Marissa H. Forbes

Low-Choice Culture in Undergraduate Engineering and Autonomy-Supportive Exceptions

AbstractOver the last century, colleges and universities in the United States have increasingly provided students with opportunities in the curriculum to choose the courses they take. Have engineer...

Ascertaining the Impact of P–12 Engineering Education Initiatives: Student Impact through Teacher Impact

The widespread need to address both science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and STEM workforce development is persistent. Underscored by the Next Generation Science Standards, demand is high for P–12 engineering-centered curricula. TeachEngineering is a free, standards-aligned NSF-funded digital library of more than 1,500 hands-on, design-rich K–12 engineering lessons and activities. Beyond anonymous site-user counts, the impact of the TeachEngineering collection and outreach initiatives on the education of children and their teachers was previously unknown. Thus, the project team wrestled with the question of how to meaningfully ascertain classroom impacts of the digital engineering education library and—more broadly—how to ascertain the impacts of teacher-focused P–12 engineering education initiatives. In this paper, the authors approach the classroom impact question through probing self-reported differentials in: (1) teachers’ confidence in teaching engineering concepts, and (2) changes in their teaching practices as a result of exposure to (and experiences with) K–12 engineering education resources and outreach opportunities. In 2016, four quantitative and qualitative surveys were implemented to probe the impact of the TeachEngineering digital library and outreach on four populations of K–12 teachers’ confidence and practices, including the frequency with which they integrate engineering into their precollege classrooms. Survey results document the teacher experience and perception of using hands-on K–12 engineering curricular materials in the classroom and help create a data-driven understanding of where to best invest future resources. The results suggest that the TeachEngineering curricular resources and outreach initiatives help teachers build confidence in their use of engineering curriculum and pedagogy in K–12 classrooms, impact their teaching practices, and increase their likelihood of teaching engineering in the classroom in the future.

Curricular choice and technical—non-technical balance in computer science and engineering degree programs

Many undergraduate engineering programs offer minimal course choice opportunities and constrain students in their ability to realize a broad and balanced education. This study delineates the course choice opportunities (i.e. free electives, technical electives, etc.) and balance of required technical and non-technical coursework in 62 computer science and computer engineering programs spanning 35 U.S. News & World Report top-ranked engineering colleges. Students in the studied computer science and engineering programs were afforded a median of 3% of their degree program as free electives and choices in 49% of total course selections. Across the same universities, other engineering disciplines provided even less choice (median 1% free electives and 39% total choice); in contrast, chemistry, math, and physics programs allotted a median of 17% free electives and choice in 67% of course selections. The computer science and engineering programs required a median of 74% technical coursework (engineering, math and natural science) and 23% non-technical coursework; students in these programs experience less curricular balance than their natural science and math peers. Flexible and balanced degree programs in computer science and engineering exist and may appeal to a broader sector of students, facilitate in-migration and on-time graduation, and reflect evolving societal needs.