Work in Progress: Formation of an Engineering Identity in First-year Students through an Intervention Centered on Senior Design Projects

Abigail M. Richards; Ryan Anderson; Carrie B. Myers

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Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: First-Year Programs: Metacognition, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation #1
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--35638
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/35638
Download Count: 356

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Paper Authors

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Abigail M. Richards Montana State University

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Dr. Richards has been faculty at Montana State University since 2007. She is particularly interested in retention of underrepresented groups in engineering and first-year programs.

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Ryan Anderson Montana State University

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Dr. Anderson received a BS in Chemical Engineering and a BA in History from Bucknell University in 2007. He obtained a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of British Columbia in 2012 before postdoctoral studies at City College of New York. He is currently an associate professor at Montana State University.

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Carrie B. Myers Montana State University

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Dr. Carrie B. Myers is a professor in Adult and Higher Education graduate program at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Her research areas include (1) socialization experiences of undergraduate and graduate students in STEM, with a special interest in underrepresented groups; (2) institutional factors and faculty practices that enhance students' learning and socialization experiences; and (3) the P20 context and how it increases students' higher education outcomes.

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Abstract

This work in progress paper describes the initial results of a multiyear project to study the development of an engineering identity by students in a chemical engineering program. The project focuses on how engineering identity may be impacted by a series of interventions integrating subject material from a senior-level capstone design course into the coursework of a first-year introductory engineering course and, in a later phase of the project, incorporating interventions in a second-year course. The interventions position the senior capstone design students as peer-mentors to the first-year students. Through series of timed interventions scheduled to take place in the first-year course and as the work progresses, the second-year course, we hope to ascertain the following: (1) the extent to which, relative to a control group, exposure to a peer mentor increases a students’ engineering identity development over time compared to those who do not receive peer mentoring and (2) if the quantity and/or timing of the peer interactions impact engineering identity development. It may ultimately be possible to correlate the early development of a stronger engineering identity with student retention and persistence in the major.

Early in the fall semester, freshman chemical engineering students enrolled in an introductory chemical engineering course and senior students in a capstone design course were administered a survey that contained a validated instrument, developed by Allison Godwin, to assess engineering identity. The first-year course has 107 students and the senior-level course has 92 students. Mid-semester, immediately after the first-year students were introduced to the concepts of process flow diagrams and material balances, senior design student teams gave presentations about their capstone design projects in the first-year course. The presentations focused on the project goals, design process and highlighted the process flow diagrams. After the presentations, freshman and senior students attended small group dinners as part of a homework assignment wherein the senior students were directed to communicate information about their design projects as well as share their experiences in the chemical engineering program. Dinners occurred over several days, with up to ten freshmen and five seniors attending each event. Freshman students were encouraged to use this time to discover more about the major, inquire about future course work, and learn about ways to enrich their educational experience through extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Several weeks after the dinner experience, senior students returned to give additional presentations to the freshman students to focus on the environmental and societal impacts of their design projects. The engineering identity instrument measures students’ subject-related role identity and focuses on students’ interest, competence, and recognition within engineering. The intervention targets these outcomes in three important ways. First, the senior students share their design projects with the freshman and discuss the application of concepts in design. These discussions are intended to increase students’ interest and understanding of engineering and the curriculum. Second, the freshman and senior students meet for dinner so that they can informally talk about what it is like to be an engineering major. This near-peer mentoring is designed to foster freshman students’ understanding of what it means to be an engineering major and what they can expect from their curriculum and career opportunities.

This longitudinal intervention study has three unique features. First, baseline measures were taken for the engineering identity of first-year, second-year, and senior students prior to the intervention. Second, there will be two comparative groups that do not receive the intervention. Third, the students’ exposure to the intervention will vary based on the sequence of courses. This will allow us to measure a “dose” response. Follow-up surveys will be administered to students at the conclusion of the first-year, second-year and senior courses to track the development of an engineering identity and determine if engineering identity was impacted by the interventions.

Citation
Format

Richards, A. M., & Anderson, R., & Myers, C. B. (2020, June), Work in Progress: Formation of an Engineering Identity in First-year Students through an Intervention Centered on Senior Design Projects Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--35638

TY - CPAPER
AB - This work in progress paper describes the initial results of a multiyear project to study the development of an engineering identity by students in a chemical engineering program. The project focuses on how engineering identity may be impacted by a series of interventions integrating subject material from a senior-level capstone design course into the coursework of a first-year introductory engineering course and, in a later phase of the project, incorporating interventions in a second-year course. The interventions position the senior capstone design students as peer-mentors to the first-year students. Through series of timed interventions scheduled to take place in the first-year course and as the work progresses, the second-year course, we hope to ascertain the following: (1) the extent to which, relative to a control group, exposure to a peer mentor increases a students’ engineering identity development over time compared to those who do not receive peer mentoring and (2) if the quantity and/or timing of the peer interactions impact engineering identity development. It may ultimately be possible to correlate the early development of a stronger engineering identity with student retention and persistence in the major.

Early in the fall semester, freshman chemical engineering students enrolled in an introductory chemical engineering course and senior students in a capstone design course were administered a survey that contained a validated instrument, developed by Allison Godwin, to assess engineering identity. The first-year course has 107 students and the senior-level course has 92 students. Mid-semester, immediately after the first-year students were introduced to the concepts of process flow diagrams and material balances, senior design student teams gave presentations about their capstone design projects in the first-year course. The presentations focused on the project goals, design process and highlighted the process flow diagrams. After the presentations, freshman and senior students attended small group dinners as part of a homework assignment wherein the senior students were directed to communicate information about their design projects as well as share their experiences in the chemical engineering program. Dinners occurred over several days, with up to ten freshmen and five seniors attending each event. Freshman students were encouraged to use this time to discover more about the major, inquire about future course work, and learn about ways to enrich their educational experience through extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Several weeks after the dinner experience, senior students returned to give additional presentations to the freshman students to focus on the environmental and societal impacts of their design projects. The engineering identity instrument measures students’ subject-related role identity and focuses on students’ interest, competence, and recognition within engineering. The intervention targets these outcomes in three important ways. First, the senior students share their design projects with the freshman and discuss the application of concepts in design. These discussions are intended to increase students’ interest and understanding of engineering and the curriculum. Second, the freshman and senior students meet for dinner so that they can informally talk about what it is like to be an engineering major. This near-peer mentoring is designed to foster freshman students’ understanding of what it means to be an engineering major and what they can expect from their curriculum and career opportunities.

This longitudinal intervention study has three unique features. First, baseline measures were taken for the engineering identity of first-year, second-year, and senior students prior to the intervention. Second, there will be two comparative groups that do not receive the intervention. Third, the students’ exposure to the intervention will vary based on the sequence of courses. This will allow us to measure a “dose” response. Follow-up surveys will be administered to students at the conclusion of the first-year, second-year and senior courses to track the development of an engineering identity and determine if engineering identity was impacted by the interventions.

AU - Abigail M. Richards
AU - Ryan Anderson
AU - Carrie B. Myers
CY - Virtual On line
DA - 2020/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Work in Progress: Formation of an Engineering Identity in First-year Students through an Intervention Centered on Senior Design Projects
UR - https://peer.asee.org/35638
DO - 10.18260/1-2--35638
ER -