Students In Engineering Majors Research Articles

Strategies for Developing Pre-Employment Adaptability from a High-Quality Employment Perspective: An Analysis of College Students' Job Preparation Behaviors

This study surveyed the job preparation behaviors of 210 college students and proposed strategies for job preparation behaviors that college students need to adapt to before entering the workplace. The results indicate that the overall level of students' job preparation behaviors is moderately average (M=3.07). Among the sub-factors of goal achievement behaviors, tool preparation behaviors, and information gathering behaviors, goal achievement behaviors scored the highest (M=3.14). Male students had higher scores in information gathering and tool preparation behaviors than female students; senior students outperformed junior students in information gathering; and students in science and engineering majors scored higher in information gathering and tool preparation behaviors than those in humanities and social sciences. The findings of this study have practical significance for optimizing and improving employment planning education in higher education and provide a foundational reference for research in high-quality employment, employment equality, and industry-education integration.

The influence of relational, political, discursive, and structural dimensions of power on increasing equitable access to undergraduate research experiences

AbstractAttracting and retaining students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics majors, particularly those who are underrepresented, is a national concern. While undergraduate research experiences have been shown to increase retention and engagement, inequities in access exacerbate disparities. Understanding what hinders or facilitates the implementation of undergraduate research experiences is crucial. Using semi‐structured interviews with the project leaders and document analysis, the findings from this project expose the relational, political, discursive, and structural power dimensions hindering or facilitating the integration of research experiences in undergraduate science courses. Revealing these barriers and opportunities will inform future initiatives, such as those focused on implementing course‐based research experiences.

Academic Self-Concept Development for STEM College Students: An Analysis on Gender Difference

Using a nation-wide college student dataset, this study examines the gender disparities in academic self-concept for undergraduate students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors and investigates college experiences affecting academic self-concept in this population. Findings of the current study suggest that overall college satisfaction is the strongest positive predictor of academic self-concept for college students in STEM majors and that institutions and their members should strive to facilitate satisfactory and educationally meaningful college experiences for these students at the macro level. Also, faculty members and administrators in STEM majors should be aware of the importance of positive faculty support on students’ academic self-concept development and should continue trying to create an environment where students can experience more frequent and positive encounters with their faculty members. Lastly, our findings show that the effects of some college experiences on academic self-concept development for STEM students vary by student gender. The findings underscore the significance of the nature or type of college experiences and the corresponding gender inequity and suggest that STEM majors need to facilitate departmental environments where both male and female students can equivalently benefit from their college experiences not only for their academic development but also for other desired college outcomes.

Measurement Invariance Analysis of Engineering and Mathematics Majors Students’ Understanding of Mathematics Courses Teaching Practices

This study attempts to understand the source of variation in the Students’ Evaluation of Teaching (SET) of mathematics courses by comparing the data structure of engineering major students and mathematics major students’ datasets. The sample considered in this study consists of 644 students distributed into two majors: 237 mathematics students and 407 engineering students who filled out a 20-item SET questionnaire to rate the teaching practices of three different mathematics courses offered by the Department of Mathematics. The hypothesis tested in this study is: that variation in students’ perceptions of mathematics course teaching practices is different based on students’ majors (Mathematics versus Engineering). Measurement invariance (MI) analyses were used to examine the source of variation in the datasets and to compare engineering and mathematics students’ perceptions of the teaching effectiveness of mathematics courses. While the results of this study provide evidence of the SET validity, it was found that engineering students differently perceive three out of twenty of the SET questionnaire items when compared with mathematics major students.

