GSE/EXT - Engineering Equity Extension Service (EEES)

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education of the National Academy of Engineering will, over a five year period, implement an Engineering Equity Extension Service (EEES) as a comprehensive research-based consultative and peer mentoring infrastructure in support of enhanced gender equity in engineering education in the US. Based on key leverage points identified from the literature, EEES will focus its efforts on bringing expertise in gender studies and the research base on science and engineering education to a) academic preparation for engineering study for students at the middle school (grade 6) through collegiate sophomore levels, b) the out-of-class social environment, c) the in-class social environment, c) curricular content, d) curricular scope and sequence design, e) curriculum delivery and instructional style. A key part of our strategy is reaching those teachers and faculty who do not have an a priori interest in gender equity activities by suffusing attention to gender equity into other core areas of concern. We will do this by facilitating: * Access to recognized Experts in gender studies in science and engineering for advice and to the education research infrastructure of the National Academies. * Collaboration with national organizations (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Project Lead the Way, National Association of Partnerships for Equity) to provide an infrastructure of "extension agents" on gender equity. Focus has been placed on organizations with a) broad reach, b) a pre-existing emphasis on professional development for their members/affiliates, c) demonstrated capacity to influence activities in engineering and pre-engineering classrooms. * Access to long-term technical assistance via web-based expert-mediated and peer-led synchronous and asynchronous discussions and access to archived resources. * Development of a handbook on proposing and managing engineering education projects and conducting workshops on this topic at national and regional engineering meetings. The handbook will fuse attention to gender equity, engineering education, and project management into a seamless whole. Our experts will translate research to practice by discussing emerging and established research findings and their implications for design principles with would-be "extension agents" within collaborating national organizations. The clients of the extension agents will be responsible for specific implementations of these principles in their local context. In addition to general principles we will highlight identified "best practices" at the pre-college and undergraduate levels. Our evaluation plan will look at changes in attitudes and behaviors by classroom teachers and faculty as well as metrics of extent and impact of participation. Intellectual Merit: This effort extends and deepens the knowledge of "best practices" that are likely to enhancing the successful matriculation and graduation of women from baccalaureate engineering programs. It will contribute to a greater appreciation for the growing base of research on engineering education and the need for comprehensive approaches in achieving desired human resource development outcomes in engineering education. Broader Impacts: This effort directly contributes to the enhancement of the human resource base of women in engineering disciplines and provides a model for extension to other populations that are underrepresented in engineering. The model offered will provide valuable guidance to non-engineering disciplines in developing similar structures. As a collaborative model linking academic and professional organizations, it will facilitate collaboration across a range of issues related to enhancing the quality of engineering education K-16.