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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Insights From Two Decades Of P-12 Engineering Education Research, Cary I. Sneider, Mihir K. Ravel Nov 2021

Insights From Two Decades Of P-12 Engineering Education Research, Cary I. Sneider, Mihir K. Ravel

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The 21st century has seen a growing movement in the United States towards the adoption of engineering and technology as a complement to science education. Motivated by this shift, this article offers insights into engineering education for grades P-12, based on a landscape review of 263 empirical research studies spanning the two decades from January 2000 to June 2021. These insights are organized around three core themes: (1) students’ understandings, skills, and attitudes about engineering and technology; (2) effective methods of P-12 engineering education; and (3) benefits of P-12 engineering education. The insights are captured in the form of evidence-based …


Enhancing Engineering Identity Among Boys Of Color, Jerrod Henderson, Virginia Snodgrass Rangel, James Holly Jr, Rick Greer, Mariam Manuel Sep 2021

Enhancing Engineering Identity Among Boys Of Color, Jerrod Henderson, Virginia Snodgrass Rangel, James Holly Jr, Rick Greer, Mariam Manuel

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Black and Brown men continue to be underrepresented in engineering. One explanation for the dearth of Black and Latino men in engineering is that engineering (and STEM) identity often is not inclusive of People of Color. As a result, Black and Brown boys may be less likely to become interested in STEM subjects. The purpose of this study, then, was to investigate how the components of one afterschool engineering program tap into engineering identity formation among fourth- and fifth-grade Black and Brown boys. Leveraging research on the STEM and engineering identity, we argue that the program and its key components …


Journal Of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-Peer) Annual Report From January 1, 2020 To December 31, 2020, Senay Purzer, Kami N. Schwatz Jun 2021

Journal Of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-Peer) Annual Report From January 1, 2020 To December 31, 2020, Senay Purzer, Kami N. Schwatz

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Over the last ten years, the Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER) has been disseminating research that seeks to investigate, enhance, and transform pre-college engineering education and, ultimately, to create an engineering‐literate society. The 2020 annual report presents readership metrics and statistics of the decade, trends and metrics on J-PEER's authorship in 2020, and our reflections on the last year.


More Than Mechanisms: Shifting Ideologies For Asset-Based Learning In Engineering Education, Brian E. Gravel, Eli Tucker-Raymond, Aditi Wagh, Susan Klimczak, Naeem Wilson Jun 2021

More Than Mechanisms: Shifting Ideologies For Asset-Based Learning In Engineering Education, Brian E. Gravel, Eli Tucker-Raymond, Aditi Wagh, Susan Klimczak, Naeem Wilson

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Learning spaces, the practices in which people engage, and the representations they use are ideological. Ideologies are coherent constellations of values, beliefs, and practices that impose order on how disciplines like engineering operate. Historically, engineering spaces have been dominated by a relatively technocratic, rationalistic, and exclusionary ideology, but more recent attention to asset-based approaches to engineering education offers transformative promise. Asset-based ideologies can reshape images of legitimized engineering practice, recasting engineering education to disrupt dominant exclusionary ideologies. This paper describes an assets-based learning space, SETC, that recaptures the imagination of engineering for technological and social change. Drawing from extensive ethnographic …


Making Makers: Tracing Stem Identity In Rural Communities, Jessie Nixon, Andy Stoiber, Erica Halverson, Michael Dando Jun 2021

Making Makers: Tracing Stem Identity In Rural Communities, Jessie Nixon, Andy Stoiber, Erica Halverson, Michael Dando

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

In this article, we describe efforts to reduce barriers of entry to pre-college engineering in a rural community by training local teens to become maker-mentors and staff a mobile makerspace in their community. We bring a communities of practice frame to our inquiry, focusing on inbound and peripheral learning and identity trajectories as a mechanism for representing the maker-mentor experience. Through a longitudinal case study, we traced the individual trajectories of five maker-mentors over two years. We found a collection of interrelated factors present in those students who maintained inbound trajectories and those who remained on the periphery. Our research …


