Identity, Critical Agency, and Engineering: An Affective Model for Predicting Engineering as a Career Choice

Godwin, Allison; Potvin, Geoff; Hazari, Zahra; Lock, Robynne M.

doi:10.1002/jee.20118

Cited by 435 publications

(549 citation statements)

References 108 publications

(114 reference statements)

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“…Understanding why students choose engineering in college can help identify avenues through which more students can see themselves as engineers and choose engineering as a career before routes into engineering are more difficult to pursue. Prior work has shown that developing math-and science-related identities and developing motivation to accomplish far-off goals are important attributes for students choosing and wishing to persist in engineering fields (Godwin, Potvin, Hazari, & Lock, 2016). This work is an extension of a prior study examining how students' out-of-school experiences predicted engineering identity at the beginning of college, future engineering certainty, and gender differences to further explore how interests in STEM-related activities before college can impact disciplinary engineering choice (Godwin, Sonnert, & Sadler, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disciplinary Differences in Out-of-School High School Science Experiences and Influence on Students’ Engineering Choices

Godwin¹,

Sonnert²,

Sadler³

2017

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

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Participation from a variety of students is important to the long-term growth of the engineering field. Much of the research on engineering recruitment or career choice has focused on engineering as a whole, even though engineering disciplines are varied in student participation and focus. This work examines how students' out-of-school interests and experiences in high school predict the likelihood of choosing a career in a particular engineering discipline. Out-of-school experiences offer more unstructured ways for students to meaningfully engage with science and engineering outside of the confines of the classroom. These experiences offer opportunities to spark particular science interests not included in traditional high school science curriculum. Additionally, participation in engineering for women has been historically low. For this reason, we also examined reported differences in out-of-school experiences by gender. Our findings indicate that reported out-of-school experiences increased the odds of students choosing particular engineering disciplines. Experiences traditionally stereotyped as masculine and more often reported by men, such as tinkering, increased the odds of choosing engineering disciplines with higher representation of men. However, some experiences equally reported by men and women, such as mixing chemicals or engaging with chemistry in the kitchen or talking with friends or family about science, predicted higher odds of choosing engineering disciplines with higher representation of women (chemical, biomedical, environmental). These quantitative results are a first step in understanding how out-of-school experiences are connected to the nuanced decisions of disciplinary engineering career decisions and have implications for the way engineering faculty draw on prior experience in the classrooms and for researchers on how out-of-school activities may predict students' long-term career decisions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disciplinary Differences in Out-of-School High School Science Experiences and Influence on Students’ Engineering Choices

Godwin¹,

Sonnert²,

Sadler³

2017

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Self Cite

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“…The stronger effect of holding an engineering possible self on choosing engineering has significant implications for how students select engineering in college and their motivation to remain in engineering over time. While subject-related identities in math and science have proven important for both men and women in their choice of engineering 25 , a future identity in engineering, or possible self may be a stronger link to engineering decisions. Being female decreases the likelihood of choosing engineering in college by approximately one half times.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The National Research Council stated that out-of-school science experiences have a positive impact on education because they promote interest in science within the real world 22 . Fostering interest in a science-related area has been shown to motivate STEM career choice and persistence 21,[23][24][25] . Research on informal science has begun to examine how these experiences influence students' career choice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Out-of-school High School Experiences on Engineering Identities and Career Choice

Godwin¹,

Sonnert²,

Sadler³

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings

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“…To characterize normative and non-normative attitudinal profiles of engineering majors, a survey instrument was developed to capture several student factors: students' STEM-related identities [17][18][19][20][21][22] , personal motivations (including items assessing future time perspective 40,41 and goal orientation 42 ), career outcome expectations and major intentions 43 , agency beliefs 5 , grit 44 , and personality profile 45 , along with demographic information. Many of the survey items measuring demographic information were specially developed for this project.…”

Section: Quantitative Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Otherwise, if the opportunity is lost, transitions into engineering in college are difficult, and the engineering community will largely remain as it is today. While attitudes toward engineering and science careers may begin to form in middle school, high school science and math experiences have a large effect on students' later choice of engineering as a career [3][4][5] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersectionality of Non-normative Identities in the Cultures of Engineering

Kirn

Godwin

Benson

et al.

2016 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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Lisa Benson is an Associate Professor of Engineering and Science Education at Clemson University, with a joint appointment in Bioengineering. Her research focuses on the interactions between student motivation and their learning experiences. Her projects involve the study of student perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards becoming engineers and scientists, and their problem solving processes. Other projects in the Benson group include effects of student-centered active learning, self-regulated learning, and incorporating engineering into secondary science and mathematics classrooms. Her education includes a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Vermont, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Clemson University.Dr. Geoff Potvin, Florida International University Jacqueline Doyle, Florida International University Hank Boone, University of Nevada, RenoHank Boone is a Graduate Research Assistant and Masters Student at the University of Nevada, Reno. His research focuses on First Generation engineering college students' engineering identity, belongingness, and how they perceive their college experience.He is also on a National Science Foundation project looking at non-normative engineering students and how they may have differing paths to success. His education includes a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Nevada, Reno. Dina Verdin, Purdue UniversityDina Verdín is an Engineering Education graduate student at Purdue University. She completed her undergraduate degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at San José State University. Her research interest focuses on the first-generation college student population, which includes changing the perspective of this population from a deficit base approach to an asset base approach.c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Intersectionality of Non-Normative Identities in the Cultures of Engineering (InIce)Introduction to the Project Traditionally, engineering culture has limited rather than fostered diversity in engineering. To address this persistent issue, we examine how diverse students identify with engineering and navigate the culture of engineering. We define diversity not by making a priori categorizations according to traditional demographic information (e.g., race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.), but instead by investigating the variation in students' attitudinal profiles on a host of affective measures. Using these measures, we develop an identification of large, "normative" groups of engineers as well as "non-normative" students who emerge as having distinct attitudinal profiles. This mixed methods study investigates the intersectionality of engineering students' personal identities to understand: How do non-normative groups in engineering form an engineering identity and navigate a culture dominated by limited diversity?The focus of this paper is on the first phase this project, in which students' identities, motivation, psychological traits, perceived supports and barriers to engineering, and other background information i...

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Identity, Critical Agency, and Engineering: An Affective Model for Predicting Engineering as a Career Choice

Abstract: Background Prior to college, many students have no experience with engineering, but

Cited by 435 publications

References 108 publications

Disciplinary Differences in Out-of-School High School Science Experiences and Influence on Students’ Engineering Choices

Disciplinary Differences in Out-of-School High School Science Experiences and Influence on Students’ Engineering Choices

The Influence of Out-of-school High School Experiences on Engineering Identities and Career Choice

Intersectionality of Non-normative Identities in the Cultures of Engineering

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