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The purpose of this research full paper is to examine the development of undergraduate students’ research identity during a summer undergraduate research experience. Identity development through socialization experiences is crucial for students to explore future career paths, especially in careers that require research-focused graduate degrees. However, literature is limited on how effective socialization occurs for research and future research-related careers. This paper follows 10 undergraduate engineering and physics students participating in an engineering-focused Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at an R1 institution to explore this gap in knowledge. As part of a longitudinal multi-method study, participants completed a pre- and post-experience survey, and participated in three interviews over the course of the summer. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Interviews were analyzed through the lens of academic self-concept theory for common themes of socialization and identity development in research through the course of the program. Findings indicate that undergraduate students’ research self-concepts are heavily influenced by research experiences and comparisons to their peers. The students’ increase in research self-concept as well as their experiences and interactions within the program allowed them to see research careers as attainable and increased their interest in pursuing graduate degrees after the program. Survey data showed a statistical increase in research self-efficacy and research identity at the end of the program, reinforcing the idea that students’ experiences in the REU helped them grow as researchers and engineers. This research increases our understanding of students’ research identity development and provides potential ways to implement research self-concept and identity development to similar undergraduate research experiences.
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Board 357: Psychosocial and Skills-Based Outcomes of Participating in Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP)
Challenge or problem-based learning help students develop deeper content understanding and enhanced STEM skillsets and provide opportunities for learning across multiple contexts. Educational interventions that include active learning, mentoring, and role modeling are particularly important in recruiting and retaining female and minority students in STEM. With this framework in mind, we implemented the Vertically-Integrated Projects (VIP) model at a public urban research university in the 2022-2023 academic year with the goal of helping participating students increase engineering and STEM identity and other psychosocial outcomes. This paper reports the results from the first year of our VIP program. At the beginning and end of the academic year, participants completed measures of engineering identity; engineering self-efficacy; engineering mindset; intention to remain in the engineering major; intention to have a career in engineering; and STEM professional identity. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks (N=10) tests showed no statistically significant differences on any of these measures. Participants also responded to 20 items assessing their perceptions of their level of knowledge and skills in a variety of areas relevant to their experience in the VIP program. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests (N=10) revealed some statistically significant differences between pre- and post-test. Specifically, students tended to see themselves as having greater knowledge or skills in planning a long-term project, communicating technical concepts and designs to others, designing systems, components, or processes to meet practical or applied needs, understanding computer hardware and systems, working on a multidisciplinary team, and making ethical decisions in engineering/research. Finally, at the end of the Spring semester, participants rated the extent to which they perceived the VIP program helped them to develop their skills on the same 20 items. Most participants believed the VIP program helped them to develop each skill either somewhat or a great deal. Overall, while participation in the VIP program did not influence student engineering identity, self-efficacy, mindset, or major/career intentions, it was associated with increased self-perceived abilities on six specific skills. Additionally, most participants agreed that the VIP program helped them develop 20 skills at least “somewhat.”
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- Award ID(s):
- 2120819
- PAR ID:
- 10539107
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE Conferences
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, Oregon
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--46940
