy of High School Studentsin Learning Neural Networks (Fundamental)S. Shailja, University of California, Santa Barbara Shailja is an incoming post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University. She completed her Ph.D. in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department with interdisciplinary emphasis on College and University teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2024. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Electrical Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 2016. Shailja has been
-taught engineeringcourse for pre-college students. This course, led by a diverse team of graduate studentinstructors, was taught for four years and serves as a benchmark for exploring the multifacetedimpacts of team teaching. It also explores the instructors’ experiences of teaching and teachingfor the first time, presenting an opportunity to learn and grow along with the students. The studydiscusses strategies the authors found effective to foster a successful team teaching environment,what worked, what was improved, and insights into coordinating a multidisciplinary instructorteam.CLASS LOGISTICSThe study took place in a one-week, one-credit university-level course for pre-college students asan introduction to civil engineering. The course has
Engineering: Perspectives of Engineering Faculty (Work in Progress)IntroductionDespite a growing emphasis on engineering in grades K-12, persistently high dropout ratesplague undergraduate engineering programs [1],[2]. Prior studies indicate that engineeringactivities have the potential to increase interest in engineering pathways [3] or develop anengineering identity [4]. Less clear is whether pre-college engineering instruction alsocontributes to students' success in engineering career pathways by adequately preparing studentsfor undergraduate engineering. One concern is that K-12 engineering lessons "may mislead orunder prepare [students] by providing activities that they enjoy but which have little relation toengineering
students compared to their male counterparts. Similar results wereobserved in a four-day engineering summer camp for girls [14], where participants had increasedinterest and understanding of engineering topics after camp completion. On the other hand, amixed-method study [15] on a six-day middle school engineering summer camp showed nostatistically significant change in participants’ intrinsic motivation, interest in engineeringcareers, self-efficacy, and self-determination based on the quantitative data. Nonetheless,qualitative data indicated that camp experience positively impacted participants’ outlook towardengineering and STEM careers and their awareness of STEM career requirements.The Friday Institute of Education S-STEM survey has been used
impacts of thenew soft robotics curriculum for K12 classrooms, this paper presents pilot analysis toward a machinelearning algorithm to analyze children’s drawings. When combined with other measurements, includinginterviews or observations, the Draw a Robot Task, enhanced with objective analysis tools presented here,can aid researchers in understanding the earliest perceptions and stereotypes of robots held by youngchildren.IntroductionRecruitment of new students to engineering majors relies on developing their interest and identities inengineering from an early age [1], [2]. With countless activities developed for young, elementary-agedchildren to experiment with STEM concepts, it is essential that we have a tool to understand changes intheir
student interest and attitudes [17]. Interest in engineering has also been shown toincrease with outreach [18]. Additional work has shown that students participating in anengineering camp were more likely than control students to take STEM courses in high school[19].STEM identity describes the extent to which an individual sees themselves as a “science person”,“math person”, etc. [20]. STEM identity has also been linked to youth enrolling inpost-secondary STEM education [21]. Fit or belonging is also believed to be a factor in gendergaps in STEM enrolment, where explanations based on abilities, interest, and self-efficacy fallshort [22].While we list a number of possible constructs above, it is unclear which one(s) (such as STEMidentity and self
(i.e., afull-time staff member at the school, typically a seasoned math teacher) and Project X instructors(i.e., casual employees, usually undergraduate engineering majors who are novice teachers).Moreover, while our program did have predefined entrance criteria for student selection (i.e., C-or better in Algebra 1, interest in STEM as indicated on a brief survey), these criteria wereinadequate to support success in the program; for this pilot, an above average school attendancerate (i.e., >85%) was included as a precondition. These changes, along with providinggrades/credit towards graduation, have greatly enhance participation. Evaluation of this electiveclass model will be available in mid 2025.V. LESSONS LEARNED This section
), 123-154.[5] Jeffers, A. T., Safferman, A. G., & Safferman, S. I. (2004). Understanding K–12 engineering outreach programs. Journal of professional issues in engineering education and practice, 130(2), 95-108. [6] Robinson, T., Kirn, A., Amos, J., & Chatterjee, I. (2023). The Effects of Engineering Summer Camps on Middle and High School Students’ Engineering Interest and Identity Formation: A Multi-methods Study. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER), 13(2), 6. [7] Gong, N., & Wang, J. (2016, June). ECE-GIRLS: High School Girls Explore Electrical and Computer Engineering Program. In 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. [8
expanding the curriculum's application across varied educational contexts, weaim to contribute to the broader discourse on effective STEM education practices. Ultimately,this study affirms the BSEE curriculum's role in preparing students for 21st-century challengesand highlights the critical role of educators in facilitating meaningful STEM learningexperiences.ReferencesBauer, A. S. (2023). STEM literacy: Pre-service elementary teachers' conceptualization of trans- and interdisciplinary integrated STEM learning (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.Berland, L. K., & Steingut, R. (2016). Explaining variation in student efforts towards using math and science knowledge in engineering
strategicallyintegrated into the entire TPP curriculum. A concerted effort to strengthen the TPP was enabledby a Noyce Track 1 project, with the goal that by graduation, our pre-service teachers are readyto teach as culturally responsive, effective and reflective educators. We piloted a new TPP coursefor pre-practicum experiences immersed in the community. While this paper is based on ourlocal context, some of our experiences and results might be transferrable or adapted for otherteacher preparation programs. STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS: RACE/ETHNICITY K-12% Univ % 67.4 46