Understanding Female Engineering Enrollment: Explaining Choice with Critical Engineering Agency

One path to increasing the diversity of the engineering workforce is to understand the affective self-beliefs of women who choose engineering and how those beliefs change over time. By understanding these self-beliefs, educators can help to empower women to identify with engineering and see its potential to make change in their world. Rigorous research in this area is needed and could have significant positive impact on the engineering workforce. This research builds on critical agency theory by validating and refining the frame-work of Critical Engineering Agency (CEA), though which students’ interest in engineering is enhanced when they see opportunities to make change in their world. This framework has been developed by drawing from prior qualitative research and through a quantitative national study. Structural equation modeling was used to understand the connections be-tween the constructs of CEA. Additional work was conducted to understand other factors that influence students’ choice of engineering. A pair of qualitative follow-up studies to this work were conducted to understand the reasons why students develop CEA and choose engineering as a career. The qualitative phase added explanatory context and interpretive power to previously identified relationships through open-ended surveys and a longitudinal case study. The results highlight the salience of the CEA framework, indicating that recog-nition beliefs are the most important piece of identity development and holding agency beliefs about the positive impact that engineering and science can have on the world is more important for women than men in affecting their engineering choice. Qualitative results illustrated how identity and agency beliefs form and how the connection between Communities of Practice and identity through agential bridging occurs. The results from an in-depth case study demonstrated how CEA is developed through constructed hybrid spaces and practically plays a role in engineering decisions and identity formation within an engineering Community of Practice. Students’ identities and agency beliefs provide insight into why students choose and persist in areas related to engineering, how professors might develop students’ internalization of recognition in the classroom, and how this CEA framework might provide a lens for future research. Providing high school and college faculty, admissions and recruitment staff, and college administrators with research-based strategies to increase female students’ personal engagement with engineering is an important step towards diversifying engineering

Board 51: An Initial Step Towards Measuring First-Generation College Students’ Personal Agency: A Scale Validation

This research paper describes the development of a scale to measure how first-generation college students use engineering as a tool for making a difference in their community and world or personal agency. Personal agency is a capability that every individual holds; it is described by Bandura as an individual’s beliefs about their capabilities to exercise control over events that affect their lives through purposeful and reflective actions. Agentic actions allow students to explore, maneuver and impact their environment for the achievement of a goal or set of goals. This study identifies how cognitive processes of forethought, intention, reactivity, and reflection shape a students’ agentic behavior and together influence first-generation college students’ goal of making a difference in their community through their engineering degree. Data for this study came from a large-scale survey of 3,711 first-year engineering students. First, the personal agency scale was tested for validity evidence using a split-half sampling technique. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on one half, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the other half. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scale to measure personal agency is valid and reliable for the first-generation college student population. The results of this work situate first-generation college students in engineering as active contributors to their environment. This study is an initial step in examining how first-generation college students are active producers of their own lives and not passive recipients of their life’s circumstances. Personal agency can be used as a lens to understand how underrepresented students in engineering are empowered to act upon their world to (re)shape it. This theoretical framing and measurement support asset-based approaches to understanding a community of students who are often deficit theorized

Testing for Measurement Invariance in Engineering Identity Constructs for First-Generation College Students

This work-in-progress research study examines the response patterns of first-generation college students (FGCS) to the engineering identity measures compared to non-first- generation college students (non-FGCS). This work answers the following research question, “Do FGC and non-FGC engineering students interpret the engineering identity measurement items in a conceptually different manner?” We explore if FGCS respond to engineering identity items similarly to non-FGCS and the fairness of using these instruments for FGCS to make claims about this group. The data for this work are from a survey instrument completed by 2,916 first-year engineering college students from four U.S. institutions. We hypothesize that quantitative measures constructed for the general engineering student population (non- FGCS) may not function the same for a FGCS subpopulation in engineering. Using extensions to the confirmatory factor analysis, we tested for measurement invariance of engineering identity constructs between FGCS and non-FGCS. Our comparative analysis of FGCS and non-FGCS found weak measurement invariance within the engineering identity constructs (i.e. interest, recognition, and performance/competence) indicating a similar factor structure and factor loadings, but different uses of the identity item scale. This research raises questions on the use and fairness of normative measures in engineering education for populations that fall outside the majority engineering student population

Physics Identity Promotes Alternative Careers for First-Generation College Students in Engineering

