Board 28: Progress on a Mixed Methods Research Project Studying Interest and Identity of Participants Engaged in Engineering Camp Activities – Methods and Preliminary Results

Indira Chatterjee; Tim Robinson; Adam Kirn; Jennifer R. Amos

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--32312
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/32312
Download Count: 326

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Indira Chatterjee University of Nevada, Reno

visit author page

Indira Chatterjee received her M.S. in Physics from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio in 1977 and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah in 1981. Indira is Associate Dean of Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. As Associate Dean she oversees undergraduate and graduate education in the college including assessment, accreditation, recruitment, retention and advising. She also coordinates efforts to expand the research productivity of the College of Engineering. This includes promoting and facilitating industry-college partnerships, identifying and monitoring opportunities for competitive research grants, apprising faculty of research opportunities and providing coordination and leadership for forming research teams as needed to respond to these opportunities. She serves as chair of the College of Engineering curriculum committee and is a member of the university curriculum committee. Indira has been a faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno since 1988. As Professor of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering she has been actively involved in funded research. She has been primary mentor to several graduate students who are well placed in industry and academics. Her research areas include: Numerical and experimental bioelectromagnetics, RF/microwave/millimeter wave dosimetry, high intensity electronanopulse clinical applications, antenna design, and electrical properties of materials. Over the past 30 years she has brought in over $6 million in research funding from the National Science Foundation, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Johns Hopkins University, National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy and private industry. She is a senior member of the IEEE, a member of the IEEE MTT-10 committee, and a member of the ASEE, Bioelectromagnetics Society and Society of Women Engineers. She serves on the editorial board of the Bioelectromagnetics Society.

visit author page

biography

Tim Robinson University of Nevada Reno

visit author page

I am a former elementary and middle public school teacher who is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in STEM Education. My research interests are in the areas of science and engineering education where I look at student interest as well as the use of technology such as digital data collection devices and the impact they have on students' ability to argue scientifically.

visit author page

biography

Adam Kirn University of Nevada, Reno orcid.org/0000-0001-6344-5072

visit author page

Adam Kirn is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Education at University of Nevada, Reno. His research focuses on the interactions between engineering cultures, student motivation, and their learning experiences. His projects involve the study of student perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards becoming engineers, their problem solving processes, and cultural fit. His education includes a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, a M.S. in Bioengineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education from Clemson University.

visit author page

biography

Jennifer R. Amos University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

visit author page

Dr Amos joined the Bioengineering Department at the University of Illinois in 2009 and is currently a Teaching Associate Professor in Bioengineering and an Adjunct Associate Professor in Educational Psychology. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of South Carolina. She completed a Fulbright Program at Ecole Centrale de Lille in France to benchmark and help create a new hybrid masters program combining medicine and engineering and also has led multiple curricular initiative in Bioengineering and the College of Engineering on several NSF funded projects.

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

This paper reports on progress of our work exploring the influence of engineering summer camps on students’ interests and identities. We explored middle school students’ identity and interest development as this is when students make decisions to pursue STEM careers. Additionally, summer camps were explored as they exist at many colleges of engineering and represent one area of interaction between K-12 and engineering education. We involved three camp populations (all female, first-generation and open enrollment) of mostly middle school students in this study at a western land-grant university. The objective of this mixed-methods research study is to answer three research questions: (1) How strongly are engineering identity and interest linked to the intention to pursue engineering as a major in college and as a future career? (2) Which specific activities in the camps lead to a change in identity and interest in engineering? (3) To what extent and in what ways do the qualitative participant focus group interviews and observations of participants engaged in camp activities addressing research question (2) contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the quantitative data obtained via pre- and post-surveys addressing research question (1)? We developed protocols for the quantitative and qualitative phases of data collection. Data collection protocols for our survey and focus groups were adapted from the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation Student Attitudes toward STEM Survey. The protocol and worksheet for the observations were adapted from the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS). Adaptations were made so that the protocols better align with the context of the current study. Quantitative data consisted of identical pre- and post-surveys delivered to the participants on days 1 and 4 respectively of the week-long camps. Qualtrics was used for data collection and SPSS for analysis. Qualitative data collection consisted of recording daily observational notes on participants involved in camp activities, using the worksheet. Most camp activities were part of the observations and videotaped. Focus group interviews were conducted using a prepared protocol that involved open-ended questions related to identity, interest, and career aspirations and based on the pre- and post-surveys. Each twenty minute focus group consisted of 5 participants, and was videotaped. To date, preliminary analysis of the quantitative data indicates that there is a statistically significant positive change in the participants’ perception of their ability to perform science and engineering tasks. Preliminary analysis of the focus group interviews that have been professionally transcribed and checked for accuracy by the PI and graduate student, has consisted of first-cycle manual coding. Initial results indicate that there is a positive change in engineering interest and identity of the participants due to the summer camps. Results of both the quantitative and qualitative analysis will be presented. Initial results have been utilized to further refine camp activities and future work will focus on understanding which activities and approaches serve to positively foster students’ identities and interests so that we can transfer these findings to other summer camps and informal K-12 education programs.

