Student Perceptions and Interest in Engineering:  Effects of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade Level

Susannah Sandrin; Connie M Borror

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Conference: 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Publication Date: June 23, 2013
Start Date: June 23, 2013
End Date: June 26, 2013
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Issues of Outreach and Interest in Engineering
Tagged Division: Women in Engineering
Page Count: 27
Page Numbers: 23.1102.1 - 23.1102.27
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--22487
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/22487
Download Count: 642

Paper Authors

biography

Susannah Sandrin Arizona State University

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Dr. Susannah Sandrin is an Assistant Clinical Professor at Arizona State University. Her research interests are in the areas of STEM education, specifically looking at the influences of social and economic factors on pre-college student engagement with STEM fields. She has directed numerous research, outreach and dissemination grant projects examining gender and student participation in STEM programs (including NASA and National Science Foundation, among others). As an instructor of a large enrollment environmental science course, Dr. Sandrin is also interested in how a better understanding of environmental issues influences student behaviors in terms of their water and energy use.

Her educational background includes a B.S. in Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University, a M.S. in Hydrology from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in Soil, Water and Environmental Science from the University of Arizona. During her graduate work, she studied contaminant fate and transport of organic contaminants in groundwater systems.

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Connie M Borror Arizona State University West

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Connie M. Borror is a Professor in the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences. She received her PhD in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University in 1998.

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Abstract

Student Perceptions and Interest in Engineering: Effects of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade Level It is widely known that fewer women enroll in engineering degree programs and work inengineering fields than men. In order to address this issue, a two-pronged approach is needed tosimultaneously attract and retain more young women to, and in, these disciplines. In this study,student perception of STEM disciplines was assessed to determine where gaps in perception arethe greatest by gender. The confounding effects of student race/ethnicity and grade level ondifferences in student perception by gender were also examined. More than 6,000 middle and high school students (grades 5-12) and almost 2,000 first-year college students were surveyed to determine student interest and perceptions about theirabilities in 26 different STEM sub-disciplines (including 7 engineering sub-disciplines). Malemiddle and high school students reported a slightly higher level of confidence about their abilityto succeed in a STEM major, with a widening gap in the first-year college student population.Male students in both populations were at least twice as likely to respond that they were “veryinterested” in engineering majors, excluding Environmental Engineering. EnvironmentalEngineering still had a larger reported male interest, but it was not as exaggerated. Thedifference between male and female student responses was present at all grade levels (5th gradethrough first-year college), although some fields did exhibit a narrowing of the gap during theupper middle school years (such as Environmental Engineering, Computer Engineering and CivilEngineering). The computing fields, physics and space science were the only other STEM fieldsthat exhibited gender gaps that approached those observed for the engineering fields. Femalestudents, in both populations, were also much more likely than male students to respond “I don’tknow what it is” to questions asking about their interest in different engineering sub-disciplines. These gender gaps were not constant, however, when race/ethnicity was factored in.Larger gender differences (with male students indicating more interest) were noted for Caucasianand Native American students as compared to Hispanic, African American and Southeast Asianstudents. Indeed, female African American students expressed a higher interest in ChemicalEngineering than male African American students. Therefore, targeted strategies as a function ofstudent gender and race/ethnicity may need to be used to attract new students. Additionally,interventions to attract young women and underrepresented racial/ethnic groups to engineeringneed to start early and continue throughout the K-12 years, in order to be truly effective. Furtherimplications of this study, as well as in-depth analysis of the results for each engineering sub-discipline, will also be addressed in the paper.

Citation
Format

Sandrin, S., & Borror, C. M. (2013, June), Student Perceptions and Interest in Engineering: Effects of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade Level Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--22487

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                    Student Perceptions and Interest in Engineering:                  Effects of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade Level        It is widely known that fewer women enroll in engineering degree programs and work inengineering fields than men. In order to address this issue, a two-pronged approach is needed tosimultaneously attract and retain more young women to, and in, these disciplines. In this study,student perception of STEM disciplines was assessed to determine where gaps in perception arethe greatest by gender. The confounding effects of student race/ethnicity and grade level ondifferences in student perception by gender were also examined.         More than 6,000 middle and high school students (grades 5-12) and almost 2,000 first-year college students were surveyed to determine student interest and perceptions about theirabilities in 26 different STEM sub-disciplines (including 7 engineering sub-disciplines). Malemiddle and high school students reported a slightly higher level of confidence about their abilityto succeed in a STEM major, with a widening gap in the first-year college student population.Male students in both populations were at least twice as likely to respond that they were “veryinterested” in engineering majors, excluding Environmental Engineering. EnvironmentalEngineering still had a larger reported male interest, but it was not as exaggerated. Thedifference between male and female student responses was present at all grade levels (5th gradethrough first-year college), although some fields did exhibit a narrowing of the gap during theupper middle school years (such as Environmental Engineering, Computer Engineering and CivilEngineering). The computing fields, physics and space science were the only other STEM fieldsthat exhibited gender gaps that approached those observed for the engineering fields. Femalestudents, in both populations, were also much more likely than male students to respond “I don’tknow what it is” to questions asking about their interest in different engineering sub-disciplines.        These gender gaps were not constant, however, when race/ethnicity was factored in.Larger gender differences (with male students indicating more interest) were noted for Caucasianand Native American students as compared to Hispanic, African American and Southeast Asianstudents. Indeed, female African American students expressed a higher interest in ChemicalEngineering than male African American students. Therefore, targeted strategies as a function ofstudent gender and race/ethnicity may need to be used to attract new students. Additionally,interventions to attract young women and underrepresented racial/ethnic groups to engineeringneed to start early and continue throughout the K-12 years, in order to be truly effective. Furtherimplications of this study, as well as in-depth analysis of the results for each engineering sub-discipline, will also be addressed in the paper.
AU  - Susannah Sandrin
AU  - Connie M Borror
CY  - Atlanta, Georgia
DA  - 2013/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Student Perceptions and Interest in Engineering:  Effects of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Grade Level
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/22487
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--22487
ER  -