LGBTQ+ faculty, queering health sciences classrooms: student perspectives.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer plus (LGBTQ+) students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors are more likely to drop out than their cisgender, heterosexual peers despite having equivalent grades and research exposure. It has been demonstrated that a sense of belonging, a very strong predictor of student retention, is low in LGBTQ+-identified STEM undergraduates. It has further been posited that faculty openness and authenticity can enhance a sense of belonging for LGBTQ+ students through the creation of an inclusive classroom culture. The authors of this article, three LGBTQ+-identified faculty in the health sciences department at Boston University, surveyed students enrolled in their courses to elicit student thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding the effect of faculty 1) sharing their identity openly in the classroom, and 2) actively working to create open, inclusive dialogue and space in their classrooms. Of 86 student participants across multiple classes, the large majority of students, both LGBTQ+-identified and non-LGBTQ+-identified, described feeling safe, included, and welcomed in the classroom. They described engaging more in peer-to-peer education and felt that instructor authenticity created a safe and inclusive classroom. A minority of LGBTQ+-identified students and non-LGBTQ+-identified students reported feeling unsure of voicing their opinions, for the former related to insecurity about being LGBTQ+ and the latter feeling a liberal bias existed in the classroom. Altogether, these results suggest a positive effect on student sense of belonging when faculty authenticity and intentionality create inclusive classroom environments in the health sciences.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Openness and authenticity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer plus (LGBTQ+)-identified faculty in the health sciences positively affect students by helping them feel seen, welcomed, and included for both students who identify as LGBTQ+ and those who do not. Moreover, faculty openness fostered student action by encouraging them to have peer-to-peer discussions about inclusive language and engage more openly in classroom discussions. Creating academic job security for LGBTQ+-identified faculty to be open can enhance classroom culture, student engagement, and learning.

Teaching Mammalogy in the 21st century: advances in undergraduate education

Abstract In the past 30 years, leaders in undergraduate education have called for transformations in science pedagogy to reflect the process of science as well as to develop professional skills, apply new and emerging technologies, and to provide more hands-on experience. These recommendations suggest teaching strategies that incorporate active learning methods that consistently increase learning, conceptual understanding, integration of subject knowledge with skill development, retention of undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors, and inclusivity. To gain insight into current practices and pedagogy we surveyed members of the American Society of Mammalogists in 2021. The survey consisted of both fixed-response questions (e.g., multiple-choice or Likert-scale) and open-ended questions, each of which asked instructors about the structure and content of a Mammalogy or field Mammalogy course. In these courses, we found that lecturing was still a primary tool for presenting course content or information (x¯= 65% of the time); nonetheless, most instructors reported incorporating other teaching strategies ranging from pausing lectures for students to ask questions to incorporating active learning methods, such as debates or case studies. Most instructors reported incorporating skill development and inclusive teaching practices, and 64% reported that they perceived a need to change or update their Mammalogy courses or their teaching approaches. Overall, our results indicate that Mammalogy instructors have a strong interest in training students to share their appreciation for mammals and are generally engaged in efforts to increase the effectiveness of their teaching through the incorporation of more student-centered approaches to teaching and learning.

Engaging the Entire Learner: Pathway Program Administrators' Experiences of Providing Students with Research Experiences in Academic Medicine.

Pathway programs designed to recruit and retain students from groups historically excluded from science and medicine have focused on providing academic and social support through programs that provide mentored experiences. However, for students in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) majors, students from underrepresented groups tend to leave science-oriented programs at higher rates than students who are not underrepresented. As such, they are also underrepresented in medical fields, including academic medicine. Insight into how pathway programs contribute to addressing this issue is critical. This study took a qualitative approach to investigating the experiences of pathway program administrators in academic medicine. Interviews were conducted with 12 program administrators working on 8 different programs throughout the country. Interviews were analyzed using directed content analysis while also allowing for the development of new themes based on the data. The codes were organized into 6 overarching themes: mentorship, student engagement, determining program success, administrative time and program logistics, diversity and inclusion, and transition to virtual learning (due to COVID-19). Within each of these themes, program administrators described challenges along with some strategies programs employed to overcome these challenges. The greatest overall challenge described was finding and sustaining relationships with faculty and nonfaculty mentors. To address this issue, many programs have worked within their institutions to incentivize this work. For student engagement, program administrators reported issues with tailoring to skill sets and interests of multiple students while still fostering community. Program administrators have also expanded definitions for determining program success. Program administration is a challenge, and more support staff or time to devote to these programs is often needed. Diversity challenges encompass recruiting faculty and students from groups underrepresented in STEMM and the logistics of getting all necessary accommodations for students. Finally, transition to virtual learning, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, brought about challenges and opportunities.

