Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Welding and Machining Day: Women’s Confidence with Individual Hands-On Manufacturing

Stacy Lynn Mann; Diane L. Peters; Rebecca Marie Reck

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: Student Division Diversity and Persistence Related Technical Session
Tagged Division: Student
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--28830
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/28830
Download Count: 577

Paper Authors

biography

Stacy Lynn Mann Kettering University

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Stacy Mann is a second degree senior level student at Kettering University and creator of the April 2016 SWE Machining and Welding Day. She received a bachelor of arts with honor and highest distinction in 2011 from the University of Michigan in Anthropology and Asian Studies with a concentration in Chinese Studies. She is now pursuing a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering.

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biography

Diane L. Peters Kettering University

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Dr. Peters is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University. Dr. Peters is the Faculty Advisor to the SWE collegiate sections at Kettering University.

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Rebecca Marie Reck Kettering University orcid.org/0000-0002-5894-4130

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Rebecca M. Reck is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. She completed her Ph.D. in systems engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her master’s degree in electrical engineering at Iowa State University during her eight years at Rockwell Collins and her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering with a mathematics minor, from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2005. Her research interests include controls, signal processing, and engineering education. Specific areas of controls and signal processing research include the design and modeling of intelligent controls, Kalman filters, and automation. Engineering education research includes curriculum and laboratory development for these concepts.

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Abstract

Many studies suggest that teamwork in hands-on manufacturing is beneficial to learning soft skills and manufacturing minded thinking for college level engineering students. Studies also show that a confidence gap exists between men and women in engineering in hands-on and “tinkering” abilities. In classroom exercises involving hands-on tasks, men often step up in groups to perform tasks such as machining and, due to a lack of ability and/or lack of confidence, many women step back and let the men take over. All-female group projects have been devised to study the benefits women can gain from hands-on experience in a variety of tasks from a Mini-Baja team to coding workshops. While those past projects had a focus on group work, this project revolves around individual tasks in order to get female STEM students comfortable with hands-on manufacturing processes. The focus on individual work rather than group work was intended to push participants outside of their comfort zones, give them a greater sense of confidence in their own skills, and evaluate the benefits of individualized hands-on learning.

With funding from the Dean of Students and the Women Resource Center of Kettering University, and help from technicians in the Mechanical and Industrial Manufacturing Engineering departments, twelve students participated in one of two manufacturing activities: MIG welding or lathe/mill machining. All planning, evaluation, and analysis for this project were performed by an undergraduate student. The six students in the MIG welding group had hands-on training from university technicians on MIG welding and air and electric power tools. They applied their newly-learned metal shaping and joining skills to a design project utilizing horseshoes to create projects from useful wall-hooks to geometric designs. The other six women in the machining group each machined their own bolt and nut from raw round aluminum stock. The participants had a unique opportunity to perform the manufacturing processes, encouraging a level of comfort and knowledge of manufacturing techniques and a unique appreciation of modern automated manufacturing.

The outcomes of this project were evaluated by a survey in which the participants assessed the value, engagement, content, benefit, and quality of the event on an agree/no opinion/disagree scale followed by several free response questions. The evaluation had no personal identifiers, but the organizer noted their grade level to see if the participants’ current knowledge base and experiences had an effect on their outcomes. All of the participants enjoyed the event and rated us favorable across all categories. In the free response section, students talked about a growth in confidence, wanting more events like this, and enjoying being able to create on their own with minimal help from technicians. This paper will hopefully help universities create similar programs, and push for exploration of individual projects in creating confidence.

Citation
Format

Mann, S. L., & Peters, D. L., & Reck, R. M. (2017, June), Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Welding and Machining Day: Women’s Confidence with Individual Hands-On Manufacturing Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--28830

TY - CPAPER
AB - Many studies suggest that teamwork in hands-on manufacturing is beneficial to learning soft skills and manufacturing minded thinking for college level engineering students. Studies also show that a confidence gap exists between men and women in engineering in hands-on and “tinkering” abilities. In classroom exercises involving hands-on tasks, men often step up in groups to perform tasks such as machining and, due to a lack of ability and/or lack of confidence, many women step back and let the men take over. All-female group projects have been devised to study the benefits women can gain from hands-on experience in a variety of tasks from a Mini-Baja team to coding workshops. While those past projects had a focus on group work, this project revolves around individual tasks in order to get female STEM students comfortable with hands-on manufacturing processes. The focus on individual work rather than group work was intended to push participants outside of their comfort zones, give them a greater sense of confidence in their own skills, and evaluate the benefits of individualized hands-on learning.

With funding from the Dean of Students and the Women Resource Center of Kettering University, and help from technicians in the Mechanical and Industrial Manufacturing Engineering departments, twelve students participated in one of two manufacturing activities: MIG welding or lathe/mill machining. All planning, evaluation, and analysis for this project were performed by an undergraduate student. The six students in the MIG welding group had hands-on training from university technicians on MIG welding and air and electric power tools. They applied their newly-learned metal shaping and joining skills to a design project utilizing horseshoes to create projects from useful wall-hooks to geometric designs. The other six women in the machining group each machined their own bolt and nut from raw round aluminum stock. The participants had a unique opportunity to perform the manufacturing processes, encouraging a level of comfort and knowledge of manufacturing techniques and a unique appreciation of modern automated manufacturing.

The outcomes of this project were evaluated by a survey in which the participants assessed the value, engagement, content, benefit, and quality of the event on an agree/no opinion/disagree scale followed by several free response questions. The evaluation had no personal identifiers, but the organizer noted their grade level to see if the participants’ current knowledge base and experiences had an effect on their outcomes. All of the participants enjoyed the event and rated us favorable across all categories. In the free response section, students talked about a growth in confidence, wanting more events like this, and enjoying being able to create on their own with minimal help from technicians. This paper will hopefully help universities create similar programs, and push for exploration of individual projects in creating confidence.

AU - Stacy Lynn Mann
AU - Diane L. Peters
AU - Rebecca Marie Reck
CY - Columbus, Ohio
DA - 2017/06/24
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Welding and Machining Day: Women’s Confidence with Individual Hands-On Manufacturing
UR - https://peer.asee.org/28830
DO - 10.18260/1-2--28830
ER -