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Webinar presented as part of the ASEE’s Reflecting to Re-envision in Engineering Education series 

Very little research has been undertaken to better understand the experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) students in engineering. This paper aims to provide quantitative perspectives from this underrepresented and largely ignored population when participating in a pre-college engineering course. Pre and post-surveys were given to all e4usa students during the 2021-2022 school year. Surveys aimed to capture pre-college engineering student perspectives of the e4usa course. Data were analyzed using t-tests, and multi-linear regression. Results from the t-tests found that the relatively small sample of TGNC students (n = 9) reported lower levels of interest in engineering and intentions to pursue engineering after taking this course relative to their peers. A deeper understanding of TGNC student experiences in the e4usa course will help to improve the course, while also exposing the policies and practices in the field of engineering that continue to marginalize these students. 

Many students do not truly encounter engineering education during their school years despite numerous calls to increase focus on engineering-centric knowledge and skills in pre-college education. This study uses a Social Cognitive Career Theory framing to examine the nuanced experiences of pre-college students who learned the engineering design process through multiple, progressively complex project experiences in an introductory engineering course designed for all. Data was collected from 80 students within eight schools across the United States using multiple focus groups. Iterative thematic analysis revealed four themes that collectively depict how design experiences provide an anchor or a comprehensive knowledge base for engineering pathways. The study provides insights into the complex interplay of learning activities and wider educational contexts that influence students’ higher education and career choices. Under-standing the anchors associated with students’ design experiences has the potential to impact future motivation and design of pre-college engineering experiences that can lead to improved student recruitment and retention in higher education 

Pre-college engineering education has been on a sharp rise in the United States. Numerous schools offer some variation of an engineering curricula, but challenges remain regarding socio-cultural perceptions of engineering, teacher training, curricular alignment with state standards, and policy decisions. Many past studies have examined students’ and teachers’ knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs regarding pre-college engineering instruction. Few studies have investigated the viewpoints of school administrators, or state and district personnel. This qualitative study investigated perspectives of three such administrators in a southwest US public high school. The school was one of nine pilot locations offering a new engineering course designed to ‘demystify’ engineering for high school students and teachers from all walks of life. Results converged around four major themes: 1) relevance and current state of pre-college engineering education, 2) teacher certification and professional development, 3) industry connections, and 4) expectations of pre-college engineering curricula. The resulting themes shed light on long standing issues affecting adoption of engineering at the pre-college level and highlight a few areas that upcoming pre-college engineering education programs could focus on. 

High school counselors play a pivotal role in students’ educational pathways to STEM careers. Guidance provided by these school officials can have a measurable influence on student education and career choices. . School counselors play a critical role in student selection of elective courses, achievement, and fostering an environment through outreach activities. Each of these factors can influence students’ career interests, college choice, and major selection. This is one reason for why it is important to begin planning and having conversations around pursuing an engineering degree in high school to combat the lack of diversity in engineering rooted within the primary and secondary education systems. Recognizing school counselors as an untapped resource and equipping them with the knowledge and resources they need to inform students about engineering will allow them to increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in engineering, especially for historically underrepresented minorities. Such capacity building of school counselors will inherently improve the diversity of our nation's engineering workforce. This research study details the development and evaluation of a professional development (PD) program for high school guidance counselors. The PD was situated within the context of a national high school engineering initiative aimed at demystifying the engineering experience through inclusive, secondary-level engineering curricula. The counselor PD was conducted virtually over the summer of 2020. In total, 15 counselors completed the six-week PD -. Counselors participated in a series of engineering design activities to learn more about the engineering process. They also attended information sessions about engineering stereotypes, stereotype threats, implicit biases, and different disciplines within engineering to better inform their students of future career options. This paper details the development and program structure of the counselor PD. Pre- and post-focus groups were used to gain insight into counselors’ perceptions of engineering. Post-surveys were also collected to determine what counselors thought about the PD. We will provide detail regarding shifts in perceptions of engineering and overall evaluation of the PD. We conclude with a discussion of key takeaways and lessons learned. 