대학의 계열별 글쓰기 수업에서의 과학 글쓰기 및 토론 활성화 방안

As the role of science in society becomes increasingly prominent, there is a rising recognition of the importance of scientific writing. However, in-class tools to teach scientific writing and effective communication to undergraduate science and engineering majors are still in need. It is not easy to clearly and effectively convey one’s argument on scientific issues based on technical knowledge through writing. It is even more difficult when you are teaching in an undergraduate scientific writing class setting where students of different science and engineering majors come together. To teach effective communication, we need to devise more specific methods to address various difficulties that students may encounter. In this study, we developed the “essay introduction letter” to facilitate scientific wrting and in-class discussions. Modelled on cover letters for academic journals, the essay introduction letter incorporates essential elements for effective science communication. In our study, students were required to write an essay introduction letter to present their argumentative essay assignment and read others’ essays before inclass discussions on each writing. We then analyzed the effects of using the letter by observation of in-class discussions and student surveys. Our findings suggest that students can more readily prepare their presentations and participate in meaningful discussions through writing and reading essay introduction letters. We hope that this study will contribute to devising specific methods to teach scientific writing and effective communication to undergraduate science and engineering majors.

Undergraduate program in nanoscience and nanoengineering: five years after the National Science Foundation grant including two pandemic years

We describe a coherent undergraduate educational program in nanoscience and nanoengineering at the University of Rochester (UR) based on the Institute of Optics and Integrated Nanosystems Center resources. This project has three main outcomes: (1) developing a curriculum and offering the Certificate in Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (CNSNE); (2) creating an exemplary model of collaboration in nanotechnology between a university with state-of-the-art, expensive experimental facilities and a nearby two-year community college (CC) with the participation of the local Monroe Community College (MCC); and (3) developing universally accessible “hands-on” experiments (mini-labs) on nanophotonics/quantum nanophotonics, learning materials, and pedagogical methods to be introduced in some Institute of Optics classes from freshman to senior levels. The inexpensive mini-labs described herein can be adopted in small colleges. An important outcome of this project is that ∼50 % of the 41 awardees of the CNSNE (by May 2021) after graduation continued their career in the field of nanoscience and nanoengineering. For the CNSNE program, UR students must take three courses: Nanometrology Laboratory (a new course specifically created for this program) and two other selective courses. Students should also conduct a one-semester research or design project in the fields of nanoscience and nanoengineering. A total of 52 MCC students (including non-science, technology, engineering, and mathematics major students) participated in two labs at the UR on atomic force microscopy and photolithography in a clean room. Our teaching methodology, the progress of students’ learning outcomes, and the investigation of students’ attitudes and self-efficacy toward selecting their careers in nanoscience/nanotechnology are also discussed and analyzed. Discussions on the challenges in teaching advanced lab classes during the pandemic, our solutions for preserving the CNSNE program, and lessons learned are also included.

The AANAPISI-funded STEM Program: An Institutional Response to the Needs of Asian American Community College Students

ABSTRACT This study examined the unique needs of Asian American students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors and the extent to which institutional agents responded to their needs. This qualitative study focused on Asian American STEM students enrolled at Shasta Fair Community College (SFCC), a federally designated and grant-funded Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI). Results demonstrate that both students and institutional agents reported that the AANAPISI-funded STEM program, which provides a one-stop service for counseling, tutoring, and various other support services, allowed institutional agents to support the unique needs of Asian American community college students in STEM majors.

