Abstract
A major goal in Engineering training in the U.S. is to continue to both grow and diversify the field. Project- and service-based forms of experiential, problem-based learning are often implemented with this as a goal, and Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) High is one of the more well-regarded and widely implemented. Yet, the evidence based on if and how participation in such programs shapes student intentions and commitment to STEM pathways is currently limited, most especially for pre-college programming. This study asks: How do high school students’ engineering mindsets and their views of engineering/engineers change as they participate in project–service learning (as implemented through an EPICS High curriculum)? This study employed a mixed method design, combining pre- and post-test survey data that were collected from 259 matched students (63% minority, 43% women) enrolling in EPICS High (total of 536 completed pre-tests, 375 completed post-tests) alongside systematic ethnographic analysis of participant observation data conducted in the same 13 socioeconomically diverse schools over a two-year period. Statistical analyses showed that participants score highly on engineering-related concepts and attitudes at both pre- and post-test. These did not change significantly as a result of participation. However, we detected nuanced but potentially important changes in student perspectives and meaning, such as shifting perceptions of engineering and gaining key transversal skills. The value of participation to participants was connected to changes in the meaning of commitments to pursue engineering/STEM.
Highlights
Professional Engineering training is not currently meeting perceived national needs for competitiveness, meaning there is a push to recruit, and retain to graduation, larger cohorts of suitable students [1]
Arizona State University (ASU) began delivering the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) college program in 2009 and collaborated to deliver an EPICS High curriculum with local high schools that could act as potential pipelines to their Engineering degrees
These findings are echoed with students from the EPICS High program we tested here, and our results bolster prior smaller studies on EPICS High in particular [16,26]
Summary
Professional Engineering training is not currently meeting perceived national needs for competitiveness, meaning there is a push to recruit, and retain to graduation, larger cohorts of suitable students [1]. Even though relative gains have been made, the goal of equitable representation of women and historically-underrepresented minority (URM) students in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields in the U.S has not yet been achieved. Even though women earn the majority of bachelor’s degrees overall, they represent. Sci. 2019, 9, 35 only 20% of those awarded in Engineering.
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