Becoming an Engineer: Toward a Three Dimensional View of Engineering Learning

Abstract

In this paper we develop an analytical framework we refer to as "Becoming an Engineer" that focuses upon changes occurring over time as students traverse their undergraduate educations in engineering. This analytical framework involves three related dimensions that we track over time: disciplinary knowledge, identification, and navigation. Our analysis illustrates how these three dimensions enable us to understand how students become, or do not become, engineers by examining how these three interrelated dimensions unfold over time. This study is based on longitudinal ethnographic data from which we have developed "person-centered ethnographies" focused on individual students' pathways through engineering. We present comparative analysis, spanning four schools and four years. We also present person-centered ethnographic case studies that illustrate how our conceptual dimensions interrelate. Our discussion draws some educational implications from our analysis and proposes further lines of research.

Exploring the Impact of Engineering Student and Professor Expectations on the Development of Student Engineering Identity and Navigation

“…This would seem to align well with previous research suggesting that students' identities in engineering are double sided, meaning they are constructed by the students themselves as well as their positioning by others 13 . While I agree with this position, the responses from the interviews indicate to me that identity formation may more appropriately be referred to as being triple sided.…”

“…This excerpt would seem to reinforce other engineering identity research, which suggests that engineering students begin to identify more and more as a separate group from the rest of their college peers; given that the students at this university were already admitted as full time engineering students, these beliefs or perceived differences between them and other college students seem to be already prevalent rather than needing to form over time 13 . To me, what stands out as particularly striking is the superiority that Kimmy attributes to engineering majors.…”

“…As stated earlier, it is important to acknowledge that engineering identity is not necessarily as concrete or fixed as research might suggest 13,14,19 . It is likely that each individual student possesses a different understanding of the engineering profession, as well as how they fit or do not fit into that field.…”

“…The answer to this question likely depends a great deal on who is asked; the CEO or hiring manager of an engineering firm, a college engineering professor, as well as an undergraduate engineering student are likely to all provide different responses to this seemingly straight forward question. Despite these likely discrepancies, it would seem that the identity of an "engineer" is held as a universal constant in engineering education research conducted through the lens of identity theory 13,14,19,26 .…”

Designing the Identities of Engineers

“…Reed Stevens et al (2008) and Kerry Meyers et al (2010) have pointed to the importance of the labeling and categorization processes that take place in education. How institutions identify students as engineers has a profound effect on students' identification of themselves as engineers (Stevens et al).…”