This research study explored first-generation college students’ in engineering post-graduation career intentions based on responses to a quantitative survey. In this paper, we answer the following research questions: 1) How do first-generation college students’ measures of physics, mathematics, and engineering identity constructs differ compared to non-first-generation college students? and 2) How does a physics identity influence first-generation college student’s choice of an engineering major and career aspirations? The data came from the Intersectionality of Non- normative Identities in the Cultures of Engineering (InIce) survey. InIce was completed by 2,916 first-year engineering college students enrolled in four institutions across the United States—72% non-first-generation college students, 20% first-generation college students, and 8% non-reporting students. The survey measured attitudinal profiles of belongingness in engineering, identity constructs (i.e., engineering, physics, and mathematics), affective measures, and demographic information. Previous studies quantitatively and qualitatively measured and validated the constructs that make up math identity, physics identity and engineering identity (i.e., interest in the subject, recognition by others, and beliefs about one’s performance/competence) for predicting engineering choice. To answer the first research question, a Welch’s t-test was used to compare the averages of first-generation college students and non-first-generation college students on overall measures of mathematics, physics, and engineering identity as well as the constructs of interest, recognition, and performance/competence in each subject area. This t-test was selected because it corrects unequal variance within the two populations. To answer the second research question, we used multiple linear regression to predict the choices of STEM and non-stem majors using measures of identity, affective factors, and first-generation college student status. Results from the first analysis demonstrate that first-generation college students entered engineering with a high sense of engineering identity, particularly in the performance/competence and interest constructs. Regression results showed that first-generation college students’ physics identity positively predicted choice of a non-STEM career; that is, first-generation college students with high physics identity were more interested in non-STEM careers (e.g., non-profit/non-government organization and medicine/health). This work highlights that first-generation college students may have different career pathway intentions and motivations in studying engineering during college

First-Generation College Students Identifying as Future Engineers

This paper seeks to understand factors that influence how first-generation college students identify as engineers now and in the future. Data used in this study came from four U.S. institutions obtaining a total first-generation college student sample of 596 participants. We used future possible selves as a lens to understand how first-generation college students’ current views of themselves as engineers shape their future identities as engineers. Two separate analyses were conducted. First, a multiple regression analysis was used to determine which career future satisfaction variables predicted first-generation college students current and future identification as engineers. Second, a hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine which measures i.e., belongingness, interest, recognition, performance/competence, and career outcome expectations accounted for most of the variance. Analyzing first-generation college students’ response to identifying as an engineer now and in the future revealed differences in which affective and career satisfaction measures were more salient. This work begins to illustrate which factors are important for first-generation college students’ future identification as engineers and can help broaden the pathways for more students to become engineers

Pushing and Pulling Sara: A Case Study of the Contrasting Influences of High School and University Experiences on Engineering Agency, Identity, and Participation

This manuscript reports on a longitudinal case study of how one woman, Sara, who had previously considered dropping out of high school authored strong mathematics and science identities and purposefully exhibited agency through her experiences in high school science. These experiences empowered her to choose an engineering major in college; however, her introductory university engineering experiences ultimately pushed her out of engineering. Drawing on critical agency theory, we argue that by paying careful attention to how and why women author their identities and build agency through their experiences in high school, we may gain insight into why women may choose an engineering path in college. Additionally, we examine how Sara’s perceptions of engineering structures and practices chipped away at the critical engineering agency she developed and caused her to leave engineering after her first year in college

The Relationship Between Engineering Identity and Belongingness on Certainty of Majoring in Engineering for First-Generation College Students

This paper seeks to understand the factors that support first-generation college students’ certainty of majoring in engineering. Data used in this study came from thirty-two four-year ABET- accredited institutions across the United States which has a total sample of 790 first-generation college students. We used the frameworks of engineering role identity and sense of belonging to understand the factors that influence first-generation college students’ certainty of majoring in engineering. Certainty is referred to as the degree of confidence or decisiveness an individual has with regard to their chosen occupational plans. First, we examine how first-generation college students’ engineering role identity constructs directly impact their certainty of majoring in engineering. Second, we examine how a sense of belonging influences certainty of majoring in engineering for first-generation college students. This work illustrates the factors that are important for first-generation college students’ certainty of majoring in engineering and can help identify areas that can support and hinder students’ progression towards their degree completion

