The field of engineering education has adapted different theoretical frameworks from a wide range of disciplines to explore issues of education, diversity, and inclusion among others. The number of theoretical frameworks that explore these issues using a critical perspective has been increasing in the past few years. In this review of the literature, we present an analysis that draws from Freire’s principles of critical andragogy and pedagogy. Using a set of inclusion criteria, we selected 33 research articles that used critical theoretical frameworks as part of our systematic review of the literature. We argue that critical theoretical frameworks are necessary to develop anti-deficit approaches to engineering education research. We show how engineering education research could frame questions and guide research designs using critical theoretical frameworks for the purpose of liberation.

This qualitative study examined how Latina/o engineering students, members of a student organization, used their emergent resistant capital in their academic trajectories. Their emergent resistant capital, as evident by three main themes, was characterized as a movement from conformist resistance toward transformative resistance. This study finds that emergent resistant capital enabled students to become engineering resistors by engaging in role modeling, doing community outreach, and resisting collectively. This study has research and policy implications for engineering programs aiming to serve Latina/o students. Resumen Este estudio cualitativo examinó como estudiantes de ingeniería latina/os, miembros de una organización estudiantil usaban su capital de resistencia emergente en sus trayectorias académicas. Capital de resistencia emergente se evidenció en tres temas. Los hallazagos demonstraron que el capital de resistencia emergente habilitaba a los estudiantes a progresar hacia resistores ingenieros al participar en papeles de modelaje, servicio comunitario, y resistencia colectiva. Investigación e implicaciones de políticas para programas de ingeniería con meta de servicio a estudiantes latina/ os se proveen.

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Latinxs, a gender-inclusive term used to describe people in the United States of Latin American descent, are the largest ethnic group in the United States (U.S.). Its percentage of representation in the U.S. population is projected to increase to 29% by 2050 (Passel & Cohn, 2008). In engineering, Latinxs continue to be underrepresented and while interventions and programmatic efforts have helped to increase the number of Latinx engineers in the United States, the increase of this population in the United States is not proportionate with the current representation of Latinxs in the field. Many research papers have been published on the efforts to address recruitment and retention of Latinx students in engineering, yet there still remains a lack of understanding about the status of Latinx students in engineering across the educational pathways, and about the heterogeneity in this population. The purpose of this work-in-progress literature review is to explore, critique, and synthesize previous research studies that investigate the Latinx experience in engineering. The literature review is guided by the following two research questions: How is the diversity within Latinx described in the engineering education literature?How is the engineering educational pathways for Latinxs described in engineering education literature?The objectives of this review are: (1) to describe the current state of engineering education for Latinxs; (2) to discuss how the diversity that exists within this group has been studied; and (3) to draw conclusions based on this information to describe the underrepresentation of Latinxs in engineering and why it continues to exist. MethodsThe databases ERIC and Google Scholar were used to locate preliminary sources. Combinations of the following search terms were used: "Latinas/os/xs," "Hispanic," "engineering," and "STEM." Several articles were identified as potential sources of information, but only journal articles that met the following inclusion criteria were considered: (a) published after the year 2005; (b) population of interest included Latinxs; (c) focused on engineering or included engineering within the larger STEM literature; and (d) studied K-20 education. These articles were not limited to journals in engineering education research; these articles were published in journals such as in higher education, science education, and counseling psychology.After the journal articles were selected, these were divided into three categories: (a) precollege including K-12 educational environments; (b) college including two-and four-year institutions; and (c) post-college including graduate school and higher. Journal articles were divided among the authors for the first round of review. Each article was reviewed in detail by at least one author, who took notes using the agreed-upon code sheet, the lead author reviewed the notes for all of the journal articles included in this literature review. In total, there were 36 papers that were reviewed: 5 in pre-college, 25 in college, and 6 in post-college....

In this paper, we present results and implications from two studies focusing on the participation of African American and Latina/o students in ethnic student organizations. Conducted independently by two research teams, the two studies provide striking similarities in their findings. The combined body of work provides unambiguous evidence for the common assumption that participation in ethnic student organizations at predominantly White institutions bolsters underrepresented students' engineering identity development, persistence, and success in engineering studies and subsequent careers. Findings related to African American student and alumni participation in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) mirror several findings from the study of Latina/o students in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). Specifically, results from the two studies share three common themes. Participants describe NSBE and SHPE as 1) providing opportunities for or explicitly emphasizing the development of professional and leadership skills; 2) having access to an engineering role model or becoming a role model themselves; and 3) creating a family-like support system. This paper focuses on the implications for institutional policies and college-level professionals derived from our combined body of work. We advocate for faculty, staff, and administrators to recognize the value of student participation in NSBE and SHPE and actively support student participation in these organizations. Furthermore, we suggest methods and pathways by which these key institutional players may support students; most important of which is through creating academic and social counter-spaces on their campuses. Doing so may ultimately enhance recruitment, transition to college, and persistence in engineering for students of color.