Development of a Middle School Architectural Engineering Pilot Program (Work in Progress)
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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9
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--41061
- Permanent URL
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https://strategy.asee.org/41061
- Download Count
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224
Paper Authors
Tina Wang
Second year master's student at Penn State University | Majoring in Architectural Engineering with an interest in Education
Laura Jun Chee Yong Pennsylvania State University
Allison Godwin Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
Allison Godwin, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education and of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. She is also the Engineering Workforce Development Director for CISTAR, the Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. Her research focuses on how identity, among other affective factors, influences diverse students to choose engineering and persist in engineering. She also studies how different experiences within the practice and culture of engineering foster or hinder belonging and identity development. Dr. Godwin graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education. Her research earned her a National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on characterizing latent diversity, which includes diverse attitudes, mindsets, and approaches to learning to understand engineering students’ identity development.
Linda Hanagan Pennsylvania State University
Linda M. Hanagan, PhD, PE, is an Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering at the Pennsylvania
State University. She has been on the faculty at Penn State since 1998. After receiving her PhD in 1994
from Virginia Tech, she served on the faculty at the University of Miami before joining Penn State. Dr.
Hanagan has focused most of her research career on floor vibration serviceability, with a strong emphasis
on steel structures. She has overseen dozens of research projects, participated in several committees,
supervised many students, and written numerous papers that have contributed to the body of knowledge
in vibration serviceability. While Dr. Hanagan’s primary research interest has been in the vibration
serviceability of structures, one of her greatest passions is teaching. Her area of teaching specialization
is structural engineering with a particular emphasis in the analysis and design of buildings. At Penn
State she currently teaches a structural analysis course, the advanced steel design course and a graduate
level course in steel connections. Her approach to these courses is to provide strategies for complex
problem solving and a framework for lifelong learning. She is the recipient of the Penn State Engineering
Society’s Outstanding Teaching Award (2003) and the Premier Teaching Award (2008). Building on a
strong teaching record and an interest in building a more diverse engineering community, Dr. Hanagan
has begun to expand her research into engineering education in the K12 realm with a focus on strategies
to increase interest in pursuing engineering careers, particularly in under-represented groups.
Abstract
This Work in Progress (WIP) paper describes the development of a middle school program focused on an integrated STEM architectural engineering design project and exploration of career pathways. The current engineering workforce is increasingly aging, needing new engineering graduates to meet the industry demands. It is crucial to create inclusive educational programs in STEM to expose and connect with youths from diverse backgrounds, especially the demographics that are underrepresented, in STEM career paths. Middle school is a pivotal time for generating students’ awareness of and promoting pathways into STEM careers; however, opportunities to engage in engineering are often lacking or nonexistent, particularly for low-income students. Additionally, low-income students may bring particular experiences and skills from their backgrounds to engineering that may increase the innovation of engineering solutions. These assets are important to recognize and cultivate in young students.
The Middle School Architectural Engineering Pilot Program (MSAEPP), drawing from social cognitive career theory and identity-based motivation, is an intervention designed to affect STEM-related content and STEM identities, motivation, and career goals for low-income students using relatable topics within the building industry. The focus on architectural engineering activities is because buildings, and the industry they represent, touch everyone’s lives. The MSAEPP is planned to be implemented through the Talent Search Programs at middle schools in Pennsylvania. The Talent Search Program is one of the Federal TRIO Programs dedicated to assisting high school students in furthering their education. Penn State Talent Search Programs serve 22 schools in 8 impoverished school districts. The pilot program engages middle school students (seventh and eighth grade) in architectural engineering-related lessons and activities, by exploring engineering identities interactions with architectural engineering industry professionals, and by planning potential career pathways in architectural engineering and other STEM careers with Talent Search Counselors.
The purpose of this paper is to present the background and process used in this funded NSF project for developing the suite of architectural engineering related lessons and activities and the research plan for answering the research question: How do the combination of meaningful engineering learning, exposure to professional engineers, and career planning, focused on building industry engineering applications, increase identity-based motivation of students from low-income households and marginalized students in pursuing STEM careers? Answering this question will inform future work developing interventions that target similar goals and will validate and expand the identity-based motivation framework.
Keywords: middle school, identity, motivation, informal education.
Wang, T., & Yong, L. J. C., & Godwin, A., & Hanagan, L. (2022, August), Development of a Middle School Architectural Engineering Pilot Program (Work in Progress) Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41061
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