Citation
Format

Chatterjee, I., & Robinson, T., & Kirn, A., & Amos, J. R. (2019, June), Board 28: Progress on a Mixed Methods Research Project Studying Interest and Identity of Participants Engaged in Engineering Camp Activities – Methods and Preliminary Results Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32312

TY - CPAPER
AB - This paper reports on progress of our work exploring the influence of engineering summer camps on students’ interests and identities. We explored middle school students’ identity and interest development as this is when students make decisions to pursue STEM careers. Additionally, summer camps were explored as they exist at many colleges of engineering and represent one area of interaction between K-12 and engineering education. We involved three camp populations (all female, first-generation and open enrollment) of mostly middle school students in this study at a western land-grant university. The objective of this mixed-methods research study is to answer three research questions: (1) How strongly are engineering identity and interest linked to the intention to pursue engineering as a major in college and as a future career? (2) Which specific activities in the camps lead to a change in identity and interest in engineering? (3) To what extent and in what ways do the qualitative participant focus group interviews and observations of participants engaged in camp activities addressing research question (2) contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the quantitative data obtained via pre- and post-surveys addressing research question (1)?
We developed protocols for the quantitative and qualitative phases of data collection. Data collection protocols for our survey and focus groups were adapted from the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation Student Attitudes toward STEM Survey. The protocol and worksheet for the observations were adapted from the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System (inCLASS). Adaptations were made so that the protocols better align with the context of the current study. Quantitative data consisted of identical pre- and post-surveys delivered to the participants on days 1 and 4 respectively of the week-long camps. Qualtrics was used for data collection and SPSS for analysis. Qualitative data collection consisted of recording daily observational notes on participants involved in camp activities, using the worksheet. Most camp activities were part of the observations and videotaped. Focus group interviews were conducted using a prepared protocol that involved open-ended questions related to identity, interest, and career aspirations and based on the pre- and post-surveys. Each twenty minute focus group consisted of 5 participants, and was videotaped.
To date, preliminary analysis of the quantitative data indicates that there is a statistically significant positive change in the participants’ perception of their ability to perform science and engineering tasks. Preliminary analysis of the focus group interviews that have been professionally transcribed and checked for accuracy by the PI and graduate student, has consisted of first-cycle manual coding. Initial results indicate that there is a positive change in engineering interest and identity of the participants due to the summer camps. Results of both the quantitative and qualitative analysis will be presented. Initial results have been utilized to further refine camp activities and future work will focus on understanding which activities and approaches serve to positively foster students’ identities and interests so that we can transfer these findings to other summer camps and informal K-12 education programs.

AU - Indira Chatterjee
AU - Tim Robinson
AU - Adam Kirn
AU - Jennifer R. Amos
CY - Tampa, Florida
DA - 2019/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 28: Progress on a Mixed Methods Research Project Studying Interest and Identity of Participants Engaged in Engineering Camp Activities – Methods and Preliminary Results
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/32312
DO - 10.18260/1-2--32312
ER -