Funds Of Knowledge As Pre-College Experiences That Promote Minoritized Students’ Interest, Self-Efficacy Beliefs, And Choice Of Majoring In Engineering, Dina Verdín, Jessica M. Smith, Juan Lucena Jun 2021

Funds Of Knowledge As Pre-College Experiences That Promote Minoritized Students’ Interest, Self-Efficacy Beliefs, And Choice Of Majoring In Engineering, Dina Verdín, Jessica M. Smith, Juan Lucena

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Pre-college experiences both inside and outside of the classroom inform students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related activities, help them evaluate their knowledge and skills in various tasks, and shape their perceptions of themselves as individuals who can participate in STEM. Yet little empirical research examines the valuable pre-college knowledge, practices, and skills that minoritized students acquire through their home experiences and how they can support students’ transition into an engineering pathway. This study addresses this gap by investigating how students’ funds of knowledge support their interest in engineering, self-efficacy beliefs, and certainty of pursuing an engineering major. …


Equitable Pre-College Engineering Education: Teaching With Racism In Mind, James Holly Jr Jun 2021

Equitable Pre-College Engineering Education: Teaching With Racism In Mind, James Holly Jr

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Engineering educators must consider how the cultural backgrounds of students coincide (or diverge) with the epistemological and ontological formation of an engineer. Hence, this work is presented as an exhortation to engineering educators, particularly in a pre-college context, to critically evaluate how race-conscious pedagogies can be exerted in this field. In this autoethnographic study, I convey my attempt to teach engineering with explicit consideration of the sociopolitical context of the Black male youth I taught. As a Black male, I have an insider perspective into the realities that must be navigated to succeed in a racialized society, where Black males …


Transnational Latinx Youths’ Workplace Funds Of Knowledge And Implications For Assets-Based, Equity-Oriented Engineering Education, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Jorge Acosta-Feliz May 2021

Transnational Latinx Youths’ Workplace Funds Of Knowledge And Implications For Assets-Based, Equity-Oriented Engineering Education, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Jorge Acosta-Feliz

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Due to economic inequality in society, millions of Latinx high school youth work after-school jobs and summer jobs in order to provide additional income for their families. The purpose of this qualitative study, conducted with transnational Latinx youth, was to identify the engineering-related skills and bodies of knowledge they developed and applied while in different workplaces. This study is framed in complementary theories of funds of knowledge, Vygotskian theories of mediated action, and theories of resistant capital. Specifically, this study is based in the premise that youth can develop engineering-related funds of knowledge through tool-mediated, goal-directed activities jointly conducted with …


The Ingenuity Of Everyday Practice: A Framework For Justice-Centered Identity Work In Engineering In The Middle Grades, Angela M. Calabrese Barton, Kathleen Schenkel, Edna Tan May 2021

The Ingenuity Of Everyday Practice: A Framework For Justice-Centered Identity Work In Engineering In The Middle Grades, Angela M. Calabrese Barton, Kathleen Schenkel, Edna Tan

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Inequities in opportunities to learn and become in engineering, especially for minoritized youth, are enduring and systemic. How students experience engineering education, through curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher/student interactions, all shape opportunities for identity development. In this paper we draw upon cultural studies and critical ethnography to explore how and why students engage in engineering for sustainable communities and its relationship to their identity work. We ground our work in a justice-centered asset-based stance that centers how people’s lived lives and community wisdom yield powerful forms of cultural knowledge/practice relevant to learning and engaging in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We …


Elementary Teacher Adaptations To Engineering Curricula To Leverage Student And Community Resources, Jennifer L. Chiu, Sarah J. Fick, Kevin W. Mcelhaney, Nonye Alozie, Reina Fujii May 2021

Elementary Teacher Adaptations To Engineering Curricula To Leverage Student And Community Resources, Jennifer L. Chiu, Sarah J. Fick, Kevin W. Mcelhaney, Nonye Alozie, Reina Fujii

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This paper addresses an important consideration for promoting equitable engineering instruction: understanding how teachers contextualize curricular materials to draw upon student and community resources. We present a descriptive case study of two 5th grade teachers who co-designed a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned curricular unit that integrated science, engineering, and computational modeling. The five-week project challenged students to redesign their school grounds to reduce water runoff and increase accessibility for students with disabilities. The teachers implemented the project with one Grade 5 class with a large proportion of students having individualized learning plans and cultural backgrounds minoritized in science, technology, …