A new type of remedial course for improving university students’ learning satisfaction and achievement

ABSTRACT Remedial education is defined as the programmes provided by education institutions to help unprepared students reinforce their basic skills. Recently, the increased access to higher education has caused a higher dropout rate of science and engineering major students, especially when they are academically underprepared for college-level study. Thus, this study proposes a new type of remedial programme which helps students majoring in science-related foundation courses for their follow-up learning. Literature about the effectiveness of remedial education is inconsistent and how this new remedial education program affects students’ learning achievement is not well understood. Thus, this study aims to examine how remedial courses change students’ attitudes and improve learning performance. Our findings indicate that: (1) remedial education significantly enhances the students’ academic achievement; (2) remedial education quality affects students’ course satisfaction and achievements through self-efficacy. We hope these findings bring more insights into research and practice.

Role of engineering major in entrepreneurial intentions of engineering students: a case of Pakistan

PurposeThe dynamic global environment has increased the requirement of multidisciplinary entrepreneurial engineers. While studying entrepreneurial aspects of engineers, researchers have not considered inherent variability due to engineering majors. This study investigates the impact of entrepreneurial motivation (EM) on entrepreneurial intentions (EIs), to analyse the inherent entrepreneurial potential of engineering majors. The impact of entrepreneurial education has also been studied to proffer recommendations for policymakers.Design/methodology/approachThe design of this study is a survey conducted with 342 undergraduate students from three major engineering institutions in Pakistan using a close-structured questionnaire. Moderation analysis examines the entrepreneurial potential of different engineering majors. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been conducted to compare the EIs of different engineering majors and regarding the impact of entrepreneurial education on EIs.FindingsThe engineering major's role in the transformation of EM to EIs is multifaceted. EIs of students of a few engineering majors were found high. Entrepreneurship education improves the overall EIs of engineering students.Practical implicationsOutcomes of the study are useful for academia and policymakers to engage students of particular engineering majors, identified as entrepreneurial, in advanced entrepreneurial education and expose them to potential start-ups to have better value addition in specific sectors.Originality/valueThis is the first study in which engineering majors have been examined to bring insights about inherent entrepreneurial potential. This inherent entrepreneurial potential needs further exploration by academic researchers. The study has provided the base for future studies to institutionalize entrepreneurial education for different engineering majors.

Effective models of science, technology and engineering entrepreneurship education: current and future research

Science, Technology and Engineering Entrepreneurship Education (STEE) might raise student awareness towards the opportunities seeking challenges of entrepreneurship to promote technology transfer. However, despite the face validity of teaching technology entrepreneurship, there has traditionally been a weak link between the fields of research entrepreneurship education, and technology management and commercialization literature. In this introductory article, we ask whether entrepreneurship could be taught to students in engineering, science and technology majors via the use of dedicated teaching models. We highlight the prevailing approaches in STEE and identify two main research streams. We discuss promising research avenues for extending research on STEE focusing on the background and profile of target audiences, and assessing their impact on students’ learning outcomes. Finally, we provided summaries of the papers in the special issue and how they contribute to wider understanding of the effective models of STEE.

Industrial working culture in learning practice at vocational high school

The purpose of this study was to study the application of working culture to the learning practice of machining in vocational high school (VHS) Muhammadiyah 1 Salam. The industrial working culture adds value to integrity, professional, productive, innovative, and competitive. This research is a quantitative and qualitative descriptive study. The subjects in this study were machining subject teachers of class XI and XI grade students in mechanical engineering majors at VHS Muhammadiyah 1 Salam. The obtained data were analyzed through descriptive analysis. The results show the value of integrity that has been implemented by 88% of students by behaving honestly and responsibly. Professional values have been applied to 54.8% of students with standardized procedures and applying K3 while working. Productive value has been applied 69% of students according to the time and quality determined. 27 % of students have applied innovative value. Innovative value is applied by finding new alternatives at work. Competitive value has been applied by 53% of students by looking for information related to the field of work and confidence in showing competence.

