What brings women to the table? Female and male students' perceptions of ways of thinking in engineering study and practice

Abstract

Women represent only one fifth of engineering Bachelor's degree recipients in the U.S. This gender gap has stubbornly held for the past several years. Based on survey and interview data, this study examines the experiences and perspectives of 40 first-year women and men intending to study engineering at a public, research extensive university. We found that, regardless of gender, students view math, science, and other technical abilities as foundational in engineering. However, our findings also provide a complex picture of gender differences in the experiences and ways of thinking beginning undergraduates associate with engineering. With a more detailed understanding of what distinguishes women as early successes in the possible engineering pathways, this study provides empirical grounds for portraying engineering more broadly in order to recruit more women.

How Gender Issues Can Influence Studying Computer Science

“…In (Kilgore, 2006) no differences in abilities or ambitions between males and females are registered. Gender differences were shown in how students view the practical nature of engineering.…”

“…As stated in (Kilgore, 2006), in the USA, from 1995 to 2004, only 20% of BA degrees in CS were awarded to women, with the percentage continuously diminishing. Similar situation is in Australia (Miliszewska, 2006), or European countries: Germany (Vosseberg, 1999), Finland (Paloheimo, 2006), Holland (Prinsen, 2007), or Greece (Ilias, 2006).…”

A Note on Performance and Satisfaction of Female Students Studying Computer Science

“…How to use them in a positive manner when it comes to engineering education? In Kilgore et al (2006), after surveying 40 male and female first-year students in the USA, authors remark: "A more detailed understanding of what distinguishes women as early successes in the possible engineering pathways provides empirical grounds for portraying engineering more broadly". It was found that "regardless of gender, students view math, science and other technical abilities as fundamental in engineering".…”

“…In the USA, for example, as stated in Kilgore et al (2006), from 1995 to 2004, only 20% of bachelor degrees in computer science were awarded to women. In addition, the percentage of female diplomas is continuously diminishing, despite the supporting acts made by the academic community and the overall growing amount of education options available.…”

Creating Meaningful Experiences Through Extracurricular Project-Based Experiential Learning

“…This study supports Leslie, McClure, and Oaxaca's suggestions to build women's confidence through accomplishment, peer reinforcement, and challenges and builds off of Kilgore, Yasuhara, Saleem, and Atman's conclusions that hands-on experiences for women help them build self-concept and ultimately self-efficacy. 33,34 Recalling the research that Sheppard et al did in regards to intrinsic motivation and engineers, they showed that exposure to project-based learning correlated highly with increases in (a) intrinsic-psychological motivation for men and (b) intrinsic-behaviorial motivation for men and women. 32 Couple this with their results showing that students report self-directed learning, hands-on and applicable problem-solving, applying diverse knowledge, owning their experiences, and being challenged as their five most significant learning experiences, and it is not surprising that EPBEL proved to be quite successful at motivating the students in this study.…”