Building a Pathway to Engineering: The Influence of Family and Teachers Among Mexican-Origin Undergraduate Engineering Students

Abstract

This study draws on sociocultural perspectives of identity to understand the ways in which Mexican-origin undergraduate students are recruited into the “figured world” of engineering. The analysis of in-depth, ethnographically situated interviews with 14 participants revealed three sets of recurrent discourses in students’ accounts of their pathways to engineering: discourses about the family and the “choice” to study engineering, discourses about childhood activities tied to engineering aspirations, and discourses about teacher support to become an engineer.

Latinx Students Charting Their Own STEM Pathways: How Community Cultural Wealth Informs Their STEM Identities

“…Rincón, Fernández, & Hinojosa, (2020) find that Latinx students draw on familial knowledge and resources to nurture their STEM interests. They also center their families (especially fathers) in decisions to pursue STEM majors and careers, often noting familial obligations, family health issues, or a desire to improve their family’s economic situation (Mein et al, 2020; Rincón, Fernández, & Hinojosa, 2020). Latinx students report being attracted to STEM’s potential benefits to society and humankind (Samuelson & Litzer, 2016).…”

When Critical Ethnography Leaves the Field and Enters the Engineering Classroom: A Scoping Review

“…This first group represents some of the clearest examples of the methodology of ethnography as focused on culture and can provide valuable reference points for the field. Four studies (Convertino, 2018;Convertino & Mein, 2017;Mein & Esquinca, 2014;Mein, Esquinca, Monarrez, & Saldaña, 2020) defined ethnography as a type of immersion into everyday experiences but did not explicitly connect everyday experiences to a particular culture. All four studies described immersion as an opportunity to understand how participants make meaning of their lived experiences by witnessing first-hand how individuals handle uncertainty, how meanings emerged from group interaction, and how one's interpretations and perspectives changed over time.…”

“…Other key components of student's experiences highlighted research groups and role models (Burt, 2019), mentoring (Carroll, 2014), access to engineering majors (Eastman, et al, 2017), and family recruitment into engineering (Mein et al, 2020). Burt (2019) studied how research groups and role models at the graduate level play a role in students' identifying with faculty careers and can contribute to their decisions to pursue a career as a professor.…”

“…In retention and recruitment efforts, barriers beyond financial support and diverse cohort participation contributed to underrepresented students not pursuing engineering degrees (Eastman et al, 2017). Some underrepresented students are recruited into engineering through family influences, early childhood experiences with engineering activities, and teacher support (Mein et al, 2020). Topically, this group of studies extends beyond the bounds of the traditional classroom, highlighting the ethnography's flexibility to cast its gaze in naturalistic settings and its capacity to conceptualize the complex interweaving of multiple contexts.…”

Critical Theoretical Frameworks in Engineering Education: An Anti-Deficit and Liberative Approach

“…Traditional scholarships have been normed by epistemological perspectives that have failed to examine structures of domination and oppression in educational settings [11]. As such, there is a need for more diversity in the methods and theoretical frameworks used in engineering education to frame and design research studies that challenge deficit models and center on the assets of underrepresented students rather than their deficits [12]. This study presents ways in which critical theoretical frameworks can be used in fields like engineering education following Freire's principles of critical andragogy and pedagogy [13].…”