Light Application of Blended Learning in Fundamental Chemistry Classes for Engineering major Students

Light Application of Blended Learning in Fundamental Chemistry Classes for Engineering major Students

Using town watching technique to raise disaster awareness for different audiences.

Communities need to be aware of all the risks and consequences of disasters, which have increased both in numbers, economic and human losses in the recent decades. This study aims to show how town watching technique has a positive effect in raising disaster awareness in different types of learning experiences for different target groups so that individuals understand the disaster risks and make plans to decrease their vulnerabilities. Application of town watching for two different target audiences are explained; undergraduate engineering major students, local government officials, and volunteer community members. Results of surveys conducted for an elective humanities course for engineering major undergraduates named disaster awareness are presented. Interviews with volunteers from other target groups who participated in community-based disaster capacity building projects are also included in this study. It can be clearly seen that town watching creates synergy while disaster awareness is internalized, and the participants learn about disasters, risks, and resources at hand that may also help toward the countries' resilience to disasters.

Integrated Experiential Learning–Based Framework to Facilitate Project Planning in Civil Engineering and Construction Management Courses

The competence of leveraging Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology in the early project stages is critical to drive its efficacy throughout the project life cycle. However, a review of the literature indicated a lack of research into upskilling undergraduate students in civil engineering and construction management (CECM) majors, particularly with respect to such competencies as using BIM in design, planning, processing, managing, and communicating complex projects. To better facilitate the skills for undergraduate students, this study formulated an innovative framework using Kolb’s experiential learning (EL) with tailored BIM capstone course activities for project planning and implementations. This framework includes concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. It provides the necessary integration of EL, the BIM planning guide, and pedagogies of capstone courses. It helps instructors to monitor and control learning activities based on the BIM planning guide and to test hypotheses through experiments. The framework includes features of group work involvement, connection with practical information, and student-centered learning. Subsequent surveys of students and teachers provided further evidence of the framework merits, specifically in terms of the improved formation of student cognition of BIM-based project planning (90% improvement), in addition to enhanced capabilities in process mapping (70% improvement), software operation (80% improvement), and information exchange (100% improvement). The proposed framework sets an innovative pedagogical rationale to which university-based BIM education can refer and upskills undergraduate students, expanding their capabilities in information and communication technology in the context of EL.

Psychological Momentum and Inertia: Toward a Model of Academic Motivation

Building upon psychological momentum theory, we draw an analogy between motivational constructs proposed herein and the physical principles of mass, inertia, and momentum. From these principles, we derived constructs representing academic inertia in states of both low and high momentum. The sample consisted of 105 African American college students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of a newly developed scale yielded support for two distinct factors reflecting low momentum state inertia (LMSI) and high momentum state inertia (HMSI). The conditional relationship between LMSI and HMSI was then examined with inspiration as a moderating variable. Consistent with our prediction, results indicated that the relationship between LMSI and HMSI was positive and significant at low levels of inspiration, while this slope was not significant at high levels of inspiration. Implications for cognitive-affective factors that may inhibit or facilitate psychological momentum in the context of academic functioning are discussed.

An Analysis of University Students' Emotions in the Classroom: Gender and Major Differences