First in the Family: A Comparison of First-Generation and Non-First-Generation Engineering College Students

This study investigates first-generation and non-first-generation engineering undergraduates’ math/science identities, subject-related interests, and career plans. First-generation students are an understudied, but growing population. Understanding how these self-beliefs and background factors affect students’ engineering choice can help widen pathways into engineering which continues to be defined as “pale and male.” Additionally, identity has predictive value for practical outcomes like engineering choice in college. The data for this study comes from the nationally representative Sustainability and Gender in Engineering (SaGE) survey completed by 6,772 college students who enrolled in first-year English courses at 2- and 4-year colleges across the U.S. Data were analyzed using t-test and chi-square tests for linear and dichotomous outcomes respectively. Our results show differences in first-generation students’ identities, interests, performance/ competence beliefs, and family support for science. These differences can serve as a stepping stone towards understanding the trajectories of first-generation college students in engineering. By understanding underrepresented students’ identities, performance, and backgrounds, specific strategies can be developed to support these students in our engineering programs

A Cross-sectional Study of Engineering Identity During Undergraduate Education

This research paper explores students’ engineering, mathematics, and physics identities across the four years of undergraduate engineering education. The focus of this work are subject-related role identities, or how students position themselves and are positioned by others as the kind of people that engage in engineering, mathematics, or physics. An identity as an engineer is a role identity because it embodies a specific character that an individual plays within a social sphere. In this case, the social sphere is in the process of becoming an engineer. Other research has focused on identity development of engineering students, often either early in their undergraduate education (during the first year) or at the end of their undergraduate education when they have developed the discourse and practices of what it means to be an engineer. This work utilizes previously developed instruments with strong validity evidence to gather and compare cross-sectional data on students STEM identities over the four years of undergraduate engineering education at one institution. We collected data from 644 engineering students at a large, public East Coast university using an electronic survey during the spring semester of 2016. These measures included measures of student engagement in activities related to innovation, student integration, demographic information, and identity measures. The identities measures captured students’ interest in engineering, students’ feeling of recognition by others as an engineer, and students’ beliefs about their performance/competence in engineering. We also measured students’ overall attitudes about their identities as a physics person, math person, and engineer. These items were taken from previously developed instruments for early career engineering students. The data were cleaned using a filter question for a total of 586 valid responses. To ensure evidence for validity, we tested the factor structure of the constructs using exploratory factor analysis and tested the internal consistency of the constructs. We found that the factor structure was consistent for this population and the internal consistency measures (e.g., Cronbach’s α) were well above the recommended cutoff of 0.7 for newly developed instruments and also above 0.8 for developed instruments. Student responses were compared by students’ year at the university (e.g., first year, second year, third year, or forth or more year) using ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey’s HSD for significant results. The findings illustrate differences in students’ engineering performance/competence and recognition beliefs as well as differences in their engineering, mathematics, physics overall identity measures. The post-hoc Tukey’s HSD tests reveal a consistent pattern of identity development with lower identification in the second year of engineering education progressing to the highest levels in the fourth year. This research provides evidence that these measures can be used with students across undergraduate engineering and that they differentiate among students by year at a university

Systematic Review of the Funds of Knowledge Framework in STEM Education

This theory paper examines literature on the construct, funds of knowledge, as it has been applied in STEM education, with an emphasis on engineering and explores if and how funds of knowledge has been used to understand first-generation college students in engineering. Using a systematic literature review, we describe how the framework of funds of knowledge has been adopted in the engineering education literature. Funds of knowledge is a conceptual framework that has been concerned with social justice issues around validity and impacts of deficit theorizing (a theory that points to the underachievement of minority groups on perceived deficiencies related to their culture). The funds of knowledge framework suggest that instructors solicit their students’ background experiences and knowledge to enhance their students’ learning. We examine the following questions: 1) How is the funds of knowledge framework being utilized to understand math, science and engineering concepts at the secondary and post-secondary level? and 2) What literature currently exists on funds of knowledge for first-generation college students and first-generation college students in engineering? We examined numerous journal articles, books, magazines and other scholarly published work on funds of knowledge in STEM, indexed in Engineering Village, Scopus, ERIC, Educational Full Text and the ASEE PEER database. This method allowed us to gain a holistic view of how the framework is being applied in the various STEM disciplines