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Explorations into students’ narratives of their pre-college making pathways inform our understanding of the nature of early making experiences prior to entry into undergraduate engineering programs. Through our student interviews, four pathways were identified based on the nature of how the activities were structured and the outcomes of the activities. Each of the two constructs identified were further differentiated into two poles identified as structured activities versus unstructured activities and specific curiosity versus diversive curiosity. Self-directed, unstructured activities are ones where individuals identified that their own independent work was performed with a great deal of autonomy in both how and what was explored. With structured activities, the individuals did not self-impose or seek out the activity, but rather, the activities were laid out by a mentor or expert. Specific curiosity is where a clear path in the form of a certain activity is started to gain a particular knowledge or skill. With curiosity of the unknown, however, an activity was undertaken for the pure exploration or interest with no identified outcome or specific knowledge gained. Using these definitions, the four pathways that emerged were structured-specific, unstructured-diversive, and unstructured-specific and structured-diversive. From the interviews collected and analyzed in this research from self-identified makers, three out of the four pathways are identified: structured-specific, unstructured-diversive, and unstructured-specific. Structured-diversive is absent in our dataset. We propose that the absence of structured-unknown activities is a result of the population interviewed rather than its absence among pre-college individuals. 

Makerspaces are common in engineering programs around the country and around the world. As universities invest more into these spaces, researchers investigate more the impacts of making in the educational setting. As more students across more educational contexts get involved in making and makerspaces, there is a greater need for educators to gain a more wholistic understanding of the impacts of making on the academic environment, both positive and negative. In this paper, we look at the critical relationship between makerspaces and academic performance at a unique university with a design-centric approach to engineering education. This study presents three key findings: First, more involvement in making early in the curriculum is related to increased retention. Second, increased anxiety towards engineering design is connected to both lower retention and lower involvement in academic makerspaces. Third, GPA and makerspace activity are largely independent at this university where the engineering curriculum prescribes engineering students’ engagement in making. As impacts of academic makerspaces are unfolding before us, these findings shed a positive light on their contribution to engineering education. 

For engineering students, how might three basic needs—competency, autonomy, and relatedness—promote intrinsic motivation among students? In this research paper, two studies are presented which assess satisfaction and relationship of these basic needs among students in a project-based, undergraduate-only engineering program. In study one, a quantitative study, we surveyed students (N = 162) using the Situational Motivation Scale and the Basic Need Satisfaction Scale (BNSS). The results of study one are consistent with previous research showing strong correlations between the three basic needs and intrinsic motivation. In study two, a qualitative study, we analyzed in-depth phenomenologically based interviews (N = 9 participants resulting in 756 pages of single-spaced transcripts) using the BNSS as a heuristic framework to identify instances when students express satisfaction or frustration of competency, autonomy, and relatedness. Study two illustrates when and how supportive contexts and behaviors contribute to feelings of competency, autonomy, and relatedness. These studies expand research on SDT by showing ways in which engineering students develop feelings of competency, how specific needs-supportive actions contributed to feelings of competency, and the roles of autonomy and relatedness in the development of competency. 

This work in progress paper presents a study that follows four engineering capstone teams over the course of their two-year projects. Students on four different teams collected ethnographic and autoethnographic data in the form of field notes to explore how students learn across a variety of projects that vary in their scope, type, and team composition. This paper aims to explain the impacts that role rigidity and project management style have on the design process and discuss the factors that influence the types of learning occurring in capstone teams. Data suggest that project scope, role rigidity, and the level of ambiguity in the project impact the learning processes employed by different teams, and the skills that team members developed. 

Over the past decade, practices related to online learning have become increasingly varied and legitimated. Whether it be formal e-learning in K-12 or at colleges and universities or casual perusing of the internet, many people have found communities online to support their own endeavors. Recently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic most colleges and universities have been forced to shift partly or entirely to remote learning due to campus closures. Further, even in cases in which a campus is open, many universities have limited access to their makerspace due to social distancing and capacity requirements. In response, this Work in Progress study investigates how online making communities and resources are supporting student learning through making. Through in-depth phenomenologically-based interviews conducted both before and during the pandemic, this study offers rich insights into how students are learning from and engaging in online maker communities/resources as a central part of their development as a maker. Through qualitative data analysis, we develop a model for how students are learning online. These findings show the role digital spaces play in developing competent, inspired makers. 

Abstract Polar ecosystems are experiencing amongst the most rapid rates of regional warming on Earth. Here, we discuss ‘omics’ approaches to investigate polar biodiversity, including the current state of the art, future perspectives and recommendations. We propose a community road map to generate and more fully exploit multi-omics data from polar organisms. These data are needed for the comprehensive evaluation of polar biodiversity and to reveal how life evolved and adapted to permanently cold environments with extreme seasonality. We argue that concerted action is required to mitigate the impact of warming on polar ecosystems via conservation efforts, to sustainably manage these unique habitats and their ecosystem services, and for the sustainable bioprospecting of novel genes and compounds for societal gain. 

The Engineer of 2020 recognizes creativity, invention, and innovation as indispensable qualities for engineering. It may be argued, however, that traditional engineering programs do not inherently foster these qualities in engineering students, and with limited resources and time, adding innovation-fostering experiences to already over-packed curricula may seem like an insurmountable challenge. Longitudinal studies carried out by the authors have shown that makerspaces can foster improvement in engineering students’ design self-efficacy, and three-part phenomenological interviews have shown that students in makerspaces engage in non-linear, open-ended, student-driven projects that require hands-on designing, prototyping, modeling, and testing. These studies provide initial evidence that makerspaces may have the potential to enhance students’ deep learning of engineering and engineering design. To arrive at the more complex cultural factors related to student involvement and success related to participation in makerspaces, we describe the processes of ethnographic methodologies we are using to study the intersections between the structure of an engineering curriculum and the learning that occurs outside of the classroom in makerspaces. Ethnographic methodologies of participant observation, unstructured and semi-structured interviews enable exploration of how students (1) interact within and construct the culture of makerspaces; (2) talk about maker space culture as important to their commitment to engineering; (3) learn within maker spaces; and (4) choose the type and direction of projects. This paper specifically describes the ethnographic methodologies used to track four different undergraduate student teams participating in a two-year senior capstone project, as well as three different student teams participating in a sophomore design class in which they use makerspaces to build a human powered vehicle for a client with a disability. Initial interpretations are presented that inform our understanding of the complex cultural system in which learning occurs, ultimately helping us to consider ways to improve university makerspaces.