Exploring Engineering Identity in a Common Introduction to Engineering Course to Improve Retention

Abstract

is Unangax (Aleut) who grew up living a traditional subsistence lifestyle in rural villages along Alaska's Aleutian chain. She earned a BS in Civil Engineering in 2005 and an MS in Engineering Management in 2009 at University of Alaska Anchorage. After earning her BS she began working in Alaska's construction and engineering industry, specializing in water and sewer projects in remote villages across the state. She also worked as the Deputy Director of the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP). Professor Yatchmeneff earned her PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University in 2015. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Her research focuses on motivation and success for Alaska Native pre-college students.

Youths’ and Adults’ Identity in STEM: a Systematic Literature Review

“…Similar to above, interests (e.g., Beier et al 2012), recognition of self and others (e.g., Yatchmeneff and Calhoun 2017), confidence (e.g., Anthony et al 2017), and knowledge of relevant work (e.g., Capobianco et al 2015) were factors shaping learners' identity in a STEM field. Conversely, Yatchmeneff and Calhoun (2017) further noted that creativity, caring, and major selection did not predict an engineering identity after an introduction to engineering course that included first-year retention interventions such as discussing various engineering disciplines. Other experimental and intervention studies considered the impact of identifications and personas within a digital format (e.g., Gonzales and Hancock 2008;Yu 2012), changes in environmental factors (Childers and Jones 2017;Ramsey et al 2013), and learning about pervasive sexism and gender bias (Pietri et al 2018).…”

“…Identities as individual attributes were also considered within an experimental design study or a study that considered the implementation of an intervention. Many of these studies considered changes to classroom lessons and activities (e.g., Beier et al 2012;Goralnik et al 2018;Yatchmeneff and Calhoun 2017;Yoon et al 2014), as well as educational programs (e.g., Hernandez et al 2017;Lee 2002;Merolla and Serpe 2013). These studies highlighted how novel and supportive experiences, programs, and interventions in educational settings fostered shifts in self-reported identities as scientists, engineers, and mathematicians for learners across elementary, secondary, and post-secondary learners.…”

Results of Integrating a Maker Space into a First-Year Engineering Course

“…The numeric 3-point range used from our questions was likely too narrow to see any detailed trends. The importance of instilling identity in engineers is often related to retention [8,9]. As such, three additional questions were asked in the pre and post survey: How likely are you to remain an engineering student next semester?, How likely are you to complete your engineering degree?, and Explain your answers for the two previous questions.…”

“…However many universities view the introductory engineering course as a critical retention class to reduce the number of students who change majors or drop out [7]. Many institutions are focusing on instilling a sense of identity and belonging to the field of engineering in their students in an effort to increase retention [8,9]. As one way to instill a sense of belonging, Carbonell et al found that the integration of the makerspace into various coursework increased technology self-efficacy, affect toward design, design self-efficacy, and sense of belonging [5].…”

A First-Year Power Plant Design Project

“…In recent years, first-year engineering design courses have received a lot of attention in literature as a mechanism to increase retention within engineering programs and build an identity as an engineer [1][2][3][4]. It has been considered a best practice among introductory engineering design course developers to choose projects which highlight the engineering design process (build-testrefine cycle), are "hands-on", and team based [5][6][7].…”