Research Initiation : Exploring First Generation Engineering Technology College Students Acquisition of the Engineering Identity

研究启动：探索第一代工程技术大学生工程身份的获取

• 批准号: 2306099
• 负责人: Jeffrey Kimble
• 金额: $ 19.93万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306099&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Initiation; Exploring; First; Generation

Each year engineering students enroll in college to gain knowledge and develop skills in preparation for their careers in the field. The successes and experiences of these students within their engineering education shape how they see themselves within the profession as they transition from “engineering student” to “engineer”. While the process of acquiring the engineer identity looks different for every student, there are certain complexities that emerge when the engineering student identity is intersected with other identities, including those that face unique challenges such as first-generation. Unlike continuing-generation peers, first-generation students who are the first in their families to attend college are progressing toward the engineer identity at the same time they are learning to navigate the landscape of higher education with its complex structures and jargon. These identities influence how students understand their position within engineering programs. Furthermore, the type of program a student enrolls in may impact how a student conceptualizes and consolidates the engineer identity. Engineering technology programs have historically been associated with a more hands-on approach to engineering education. As such, the process of acquiring the engineer identity may look different for engineering technology students compared to peers in engineering science programs. This study will explore the question of how these two identities: first-generation and engineering technology students intersect to influence the formation of the engineer identity. This goal is directly aligned with research in the professional formation of engineers which seeks to better understand how engineering education programs develop future engineers.The research design for this project is a two phase, mixed methods approach. In Phase 1, we will survey approximately 500 engineering technology students across two and four-year institutions. Responses will address the research questions of how self-identified first-generation engineering technology students conceptualize and consolidate the engineer identity as part of their education across institutions, as well as address how first-generation participants understand and leverage forms of social capital in pursuit of their engineering degree as compared to continuing-generation peers. Additionally, performance metric data will be obtained and de-identified through the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at UNC Charlotte for local participants who have consented to participate as a way to investigate whether discrepancies exist between first-generation engineering technology students and continuing-generation peers in the same program. In Phase 2, we will employ qualitative interviews with a diverse group of 35 first generation engineering technology students to secure a richer understanding of their experiences. This iterative approach will allow us to identify potential gaps in Phase 1 while the qualitative work in Phase 2 will then expand our understanding of the engineer identity acquisition process. The primary goal of this project is to contribute to the growing body of knowledge provided by engineering education researchers. At present, there is limited research exploring the consolidation of the engineer identity among first-generation students. No existing study has explored this phenomenon with engineering technology students. We hope to leverage our research to begin to close this knowledge gap and to disseminate our findings widely to other engineering educators who serve to support first-generation engineering technology students as they conceptualize their place within the engineering profession.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

每年，工程专业的学生都会进入大学学习，以获得知识并培养技能，为他们在该领域的职业生涯做好准备。这些学生在工程教育中的成功和经验塑造了他们从“工程专业学生”过渡到该行业时对自己的看法。虽然获得工程师身份的过程对于每个学生来说都是不同的，但当工程学生的身份与其他身份交叉时，包括那些面临独特挑战的人，例如第一代同龄人，就会出现一定的复杂性。第一代学生是第一批上大学的家庭正在向工程师身份迈进，同时他们正在学习驾驭高等教育的复杂结构和术语，这些身份影响着学生如何理解他们在工程课程中的地位。学生参加的课程可能会影响学生如何概念化和巩固工程师身份。 工程技术课程历来与更加实践的工程教育方法相关联，因此，获得工程师身份的过程对于工程来说可能看起来有所不同。技术学生与工程科学项目的同龄人进行比较。将探讨第一代学生和工程技术学生这两种身份如何交叉影响工程师身份的形成这一目标与工程师专业形成的研究直接相关，旨在更好地了解工程教育项目的发展。该项目的研究设计采用两个阶段的混合方法。在第一阶段，我们将调查两年制和四年制院校的大约 500 名工程技术学生，回答将首先解决如何自我识别的研究问题。一代工程技术学生概念化并巩固工程师身份作为他们跨机构教育的一部分，并解决第一代参与者如何理解和利用社会资本的形式来追求他们的工程学位，与继续一代的同龄人相比，此外，还将获得和分析绩效指标数据。 -通过北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校的机构有效性办公室为同意参与的当地参与者确定，作为调查同一项目中第一代工程技术学生和后续一代学生之间是否存在差异的方式。对不同群体进行定性访谈35 名第一代工程技术学生，以确保对他们的经验有更丰富的了解。这种迭代方法将使我们能够识别第一阶段的潜在差距，而第二阶段的定性工作将扩大我们对工程师身份获取过程的理解。该项目的目的是为工程教育研究人员提供的不断增长的知识体系做出贡献，目前，探索第一代学生工程师身份巩固的研究还很有限。我们希望利用我们的研究来开始结束这个问题知识差距，并将我们广泛的发现传播给其他工程教育工作者，他们为第一代工程技术学生构想自己在工程专业中的地位提供支持。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的评估进行评估，被认为值得支持。智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。