The delivery mode of education for many high school students changed recently, confining students to attend classes virtually from home. Remote learning can sometimes give students fewer experiential learning opportunities. A focus group discussion was carried out with 35 high school students to explore their perception of their learning environment as it relates to active learning in a remote instruction delivery classroom. Kolb’s experiential learning theory was used to guide this study. The qualitative data gathered were analyzed thematically. Analysis from the data showed that remote learning impacted students’ ability to support each other in project-based learning processes. The effect of remote learning also impacted students' access to peer group resources, materials, and tools needed for effective project-based learning. Results showed that some students preferred working with other students cooperatively on project-based activities while other students preferred working individually on project-based activities. The findings show that team building in high school students continues to be a challenge irrespective of the learning environment, either face-to-face or remote classrooms. Hence, educators have to continue to find ways to strengthen team-work and team building among the students. 

The impacts of COVID-19 have led to a rapid pivot in the delivery of professional development (PD) for new teachers to [PROGRAM]. [PROGRAM] previously provided a week-long, in-person, intensive PD in the summer for teachers but PD was shifted online to a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous sessions during the summer of 2020. The goal of this work in progress is to present how the [PROGRAM] team adapted teacher PD to establish community among our teachers and between teachers and staff, use this connection to enhance our responsiveness in PD, and deliver the engaging content of the [PROGRAM] curriculum. Teachers engaging remotely in [PROGRAM] activities have led to productive adaptations based on their challenges. The lessons learned reflecting back upon the PD will inform the design, delivery, and content of future [PROGRAM] teacher PDs. It is expected that future PD and professional learning offerings will continue to utilize flexible modalities and novel online tools, while also working to better align to PD standards. 

The purpose of this study is to re-examine the validity evidence of the engineering design self-efficacy (EDSE) scale scores by Carberry et al. (2010) within the context of secondary education. Self-efficacy refers to individuals’ belief in their capabilities to perform a domain-specific task. In engineering education, significant efforts have been made to understand the role of self-efficacy for students considering its positive impact on student outcomes such as performance and persistence. These studies have investigated and developed measures for different domains of engineering self-efficacy (e.g., general academic, domain-general, and task-specific self-efficacy). The EDSE scale is a frequently cited measure that examines task-specific self-efficacy within the domain of engineering design. The original scale contains nine items that are intended to represent the engineering design process. Initial score validity evidence was collected using a sample consisting of 202 respondents with varying degrees of engineering experience including undergraduate/graduate students and faculty members. This scale has been primarily used by researchers and practitioners with engineering undergraduate students to assess changes in their engineering design self-efficacy as a result of active learning interventions, such as project-based learning. Our work has begun to experiment using the scale in a secondary education context in conjunction with an increased introduction to engineering in K-12 education. Yet, there still is a need to examine score validity and reliability of this scale in non-undergraduate populations such as secondary school student populations. This study fills this important gap by testing construct validity of the original nine items of the EDSE scale, supporting proper use of the scale for researchers and practitioners. This study was conducted as part of a larger, e4usa project investigating the development and implementation of a yearlong project-based engineering design course for secondary school students. Evidence of construct validity and reliability was collected using a multi-step process. First, a survey that includes the EDSE scale was administered to the project participating students at nine associated secondary schools across the US at the beginning of Spring 2020. Analysis of collected data is in progress and includes Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) on the 137 responses. The evidence of score reliability will be obtained by computing the internal consistency of each resulting factor. The resulting factor structure and items will be analyzed by comparing it with the original EDSE scale. The full paper will provide details about the psychometric evaluation of the EDSE scale. The findings from this paper will provide insights on the future usage of the EDSE scale in the context of secondary engineering education. 

Many students do not truly encounter engineering education during their school years despite numerous calls to increase focus on engineering-centric knowledge and skills in pre-college education. This study uses a Social Cognitive Career Theory framing to examine the nuanced experiences of pre-college students who learned the engineering design process through multiple, progressively complex project experiences in an introductory engineering course designed for all. Data was collected from 80 students within eight schools across the United States using multiple focus group sessions. Iterative thematic analysis revealed four themes that collectively depict how design experiences provide an anchor for engineering pathways. The study provides insights into the complex interplay of learning activities and wider educational contexts that influence students’ higher education and career choices. Understanding the anchors associated with students’ design experiences has the potential to impact future motivation and design of pre-college engineering experiences that can lead to improved student recruitment and retention in higher education.