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Engineering Identity through Litter Pickup as Service Learning

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division (FYP) - Technical Session 10: Identity & Belonging 2

Tagged Division

First-Year Programs Division (FYP)

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43319

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/43319

Download Count

131

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Paper Authors

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Jordyn M. Wolfand University of Portland Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-2650-4373

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Jordyn M. Wolfand earned a B.S. degree in environmental engineering from Tufts University and an M.S. and Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering from Stanford University. She joined the faculty at the University of Portland in 2020 and her primary research interests are in water resources engineering and urban hydrology.

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Kathleen Bieryla University of Portland

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Kathleen Bieryla is an associate professor of biomedical and mechanical engineering in the Shiley School of Engineering at the University of Portland.

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Christina Ivler

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Abstract

This Complete Research paper describes the impacts of a service-learning litter pickup project on engineering identity in the first year. Service-learning projects have been shown to increase student learning and improve student attitudes toward academics and community engagement. It was hypothesized that service learning may also improve students’ engineering identity, as measured by recognition, interest, and performance indicators. Students were surveyed before, immediately after, and 10 months after a litter pickup service-learning project that was incorporated into a required first-year computing course. All engineering identity constructs were scored highly (median above 4 on a 0–6 scale), regardless of the survey time point. There was a significant improvement in the construction of recognition (p=0.003), but no significant change in interest (p=0.184), performance (p=0.442), or overall engineering identity (p=0.177). Engineering identity constructs were significantly different across gender and major, but not across other demographics, which included race and first-generation status. Identity construct scores decreased from the first to the second year, though not statistically significant. Results show the service-learning project had a positive impact on student engineering identity in the first year, but that further study is needed to maintain and improve students’ perception of engineering identity between the first and second years.

Wolfand, J. M., & Bieryla, K., & Ivler, C. (2023, June), Engineering Identity through Litter Pickup as Service Learning Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43319

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