Engineering Identity Development: A Review of the Higher Education Literature

Rodriguez, Sarah L.; Lu, Charles; Bartlett, Morgan

doi:10.18404/ijemst.428182

Cited by 55 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Engineering identity, or how closely students see themselves aligned with their sense of what a professional engineer is, has received much attention in the recent literature, as evidenced by several recent literature reviews (e.g., Morelock, 2017;Patrick and Borrego, 2016;Rodriguez et al 2018). The predominant model of engineering identity draws on science identity, as first developed in qualitative work by Carlone and Johnson (2007).…”

Section: Engineering Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering students’ attitudinal beliefs by gender and student division: a methodological comparison of changes over time

2021

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Background Students’ attitudinal beliefs related to how they see themselves in STEM have been a focal point of recent research, given their well-documented links to retention and persistence. These beliefs are most often assessed cross-sectionally, and as such, we lack a thorough understanding of how they may fluctuate over time. Using matched survey responses from undergraduate engineering students (n = 278), we evaluate if, and to what extent, students’ engineering attitudinal beliefs (attainment value, utility value, self-efficacy, interest, and identity) change over a 1-year period. Further, we examine whether there are differences based on gender and student division, and then compare results between cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to illustrate weaknesses in our current understanding of these constructs. Results Our study revealed inconsistencies between cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the same dataset. Cross-sectional analyses indicated a significant difference by student division for engineering utility value and engineering interest, but no significant differences by gender for any variable. However, longitudinal analyses revealed statistically significant decreases in engineering utility value, engineering self-efficacy, and engineering interest for lower division students and significant decreases in engineering attainment value for upper division students over a one-year period. Further, longitudinal analyses revealed a gender gap in engineering self-efficacy for upper division students, where men reported higher means than women. Conclusions Our analyses make several contributions. First, we explore attitudinal differences by student division not previously documented. Second, by comparing across methodologies, we illustrate that different conclusions can be drawn from the same data. Since the literature around these variables is largely cross-sectional, our understanding of students’ engineering attitudes is limited. Our longitudinal analyses show variation in engineering attitudinal beliefs that are obscured when data is only examined cross-sectionally. These analyses revealed an overall downward trend within students for all beliefs that changed significantly—losses which may foreshadow attrition out of engineering. These findings provide an opportunity to introduce targeted interventions to build engineering utility value, engineering self-efficacy, and engineering interest for student groups whose means were lower than average.

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Section: Engineering Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering students’ attitudinal beliefs by gender and student division: a methodological comparison of changes over time

2021

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“…Identity has become a significant area of study in the engineering education community with researchers using quantitative, qualitative, and, to a more limited extent, mixed method approaches to measure identity (Patrick & Borrego, 2016;Rodriguez et al, 2018). Multiple researchers have explored developing a quantitative scale to measure engineering identity to determine what influences identity development and is influenced by identity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mixed Method Approach to Understanding Researcher Identity

Kajfez

Lee

Ehlert

et al. 2021

Studies in Engineering Education

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Background: Identity research in engineering education has been expanding to include multiple forms of measurement. While a variety of approaches have successfully contributed to our understanding of identity, mixed method approaches have been utilized minimally in identity research. Therefore, additional insight on the implications and affordances of mixed method approaches for identity research is needed. Purpose: Our work explored undergraduate engineering students' researcher identity using a fully integrated mixed method approach by interweaving deductive (quantitative) and inductive (qualitative) strands of survey and interview data. We aimed to answer the research question: How can quantitative and qualitative data approaches be used in combination to explore how students conceptualize their researcher identity? Method: The data included responses from 20 undergraduate mechanical and biomedical engineering students representing six different institutions. Students completed surveys, and their survey responses served as a foundation for subsequent interviews. Both the survey and interview contained an identical item (a single anchored scale measure of researcher identity), which directly connected the two data sets. While the survey data was used during the interviews, analysis of the strands was initially separate but concurrent. Results: After initial analysis, mixing the data provided two key opportunities to attain a deep understanding of participants' researcher identity. The anchored scale provided a platform to discuss researcher identity with participants and allowed us to look within and across participants' experiences in unexpected ways. Our discoveries of how individual students' conceptualizations of the identity being measured varied and how those conceptualizations changed over time were only possible through the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Conclusions: Our fully integrated mixed method approach resulted in a more complete understanding of students' researcher identities, allowing us to extend our theoretical understanding beyond what would have been possible with either method alone. Researchers exploring complex topics that can be fluid and affected by time and experience, such as identity, may benefit from integrating a similar approach into their research protocols.

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“…Whilst it is understood that identity is fundamental to membership of a professional community, 21 most research studies with a focus on engineering identity have not traced the trajectory of becoming an engineer. 1,21,22 This is precisely the issue that this review of the literature addresses and in order to do this, we appropriate the analytical lens of 'ontological formation' 23,24,25 to examine engineering identity formation in the undergraduate laboratory.…”

Section: Why Identity?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of undergraduate laboratories in the formation of engineering identities: A critical review of the literature

Winberg

2021

The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa

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Background: There was growing recognition worldwide by professional engineering bodies, engineering faculties and researchers on the need to pay attention to engineering students' emerging identities and how they were formed across the trajectory of undergraduate engineering programmes. An increasing number of research studies focused on engineering identity, including systematic reviews of the research literature.Aim: Engineering laboratories were key learning spaces in undergraduate engineering programmes. In the laboratory, students learned to integrate theory and practice, engaged in problem-solving and applied experimental methods. The purpose of this critical review of the literature was to interrogate the impact that learning in engineering laboratories had on emerging professional identities across engineering disciplines and fields.Method: This review built on and extended previous systematic reviews on engineering identity by studying pedagogies in the engineering laboratory through the lens of identity formation. Search terms were consistently applied to eight databases, which yielded 57 empirical studies, after the application of relevance and quality appraisal criteria. Two reviewers independently applied a socio-materialist theoretical framework of identify formation to each study and coded each of the studies into categories aligned with the theoretical framework. Results:The findings of the critical review revealed the temporal, spatial, material, performative and discursive dimensions in engineering identity formation and showed that students' emerging identities could be affirmed and supported by appropriate laboratory pedagogies. Conclusion:The critical review of the literature concluded that curricular and pedagogical interventions that were better aligned with the dimensions of identity formation were more likely to enhance students' identification with engineering.

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Engineering Identity Development: A Review of the Higher Education Literature

Abstract: This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

Cited by 55 publications

References 37 publications

Engineering students’ attitudinal beliefs by gender and student division: a methodological comparison of changes over time

Engineering students’ attitudinal beliefs by gender and student division: a methodological comparison of changes over time

A Mixed Method Approach to Understanding Researcher Identity

The role of undergraduate laboratories in the formation of engineering identities: A critical review of the literature

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