Creating Inclusive Environments in First-year Engineering Classes to Support Student Retention and Learning

Abstract

A new NSF-funded experimental study seeks to incorporate innovative curriculum activities that cultivate inclusive engineering identities and demonstrate how the engineering profession benefits from diversity. We intend to expand first-year engineering student perceptions about who can be an engineer and what engineers do. This effort aims to create a cultural shift in engineering departments so students think beyond stereotypical perceptions of who belongs to the engineering profession (White men) toward more expansive notions about how the engineering profession needs diversity to thrive. Arguably, inclusive engineering departments will contribute to the retention and success of students who are underrepresented in engineering in terms of gender and race, but also in terms of backgrounds, talents, and interests.In this paper, we begin with an overview of scholarship regarding pedagogical practices that foster strong engineering identities and position diversity as essential for strong engineering practice. Next, we address the following research question: How do freshmen engineering students in traditional engineering courses identify with engineering and perceive diversity in engineering? To answer this question, we summarize findings from preliminary survey by tracking over time the engineering identities and perceptions about diversity in engineering of engineering freshmen during their first semester in two existing first-year courses. We conclude with theoretically-based and evidence-driven activities that will be incorporated in the same firstyear engineering courses in subsequent years of this NSF grant. Theoretical FrameworkOur theoretical approach is grounded in sociocultural theories of learning, where learning is viewed as a shift in how students participate in community practices 8 . Becoming an engineer, for example, can be viewed as a shift in how students participate in engineering practices, where freshmen begin to appropriate engineering ways of talking, being, and interacting. Over time, freshmen who take up engineering behaviors become sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduates who eventually identify as engineers. However, some professions have traditionally excluded populations from participating in community practices 11 , including engineering norms that tend to marginalize women and people of color 24 , thus preventing students from learning how to become engineers since few entry points exist for them to participate meaningfully in engineering practices or identify as engineers. Through the sociocultural framework, learning how to become an engineer depends upon the ability of institutions and educators to provide access for students to participate in engineering practices. Some examples of engineering practices include collaborating in teams to identify, critically analyze, and solve problems with innovation; using skills and knowledge in math, science, engineering, and communication to help society; and recognizing how lifelong learning and resourcefulness fortifies engineering. Whe...

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