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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Misconceptions And The Notional Machine In Very Young Programming Learners, Tony A. Lowe Jul 2018

Misconceptions And The Notional Machine In Very Young Programming Learners, Tony A. Lowe

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This study looks at very young learners make mistakes and possibly form misunderstanding when learning to programming. A variety of national efforts are extending programming education to younger learners who are materials many adults struggle to learn. For decades literature has captured common misconceptions in using programming constructs (e.g. conditionals, loops, and recursion) in older learners, but early learners may wait years before they tackle these complex concepts. Many model misconceptions as a missing or inaccurate notional machine. The notional machine is an individual’s mental model, representing how a programming language executes on a real device. The notional machine aligns …


First-Generation College Students Identifying As Future Engineers, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin Apr 2018

First-Generation College Students Identifying As Future Engineers, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This paper seeks to understand factors that influence how first-generation college students identify as engineers now and in the future. Data used in this study came from four U.S. institutions obtaining a total first-generation college student sample of 596 participants. We used future possible selves as a lens to understand how first-generation college students’ current views of themselves as engineers shape their future identities as engineers. Two separate analyses were conducted. First, a multiple regression analysis was used to determine which career future satisfaction variables predicted first-generation college students current and future identification as engineers. Second, a hierarchical regression analysis …


Understanding How Engineering Identity And Belongingness Predict Grit For First-Generation College Students, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin, Adam Kirn, Lisa Benson, Geoff Potvin Apr 2018

Understanding How Engineering Identity And Belongingness Predict Grit For First-Generation College Students, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin, Adam Kirn, Lisa Benson, Geoff Potvin

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Increasing the participation of underrepresented students, including first-generation college students, in engineering plays a central role in sustaining the U.S. research and innovation capacity. Diversity continues to be recognized as an asset in engineering. However, we also know that the culture of engineering has an implicit assumption about who can be and who is recognized as an engineer. There is also a complex relationship between participation in a community of practice and identity. Diverse students must not only author an identity as an engineer but also must grapple with how that identity, historically constructed as white and masculine, becomes a …


Engineering Women’S Attitudes And Goals In Choosing Disciplines With Above And Below Average Female Representation, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin, Adam Kirn, Lisa Benson, Geoff Potvin Mar 2018

Engineering Women’S Attitudes And Goals In Choosing Disciplines With Above And Below Average Female Representation, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin, Adam Kirn, Lisa Benson, Geoff Potvin

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Women’s participation in engineering remains well below that of men at all degree levels. However, despite the low enrollment of women in engineering as a whole, some engineering disciplines report above average female enrollment. We used multiple linear regression to examine the attitudes, beliefs, career outcome expectations, and career choice of first-year female engineering students enrolled in below average, average, and above average female representation disciplines in engineering. Our work begins to understand how the socially constructed masculine cultural norms of engineering may attract women differentially into specific engineering disciplines. This study used future time perspective, psychological personality traits, grit, …


Understanding How First-Generation College Students’ Out-Of-School Experiences, Physics And Stem Identities Relate To Engineering Possible Selves And Certainty Of Career Path, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin, Gerhard Sonnert, Phillip M. Sadler Jan 2018

Understanding How First-Generation College Students’ Out-Of-School Experiences, Physics And Stem Identities Relate To Engineering Possible Selves And Certainty Of Career Path, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin, Gerhard Sonnert, Phillip M. Sadler

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This full, research category study examines how out-of-school experiences in Grades 9-12 predict first-generation college students’ engineering possible selves and certainty of career path. The data for this study came from a large-scale survey on outreach programs which was distributed in first- semester English courses to capture an array of responses from students interested in STEM and non-STEM careers. We used structural equation modeling to examine a set of hypotheses: 1) out-of-school experiences would be mediated by interest and recognition in physics and STEM and no direct effect will be found for out-of-school experiences on physics and STEM identities, 2) …