Bilow, F., & DeWaters, J. (2022, March), Exploring Engineering Students' Attitudes: Impacts of Sociotechnical vs. Technical Courses  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE St. Lawrence Section Annual Conference, Syracuse University, New York. 10.18260/1-2--45413

\bibitem{asee_peer_45413}
  Bilow, F., \& DeWaters, J. (2022, March), \emph{Exploring Engineering Students' Attitudes: Impacts of Sociotechnical vs. Technical Courses}
  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE St. Lawrence Section Annual Conference, Syracuse University, New York.
  10.18260/1-2--45413

Felicity Bilow and Jan DeWaters P.E..  "Exploring Engineering Students' Attitudes: Impacts of Sociotechnical vs. Technical Courses".  2022 ASEE St. Lawrence Section Annual Conference, Syracuse University, New York, 2022, March.  ASEE Conferences, 2022.  https://peer.asee.org/45413 Internet.  12 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_45413}
  Felicity Bilow and Jan DeWaters P.E..
  "Exploring Engineering Students' Attitudes: Impacts of Sociotechnical vs. Technical Courses".
  \emph{2022 ASEE St. Lawrence Section Annual Conference, Syracuse University, New York, 2022, March}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2022.
  https://peer.asee.org/45413 Internet.  12 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_45413
author = "Felicity Bilow and Jan DeWaters P.E."
title = "Exploring Engineering Students' Attitudes: Impacts of Sociotechnical vs. Technical Courses"
booktitle = "2022 ASEE St. Lawrence Section Annual Conference"
year = "2022"
month = "March"
address = "Syracuse University, New York"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/45413}
number = {10.18260/1-2--45413}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Current engineering curricula fail to recognize the sociotechnical nature of engineering problems (i.e., technical and non-technical factors), and rather primarily focus on technical problem solving. This is problematic because in order for engineering graduates to be able to solve the complex engineering problems facing the world today and in the future, they will need to understand the technical and non-technical (social, political, economic, environmental, cultural, legal, safety, etc. factors) implications of their work. In addition, women continue to be underrepresented in engineering education. Previous research has suggested that presenting engineering within a societal context can help attract and retain women in engineering. Courses that are designed to present engineering from a sociotechnical perspective may allow female-identified students to find social relevance to the field, which could help them to find a sense of belonging in engineering, which could lead to an increase in the retention rate of women engineering students. These sociotechnical courses will also allow engineering students to understand the technical and non-technical factors that are incorporated in engineering design and work. 

The purpose of this study is to examine how undergraduate engineering students’ attitudes (i.e., sense of belonging, self-confidence, satisfaction with engineering, and social responsibility) toward and understanding of engineering are affected after taking sociotechnical vs. more technical focused engineering courses at Clarkson University. 

Undergraduate engineering students enrolled in “middle year” sociotechnical and technical engineering courses at Clarkson University will complete a pre-/post-survey during the spring 2022 semester, with a few students participating in a post-interview at the end of the semester. 

This presentation will cover the background behind the project, the methods that will be used in the study, the results of pilot data collected during the fall 2021 semester, and plans moving forward. 

AU  - Felicity Bilow
AU  - Jan DeWaters P.E.
CY  - Syracuse University, New York
DA  - 2022/03/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Exploring Engineering Students' Attitudes: Impacts of Sociotechnical vs. Technical Courses
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/45413
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--45413
ER  -