Hensel, R. A., & Huggins, S. (2023, July), Full Paper: Engendering Engineering Inclusion through an Interactive Theatre Sketch  Paper presented at 14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--44824

\bibitem{asee_peer_44824}
  Hensel, R. A., \& Huggins, S. (2023, July), \emph{Full Paper: Engendering Engineering Inclusion through an Interactive Theatre Sketch}
  Paper presented at 14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee.
  10.18260/1-2--44824

Robin A.M. Hensel and Susie Huggins.  "Full Paper: Engendering Engineering Inclusion through an Interactive Theatre Sketch".  14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee, 2023, July.  ASEE Conferences, 2023.  https://peer.asee.org/44824 Internet.  14 Dec, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_44824}
  Robin A.M. Hensel and Susie Huggins.
  "Full Paper: Engendering Engineering Inclusion through an Interactive Theatre Sketch".
  \emph{14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee, 2023, July}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2023.
  https://peer.asee.org/44824 Internet.  14 Dec, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_44824
author = "Robin A.M. Hensel and Susie Huggins"
title = "Full Paper: Engendering Engineering Inclusion through an Interactive Theatre Sketch"
booktitle = "14th Annual First-Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Conference"
year = "2023"
month = "July"
address = "University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/44824}
number = {10.18260/1-2--44824}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - 
Teaching students the necessary skills to work collaboratively, inclusively and productively in teams composed of diverse members continues to challenge engineering educators [1]. Many diversity-related educational interventions, typically, focus on preparing students from
minority or marginalized populations to work within a majority-focused and sometimes unwelcoming culture [2]. Supported by NSF funding, a team of researchers investigated a different approach.  They infused existing engineering and computer science curricula with small, but impactful, changes or additions intended to change the culture to one that respects and values diversity and helps engineering and computer science students develop inclusive professional identities. The project incorporated a holistic perspective of diversity “that includes different life experiences, demographic characteristics, problem-solving approaches, and personalities,” and values “the experience of populations historically underrepresented in engineering and computer science [2, p.1].”

One intervention, the Interactive Theatre Sketch, adapted from Finelli and Kendall-Brown [3], uses observation and role-play to explore and demonstrate how to approach biases within peer group settings, behave inclusively, and create inclusive and productive environments within their field [2]. Students in a first-year “Engineering Problem Solving 1” course at a large, R1 institution in the mid-Atlantic region were required to attend an Interactive Theatre Sketch “performance” and reflect on the experience. The sketch, performed by student actors sitting at a table with an empty chair, depicts a dysfunctional lab team working on a report. Students are asked to picture themselves in the empty chair. After the sketch is completed, trained facilitators guide a discussion, provide insight, and guide the interactive component. The sketch is then replayed with audience volunteers taking the empty chair and intervening to try to solve the issue presented. Following the sketch, students are asked to answer reflection questions relating to their observations and experience.  

Before COVID, the sketch was performed live in an auditorium and students were asked to participate with the actors during part of the event. In 2020, the sketch was re-created for virtual implementation with students observing as webinar participants. The actors performed a related, but modified, sketch depicting a Zoom-based lab-group meeting. The ‘empty chair’ exercise was replaced by a “debriefing” of the characters, in role, in which they expressed their feelings caused by the actions of the other group members [2].

This paper describes the Interactive Theater Sketch activity, the challenges related to its implementation, in both in-person and virtual environments, and facilitator observations of student engagement, as well as recommendations for future implementations or possible adaptations for different educational environments.





References
[1]	J. T. Polzer, L. P. Milton, and W. B. Swarm Jr, “Capitalizing on diversity: Interpersonal congruence in small workgroups,” Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 296-324, 2002.

[2]	Pedersen, B. A., & Hensel, R. A., & Raisa, S. A., & Atadero, R. A., & Casper, A. A., & DeLyser, R. R., & Griffin, C. D., & Leutenegger, S. T., & Morris, M. L., & Paguyo, C., & Paul, J., & Park, S., & Rambo-Hernandez, K. E., & Roszelle, B. N. (2021, July), Leveraging Changes in Engineering and Computer Science Curricula to Engender Inclusive Professional Identities in Students Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. https://peer.asee.org/37454

[3]	C. Finelli, and M. Kendall-Brown, “Using an interactive theater sketch to improve students’ perceptions about and ability to function on diverse teams,” in American Society for Engineering Education: 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, TX, USA, June 14-17, 2009, pp. 14.1312.1-14.1312.8.  


.

AU  - Robin A.M. Hensel
AU  - Susie Huggins
CY  - University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee
DA  - 2023/07/30
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Full Paper: Engendering Engineering Inclusion through an Interactive Theatre Sketch
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/44824
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--44824
ER  -