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Identifying as an engineer is essential for belonging and student success, yet the social context and professional norms make it more difficult for some students to establish an identity as an engineer.

This study investigated whether first‐generation college students' funds of knowledge supported their engineering role identity.

Data came from a survey administered across the United States western, southern, and mountain regions in the fall semester of 2018. Only the sample of students who indicated they were the first in their families to attend college was used in the analysis (n = 378). Structural equation modeling was used to understand how first‐generation college students' funds of knowledge supported their engineering role identity; measurement invariance was examined to ensure that the model was valid for women and men alike.

First‐generation college students' funds of knowledge individually supported the components of the engineering role identity development process. Tinkering knowledge from home and perspective‐taking helped inform interest and performance/competence beliefs. First‐generation college students' bids for external recognition were supported through their mediational skills, their connecting experiences, and their local network of college friends. The bundle of advice, resources, and emotional support from family members was the only fund of knowledge that directly supported students' perceptions of themselves as engineers.

The relationships we established between first‐generation college students' funds of knowledge and emerging engineering role identities call for engineering educators to integrate students' funds of knowledge into engineering learning and to broaden disciplinary norms of what counts as engineering‐relevant knowledge.

 

The greatest challenges for contemporary and future natural resource production are sociotechnical by nature, from public perceptions of mining to responsible mineral supply chains. The term sociotechnical signals that engineered systems have inherent social dimensions that require careful analysis. Sociotechnical thinking is a prerequisite for understanding and promoting social justice and sustainability through one’s professional practices. This article investigates whether and how two different projects enhanced sociotechnical learning in mining and petroleum engineering students. Assessment surveys suggest that most students ended the projects with greater appreciation for sociotechnical perspectives on the interconnection of engineering and corporate social responsibility (CSR). This suggests that undergraduate engineering education can be a generative place to prepare future professionals to see how engineering can promote social and environmental wellbeing. Comparing the different groups of students points to the power of authentic learning experiences with industry engineers and interdisciplinary teaching by faculty.

 

Key Points Significant sensitivity of mid‐latitude deep convective storm and the associated anvil cirrus cloud to choice of model microphysics schemes Hydrometeor size‐dependent microphysical process are linked with large variability in storm dynamics Six bulk microphysics schemes produced an order of magnitude spread in above‐tropopause water vapor concentrations 

This international collection of papers examines the many ways teachers exercise agency in light of the challenging realities they and their students face to create caring, engaging and transformative learning environments. The teachers in these studies exercise agency in various ways — as individuals, collectives, and fluid inter-professional and personal collaborations — to construct their professional identities and contribute to social change in their schools and society. Across these papers, we also find empirical evidence about the reflexive relationship between individual agency and social structures in shaping each other. 

Los sistemas de ecuaciones lineales (SEL) corresponden a un concepto fundamental del álgebra lineal, pero hay relativamente poca investigación, pero hay relativamente poca investigación acerca de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de los SEL, particularmente de las concepciones de los estudiantes acerca de sus soluciones. Se ha encontrado que la resolución de sistemas con un número infinito de soluciones o sin solución tiende a ser menos intuitivo para los estudiantes, lo cual indica la necesidad de más investigación en la enseñanza y aprendizaje de este tema. Entrevistamos a dos estudiantes de matemáticas que eran también maestros en formación a través de un experimento de enseñanza por parejas para mirar cómo razonaban acerca de las soluciones de SEL en ℝ3. Presentamos los resultados enfocando en la progresión del razonamiento de los estudiantes sobre las soluciones de los SEL a través del lento de simbolización. Documentamos la progresión de su razonamiento como una acumulación de significados numéricos, algebraicos y gráficos coordinados y las simbolizaciones de sus conjuntos solución. 

Access to fast and reliable nucleic acid testing continues to play a key role in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the context of increased vaccine break-through risks due to new variants. We report a rapid, low-cost (~ 2 USD), simple-to-use nucleic acid test kit for self-administered at-home testing without lab instrumentation. The entire sample-to-answer workflow takes < 60 min, including noninvasive sample collection, one-step RNA preparation, reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) in a thermos, and direct visual inspection of a colorimetric test result. To facilitate long-term storage without cold-chain, a fast one-pot lyophilization protocol was developed to preserve all required biochemical reagents of the colorimetric RT-LAMP test in a single microtube. Notably, the lyophilized RT-LAMP assay demonstrated reduced false positives as well as enhanced tolerance to a wider range of incubation temperatures compared to solution-based RT-LAMP reactions. We validated our RT-LAMP assay using simulated infected samples, and detected a panel of SARS-CoV-2 variants with successful detection of all variants that were available to us at the time. With a simple change of the primer set, our lyophilized RT-LAMP home test can be easily adapted as a low-cost surveillance platform for other pathogens and infectious diseases of global public health importance.

 

This article investigates the implementation of inquiry-oriented instruction in 20 undergraduate mathematics classrooms. In contrast to conventional wisdom that active learning is good for all students, we found gendered performance differences between women and men in the inquiry classes that were not present in a noninquiry comparison sample. Through a secondary analysis of classroom videos, we linked these performance inequities to differences in women’s participation rates across classes. Thus, we provide empirical evidence that simply implementing active learning is insufficient, and that the nature of inquiry-oriented classrooms is highly consequential for improving gender equity in mathematics.