수업 시간에 학생들이 경험하는 감정은 수업 참여와 동기, 학업 지속 및 학습결과에 영향을 줄 수 있는 중요한 변인이다. 본 연구는 대학생들이 수업 시간에 어떤 감정을 경험하는지를 파악하고 성별, 전공 계열별로 감정 경험에 있어 차이가 있는지를 분석하였다. 이를 위하여 러셀의 2차원 감정모델에서 사용된 감정 단어 27개와 한국인의 대표 감정단어 목록 115개로 구성된 설문지를 작성하여 수도권 소재 4년제 A대학에 재학 중인 823명의 학생들로부터 자료를 수집하였다. 학생들의 평균연령은 23.52세 (SD=2.641), 여학생이 50.3%, 인문사회예체능 계열이 59.0%로 구성되었다. 자료 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 대학생들이 수업시간에 경험하는 감정은‘약한불쾌’,‘약한유쾌’,‘강한유쾌’,‘강한불쾌’의 순으로 나타났다. 그리고 여학생들이 남학생보다‘약한불쾌’와‘강한불쾌’요인에서 유의하게 높은 점수를 보였다. 둘째, 수업 시간 감정으로 가장 많이 보고된 것은 두 척도에서 각각‘고민하는’,‘피곤한’, ‘지루한’,‘졸린’,‘차분한’, 그리고‘답답하다’,‘성취감 느끼다’,‘지루하다’,‘걱정하다’,‘보람차다’로 나타났다. 수업 시간에 주로 느끼는 감정 분석에서도 일관되게 여학생이 남학생보다 더 부정적인 감정을 많이 보고하는 경향이 있었다. 셋째, 계열차는 성차만큼 분명하게 드러나지는 않았지만 인문사회 예체능 계열 학생들이 이공자연 계열 학생들보다 몇몇 감정에서 약간 더 정적인 경향을 보였다. 이러한 연구 결과에 대한 논의와 함께 교수-학습 설계에서 성차에 대한 고려와 학습자의 신체 피로도에 대한 쟁점을 포함한 추후 연구 과제를 제시하였다.Understanding students emotions in the classroom can be crucial as they are related to their participation in learning, motivation, persistence, and academic outcomes. This study examined what kind of emotions are constructed by university students in an instructional context, identifying if there was any differences between male and female students along with academic majors. For this purpose, the study made use of two sets of scales: Russell s circumplex model, including 27 emotion words and 115 words representing Koreans emotions in general. Data were gathered from 823 students enrolled in A University located in Seoul; the students were 23.52 years old on average(SD=2.641), consisted of female students 50.3% and liberal arts/social science and art majors 59.0%. The results of the statistical analyses of the data revealed the following: First, emotion words most frequently featured in the two scales were, respectively, distressed , tired , boring , sleepy , and calm as well as suffocating , achieving , boring , anxious , and fulfilling in that order. In those words listed, female students scored consistently higher in the negative emotion words compared with male students. Second, the students emotions in Russell s model were categorized by two domains: value (pleasure/displeasure) and arousal (strong/weak). And the emotions grouped to weak displeasure marked the highest in mean score, then weak pleasure , strong pleasure , and strong displeasure in that order. Again, female students scored significantly higher than male students in the negative emotions such as weak displeasure and strong displeasure . Third, the major difference was not as distinctive as the case of gender difference, but it was found that the students in liberal arts/social science and art majors, scored a little higher in positive emotions than the students in natural science and engineering majors. These findings were discussed along with suggestions for future studies in order to enrich our understanding of student emotions in classroom.

Zero-one augmented beta and zero-inflated discrete models with heterogeneous dispersion for the analysis of student academic performance

The purpose of this work is to present suitable statistical methods to study the performance of undergraduate students based on the incidence/proportion of failed courses/subjects. Three approaches are considered: first, the proportion of failed subjects is modeled considering a zero-one augmented beta distribution; second, discrete models are used to model the probability of failing subjects with logit link; third, incidence is modeled using regression for count data with log link and the logarithm of the total number of subjects as an offset. Zero-inflated versions are used to account for the excess of zeros in the data when appropriate and we also considered the heterogeneous dispersion parameter, when applicable. Overall, the zero-inflated negative binomial and zero inflated beta-binomial models, with regression on the mean and the dispersion parameters, present good measures of goodness of fit to the data. The database consists of records of Engineering major students who entered the State University of Campinas, Brazil, from 2000 to 2005. Entrance exam scores and demographic variables as well as socio-economic status are considered as covariates in the models.