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1. Creating a Constructivist Learning Environment to Enhance Secondary Female Students’ Engagement in STEM Activities

   Shaoan Zhang, Daniel Unger (April 2022, 2022 AERA ANNUAL MEETING)

   Female students participate in STEM activities at a low rate compared to males. Educational researchers have called for studies which examine the factors that influence STEM participation. The purpose of this study is to examine how a unique learning structure built on the principals of constructive learning environments might impact students’ sense of belonging and encourage them to participate in more STEM activities. For this qualitative study, interviews were conducted with 12 mentor and 17 student participants. Findings indicated that a constructive learning environment enhanced students’ sense of belonging. Programs which enhance female students’ sense of belonging impact their confidence to participate in more STEM activities. This study contributes to research in learning environment theory and STEM education practice. 

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2. Building a Sense of Community for Freshman Civil Engineering Students

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--36762  

   Marti, Erica; Khan, Eakalak; Gajurel, Amit; Tugadi, Neil Christian (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference)

   Across the country, less than two-thirds of engineering students persist and earn a degree in engineering. A considerable amount of research on the topic has been conducted, leading to a few key ideas on why students leave engineering. In particular, disinterest in the curriculum, a limited sense of belonging, perception of inadequate academic ability, and disconnect between learning style and instruction mode are some reasons that students depart engineering. Consequently, many first-year programs aim to address one or more of these issues. The ABC program at XXX seeks to improve undergraduate civil engineering and construction management education, as well as increase retention and graduation by specifically focusing on students and curriculum in the first two years of the civil & environmental engineering and construction management (CEEC/CM) programs. Retention and graduation rates are on the lower side of national averages; therefore, faculty at the institution are taking the lead and making changes within the department. One aspect of the program is community cohesion building (CCB), where first-year students create connections, engage in community and engineering design projects, and gain exposure to CEEC/CM professions. Specific objectives are to increase the sense of learning community among students and between students and faculty, as well as increase retention in the first two years. Through biweekly meetings, participants in CCB build connections with freshman CEEC/CM peers, upper level CEEC/CM undergraduate students, CEEC graduate students, and CEEC/CM faculty. Participants also engage in the engineering design process and compete in a national engineering design challenge geared toward freshman and sophomore students. This paper describes the first one-and-a-half years of CCB implementation of a five-year grant. We present the program structure, challenges, changes, and successes. This information should prove useful to other institutions who are in the process of implementing new first-year programs, especially for institutions who have similar characteristics (i.e., urban setting, commuter school, highly diverse, high proportion of first generation students). Program evaluation focuses on the following items related to CCB objectives: 1) increase in sense of belonging as measured by an increase in social networks (tool: student survey), and 2) increase in CEEC/CM retention between freshman/sophomore and sophomore/junior years (tool: institutional data). 

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3. Building a Sense of Community for Freshman Civil Engineering Students

   Marti, E. J; Khan, E; Gajurel, A; Tugadi, N. C. (July 2021, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   Across the country, less than two-thirds of engineering students persist and earn a degree in engineering. A considerable amount of research on the topic has been conducted, leading to a few key ideas on why students leave engineering. In particular, disinterest in the curriculum, a limited sense of belonging, perception of inadequate academic ability, and disconnect between learning style and instruction mode are some reasons that students depart engineering. Consequently, many first-year programs aim to address one or more of these issues. The ABC program at XXX seeks to improve undergraduate civil engineering and construction management education, as well as increase retention and graduation by specifically focusing on students and curriculum in the first two years of the civil & environmental engineering and construction management (CEEC/CM) programs. Retention and graduation rates are on the lower side of national averages; therefore, faculty at the institution are taking the lead and making changes within the department. One aspect of the program is community cohesion building (CCB), where first-year students create connections, engage in community and engineering design projects, and gain exposure to CEEC/CM professions. Specific objectives are to increase the sense of learning community among students and between students and faculty, as well as increase retention in the first two years. Through biweekly meetings, participants in CCB build connections with freshman CEEC/CM peers, upper level CEEC/CM undergraduate students, CEEC graduate students, and CEEC/CM faculty. Participants also engage in the engineering design process and compete in a national engineering design challenge geared toward freshman and sophomore students. This paper describes the first one-and-a-half years of CCB implementation of a five-year grant. We present the program structure, challenges, changes, and successes. This information should prove useful to other institutions who are in the process of implementing new first-year programs, especially for institutions who have similar characteristics (i.e., urban setting, commuter school, highly diverse, high proportion of first generation students). Program evaluation focuses on the following items related to CCB objectives: 1) increase in sense of belonging as measured by an increase in social networks (tool: student survey), and 2) increase in CEEC/CM retention between freshman/sophomore and sophomore/junior years (tool: institutional data). 

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4. Engaging girls in learning engineering through building ubiquitous intelligent systems

   M. Yang, B. Tiwari (January 2022, Proc. IEEE Int’l Conf. Teaching, Assessment, and Learning (TALE))

   Women make up only 28% of the workforce in STEM fields. It’s important to engage more girls in learning STEM; however, girls’ interests in STEM careers keep declining. It is well studied that the lack of sense of belonging underlies gender differences in STEM differentiation and achievement. Researchers have found that secondary girls’ sense of belonging declines as they age. To enhance secondary female students’ interests and self-concept in computing and engineering fields, the UNLV ITEST project sets the focus on engaging Girls in Ubiquitous Intelligence and Computing (GUIC) through a constructivist learning environment. In the GUIC Summer Camp, 40 secondary female students will take three-week training courses in Arduino & Internet of Things and Robotics Design and conduct two-week engineering project development in tiered teams co-mentored by STEM teachers and college student mentors. Based on the active learning method, the training courses are designed with interactive lectures and hands-on labs/activities. The engineering projects in ubiquitous intelligent systems are designed to connect computing & engineering concepts with real-world problems. Project demo results and students’ feedbacks have confirmed the effectiveness of the project activities in enhancing female students’ interests and self-efficacy in learning engineering and STEM. The unique constructivist learning environment is helpful in improving female students’ sense of belonging in STEM. 

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5. Improving Belonging and Connectedness in the Cybersecurity Workforce: From College to the Profession

   Klinger, Mary Beth (February 2024, Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice)

   Whitman, Michael E; Mattord, Herbert J.; Hollingsworth, Carole (Ed.)

   This article explores the results of a project aimed at supporting community college students in their academic pursuit of an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Cybersecurity through mentorship, collaboration, skill preparation, and other activities and touch points to increase students’ sense of belonging and connectedness in the cybersecurity profession. The goal of the project was focused on developing diverse, educated, and skilled cybersecurity personnel for employment within local industry and government to help curtail the current regional cybersecurity workforce gap that is emblematic of the lack of qualified cybersecurity personnel that presently exists nationwide. Emphasis throughout the project was placed on community building so that students felt a part of the cybersecurity community. A project community survey was distributed to students as both a pre-test when they began the project in Year 1 at the start of their cybersecurity coursework, and again as a post-test at the conclusion of Year 2 when they finished their cybersecurity program. Two project cohorts were employed, and the survey questionnaire measured students’ sense of connectedness and level of learning within the project environment. The results showed a marked increase in both constructs from the pre- to post-survey indicating that students felt a greater sense of community as they moved through the project and experienced increased learning through their cybersecurity program. The study concluded that increased feelings of connectedness to the project activities through authentic shared learning experiences promoted belonging and provided social and academic supports to help project students be successful in their cybersecurity academic program and going forward in the in-demand cybersecurity vocation throughout their professional careers. 

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