Research Initiation: Reshaping Engineering Classroom Norms to Diversify the Profession

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ

Investigators

Abstract

By some estimates, roughly half the students that graduate with an engineering degree end up employed in a non-engineering field. Attempts to fix this "leaky pipeline" rarely address the fact that the culture, rather than academics, may be driving students away. Throughout their academic careers, students ask themselves, "What are the attributes inherent in being an engineer?" Far too often, the answer to that question is defined by outdated engineering ways of knowing, thinking, and doing. Such lack of inclusivity, especially when college students are forming their professional identity, has a significant impact on their interest and the appeal of an engineering occupation. To better expand the profession, there is a need to identify and understand the impact of social-engineering norms in university programs and in the profession. Reshaping Norms serves to address this need by studying the impacts of a series of classroom interventions. The focus of Reshaping Norms is to identify and reshape the norms that cause a student to form (or not form) an identity of themselves as a future engineer. As a society, we must encourage the creation of new perspectives because the ability to innovate and exploit niche markets is better served by people who bring a wide-range of diverse experiences to the engineering profession. Similarly, the ability of the public to make well-informed decisions is better served by a diverse profession actively engaged within their communities. This project serves to address these needs by broadening the characterization of engineering identity and catalyzing the engagement of students with their communities. The goal of Reshaping Norms will be accomplished by reducing barriers to diversity and improving students' sense of belonging through pedagogies, strategies, and initiatives aimed at: 1) creating an inclusive classroom community; and 2) incorporating relevancy into course activities. The creation of an inclusive classroom community will be accomplished by explicitly raising awareness of factors of attrition, democratically establishing norms of participation, and role model case-studies. Relevancy will be incorporated through authentic analysis and design experiences based on student interests, and civic engagement with local community organizations. The research plan is guided by the following questions: 1) To what extent do Reshaping Norms classroom interventions affect underrepresented students' engineering identity?; and 2) To what extent do the Reshaping Norms classroom interventions affect underrepresented engineering students' self-efficacy in engineering? This two-year project will be implemented in three iterations (alpha, beta, and gamma). Data collected during the alpha and beta iterations will be analyzed to assess the effectiveness of the intervention tools, determine evidence of growth of students' interest and/or self-efficacy, inform revisions to subsequent interventions, and develop a full quasi-experimental study (gamma iteration). The study will include data collection from both intervention and control courses within two separate sections of a targeted engineering course. To answer the research questions, the study will utilize two previously developed instruments: one to measure engineering identity and one to measure self-efficacy toward the field of engineering. The results of this study will be used to generate new findings about the formation of engineering students' identity as it relates to their feelings of belonging in the profession.