GSE/RES: Examining Engineering Perceptions, Aspirations and Identity among Young Girls

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit: The primary goal of this research project is to examine girls' (grades 1-5) conceptions of self and engineering and how these conceptions are shaped by their engagement and learning in various engineering activities. More specifically, the study seeks to learn how girls approach, experience, and interact with engineering activities and how their learning informs who girls think they are (what community of practice they participate in) and who they want to be (what communities of practice they aspire to). The context of this research study is Purdue University's Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning (INSPIRE), a new initiative focused on creating an engineering literate society through P-12 engineering education research and scholarship. The research questions that guide the study include: 1) What are elementary school children's perceptions of engineering and career aspirations? How do girls' perceptions and aspirations compare to boys' perceptions and aspirations? 2) What do elementary school girls report as who they think they are and who they want to be? How do girls' self-images compare to boys' self-images? 3) What new engineering content knowledge do children construct and are there gender-related differences in the new knowledge children construct? and 4) What is the relationship between girls' perceptions, career aspirations, identity development, and learning in engineering? Using a mixed-methods approach (Engineering Identity Development Scale [EIDS], Pre/Post Engineering Knowledge Tests, semi-structured interviews, and document review), the three year study measures individual differences in relational, school, and occupational identity; engineering perceptions and aspirations; and engineering content knowledge construction through problem solving and modeling. The research team works with elementary school teachers and students from school sites in Detroit, MI and Lafayette, IN. The sampling process gives preference to elementary school teachers who demonstrate: 1) high interest and commitment to participating in INSPIRE in 2008-11; 2) looping practices whereby teachers advance from one grade level to the next with the same class of students; and 3) a demographic profile that includes a composition of ~25% minority and ~50% female students. This research study assumes that there are identifiable indicators (i.e. role of school, academics, engineering knowledge, and self-images) that contribute to girls' engineering identity development at the beginning of their academic careers. Building on existing identity development literature and self-perception instruments, the research team developed an engineering identity scale for the pre-adolescent learner that will yield groups of combined indicators that suggest a high, medium, or low tendency toward engineering identity development. Broader Impacts - An understanding of how identity interacts with learning in engineering has the potential to change the ways in which engineering curriculum, educational programs, and instructional practices are formulated. Furthermore, project findings may instigate further research on the link between women's learning and identity development in engineering post-adolescence. Communication of the findings will be through engineering and science education affiliations, catalyzing deeper understanding among educators and researchers on how girls construct engineering content knowledge and how this knowledge interacts with how girls develop and transform their identities. The long term potential benefit is to gain a better understanding of why children elect to pursue engineering as a field of study. This knowledge may help increase the number of students who pursue engineering as a career, which addresses the national and persistent call for increased production of high-quality professional engineers.