Board 299: Funds of Knowledge and Intersectional Experiences of Identity: Graduate Students’ Views of Their Undergraduate Experiences

Jessica Mary Smith; Juan C. Lucena; Kevin L. Moore,; Junko Munakata Marr; Megan Sanders; Jeffrey C. Shragge

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42813
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42813
Download Count: 109

Paper Authors

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Jessica Mary Smith Colorado School of Mines

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Jessica M. Smith is Professor in the Engineering, Design and Society Department at the Colorado School of Mines. Her research and teaching bring anthropological perspectives to bear on questions of social responsibility and engineering. In 2016 the National Academy of Engineering recognized her Corporate Social Responsibility course as a national exemplar in teaching engineering ethics. Her book Extracting Accountability: Engineers and Corporate Social Responsibility will be published by The MIT Press in 2021. She is also the co-editor of Energy and Ethics? (Wiley-Blackwell, 2019) and the author of Mining Coal and Undermining Gender: Rhythms of Work and Family in the American West (Rutgers University Press, 2014). She regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals in anthropology, science and technology studies, engineering studies, and engineering education. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the British Academy.

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Juan C. Lucena Colorado School of Mines

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Juan Lucena is Professor and Director of Humanitarian Engineering Undergraduate Programs at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM). Juan obtained a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from Virginia Tech and a MS in STS and BS in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). His books include Defending the Nation: U.S. Policymaking to Create Scientists and Engineers from Sputnik to the ‘War Against Terrorism’ (University Press of America, 2005), Engineering and Sustainable Community Development (Morgan &Claypool, 2010), and Engineering Education for Social Justice: Critical Explorations and Opportunities (Springer, 2013).

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Kevin L. Moore, P.E. Colorado School of Mines

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Junko Munakata Marr Colorado School of Mines orcid.org/0000-0002-3705-6265

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Dr. Munakata Marr is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. She received her BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and her MS and PhD degrees in Civil

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Megan Sanders Colorado School of Mines orcid.org/0000-0003-3941-0966

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Megan Sanders is the Senior Assessment Associate at the Trefny Innovative Instruction Center at the Colorado School of Mines. Before joining Mines, Megan worked at the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Instructional Innovation at Carnegie Mellon U

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Jeffrey C. Shragge

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Abstract

Our S-STEM program Humanitarian Engineering and Science Ambassadors (HESA) supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated need at Colorado School of Mines. Our program is grounded in a funds of knowledge (FOK) approach to teaching and learning, mentorship, and student professional development. Funds of knowledge are “historically-accumulated and culturally-developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and wellbeing” (Gonzalez et al. 2005). Our previous research found that low-income engineering students who could make connections between their FOK and their engineering learning had stronger self-efficacy beliefs, interest in engineering, and a sense of graduation certainty. Whereas the students in our previous study had developed this “connecting” skill on their own, our program provides a formal platform for low-income students to learn and practice those connecting skills at the graduate level. This will allow us to investigate through pre- and post-surveys whether “connecting” skills can be developed through mentorship and whether connecting skills enhance their self-efficacy, STEM identities, and persistence beliefs. This poster shares the results from student surveys at the beginning of our first academic year of the program. Specifically, we highlight the particular FOK held by our students as they entered graduate school and we identify differences in student undergraduate experiences based on their intersectional identities. For example, we found that women were more likely than men to connect individual FOK with their graduate coursework and had strong STEM identities (including feelings of being recognized as being an engineer or scientist), even though they reported lower levels of belongingness in STEM. Students who identified as Latinx reported stronger FOK related to tinkering, strong internal and external recognition of being a scientist or engineer, and higher levels of grit; however, they simultaneously reported lower levels of belonging in their undergraduate science and engineering courses, graduation certainty, and university support. Students with the greatest financial need reported lower levels of belongingness, self-efficacy, recognition, and university support, but stronger tinkering funds of knowledge. This research underlines the demographic differences present among low-income STEM students and points to fruitful areas of mentorship and professional development that take into consideration the intersectionality of students’ identities.

Citation
Format

Smith, J. M., & Lucena, J. C., & Moore,, K. L., & Munakata Marr, J., & Sanders, M., & Shragge, J. C. (2023, June), Board 299: Funds of Knowledge and Intersectional Experiences of Identity: Graduate Students’ Views of Their Undergraduate Experiences Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42813

TY - CPAPER
AB - Our S-STEM program Humanitarian Engineering and Science Ambassadors (HESA) supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated need at Colorado School of Mines. Our program is grounded in a funds of knowledge (FOK) approach to teaching and learning, mentorship, and student professional development. Funds of knowledge are “historically-accumulated and culturally-developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and wellbeing” (Gonzalez et al. 2005). Our previous research found that low-income engineering students who could make connections between their FOK and their engineering learning had stronger self-efficacy beliefs, interest in engineering, and a sense of graduation certainty. Whereas the students in our previous study had developed this “connecting” skill on their own, our program provides a formal platform for low-income students to learn and practice those connecting skills at the graduate level. This will allow us to investigate through pre- and post-surveys whether “connecting” skills can be developed through mentorship and whether connecting skills enhance their self-efficacy, STEM identities, and persistence beliefs. This poster shares the results from student surveys at the beginning of our first academic year of the program. Specifically, we highlight the particular FOK held by our students as they entered graduate school and we identify differences in student undergraduate experiences based on their intersectional identities. For example, we found that women were more likely than men to connect individual FOK with their graduate coursework and had strong STEM identities (including feelings of being recognized as being an engineer or scientist), even though they reported lower levels of belongingness in STEM. Students who identified as Latinx reported stronger FOK related to tinkering, strong internal and external recognition of being a scientist or engineer, and higher levels of grit; however, they simultaneously reported lower levels of belonging in their undergraduate science and engineering courses, graduation certainty, and university support. Students with the greatest financial need reported lower levels of belongingness, self-efficacy, recognition, and university support, but stronger tinkering funds of knowledge. This research underlines the demographic differences present among low-income STEM students and points to fruitful areas of mentorship and professional development that take into consideration the intersectionality of students’ identities.
AU - Jessica Mary Smith
AU - Juan C. Lucena
AU - Kevin L. Moore, P.E.
AU - Junko Munakata Marr
AU - Megan Sanders
AU - Jeffrey C. Shragge
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 299: Funds of Knowledge and Intersectional Experiences of Identity: Graduate Students’ Views of Their Undergraduate Experiences
UR - https://peer.asee.org/42813
DO - 10.18260/1-2--42813
ER -