Equitizing Engineering Education By Valuing Children’S Assets: Including Empathy And An Ethic Of Care When Considering Trade-Offs After Design Failures, Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue, John Settlage May 2021

Equitizing Engineering Education By Valuing Children’S Assets: Including Empathy And An Ethic Of Care When Considering Trade-Offs After Design Failures, Pamela S. Lottero-Perdue, John Settlage

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

The broad case being made in this paper is that recognizing student assets—rather than focusing on deficits—is essential for making engineering education more equitable. The paper begins with our exploration of an epistemic practice of engineering, ‘‘making trade-offs,’’ as enacted by kindergartners after experiencing design failure and during redesign. We then acknowledge through a reexamination of data that our understanding of children’s grappling about a trade-off was incomplete without considering another asset that children brought to the design experience: ‘‘enacting empathy and an ethic of care.’’ We argue for the inclusion of this asset as an epistemic practice of engineering. …


Reflections On Asset-Based Pre-College Engineering Education To Promote Equity: An Introduction To The Special Issue, Lee Martin, Kristen B. Wendell May 2021

Reflections On Asset-Based Pre-College Engineering Education To Promote Equity: An Introduction To The Special Issue, Lee Martin, Kristen B. Wendell

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

In our call for proposals, we argued that engineering education is in need of a paradigm shift that takes students’ assets as epistemologically primary to our conception of what engineering, and engineering education, can and should be. The 12 papers collected in this special issue show how a focus on youth assets can realign engineering education to be more humane, more inclusive, and just as meaningful as that of a traditional model. The papers offer both theoretical argumentation and empirical evidence to support their answers to the question of how asset-based approaches can improve engineering education. An emergent theme in …


You Want Me To Teach Engineering? Impacts Of Recurring Experiences On K-12 Teachers’ Engineering Design Self-Efficacy, Familiarity With Engineering, And Confidence To Teach With Design-Based Learning Pedagogy, Shaunna Smith, Kimberly Talley, Araceli Ortiz, Vedaraman Sriraman Apr 2021

You Want Me To Teach Engineering? Impacts Of Recurring Experiences On K-12 Teachers’ Engineering Design Self-Efficacy, Familiarity With Engineering, And Confidence To Teach With Design-Based Learning Pedagogy, Shaunna Smith, Kimberly Talley, Araceli Ortiz, Vedaraman Sriraman

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This paper reports on findings from a group of ten teachers who were enrolled in a semester-long, graduate-level educational technology course that used design-based learning to explore the integration of making and the engineering design process into a variety of K-12 educational contexts. Using convergent mixed methods, this study examines how the course impacted teachers’ familiarity and confidence in teaching the engineering design process, as viewed through their pre- and post-semester engineering design self-efficacy scores and their weekly reflective journal entries. These measures are important factors for developing teacher experience and confidence in integrating engineering and design-based learning strategies within …


Intersecting Engineering And Literacies: A Review Of The Literature On Communicative Literacies In K-12 Engineering Education, Katarina N. Silvestri, Michelle E. Jordan, Patricia Paugh, Mary B. Mcvee, Diane L. Schallert Feb 2021

Intersecting Engineering And Literacies: A Review Of The Literature On Communicative Literacies In K-12 Engineering Education, Katarina N. Silvestri, Michelle E. Jordan, Patricia Paugh, Mary B. Mcvee, Diane L. Schallert

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Given the increased attention on pre-college engineering education and its disciplinary nature pertaining to language, discourses, and communicative practices, this state-of-the-art literature review focused on findings of research articles informed by qualitative and quantitative data to foreground communicative literacies within engineering design teams at the pre-college level. A disciplinary literacies framework was used to interpret and analyze published works in this particular domain. A search, selection, and inclusion process typical for state-of-the-art reviews yielded 33 studies. Constant comparison and open-coding led to clustering studies under five overarching themes in ranked order of frequency of occurrence pertaining to: (a) engineering disciplinary …