As in many engineering programs, the programs at the School of Engineering and Technology are concerned with improving our recruitment and retention, and have targeted action in two areas: pre-college programs (impacting recruitment) and the freshman introduction to engineering course (impacting retention) as part of our strategic plan for improvement. Inspired by a NAE-sponsored workshop held in Hampton University, entitled "Strengthening HBCU Engineering Education Research Capacity", the engineering faculty hypothesized that our engineering program would be more successful if it paid greater attention to the learning styles of the target student populations in order to improve student preparation and engagement in engineering.One option to engage students and provide more interactive learning opportunities is the use of case studies. This paper outlines how cases were introduced to the freshman course "Introduction to Engineering" and to a summer pre-college program, some results from the implementations, and discussion of the next planned steps. This paper reviews the success of the use of case studies for the freshmen and pre-college students at Hampton University and discusses the next steps in our plan to improve preparation and engagement in our engineering students. Our goal is to improve retention and learning. And this effort integrates educational research and the classroom experience.
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