The calling of an engineer: High school students’ perceptions of engineering
Scott Compeau
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
Synopsis
The purpose of this research study is to describe the knowledge and/or perceptions that grade 9 and grade 10 students have about the engineering profession. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 100 students in the form of an online questionnaire. This was followed by 11 independent, semi-structured interviews gathering detailed information on students’ perceptions of engineers and the work that they do. The findings of this study will inform engineering outreach initiatives targeting intermediate and early high school students, and add to the growing body of literature supporting a greater emphasis on engineering in STEM education. This study is being conducted as part of a larger research project examining factors influencing students’ decision to enroll in engineering education programs.
Introduction
An increase in student awareness of the engineering profession is needed for achieving high-quality engineering graduates and diversifying the profession. According to the Canadian Engineering Labour Market Conditions 2009-2018, there will be moderate to significant supply pressures for nearly all engineering disciplines through 2018. A recent research study of Grade 7 students suggested that a substantial majority had little or no knowledge of engineers or the engineering profession. Therefore, it is important to determine if this trend continues with students in their early years of high school, when specific course streaming may influence career choices such as entering the engineering profession.
Methodology
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry which seeks to interpret and understand social or cultural phenomena from the perspective of those participants, as individuals or as groups, whom have experienced it [1]. Since this study is aimed at describing the perceptions that students have about engineering, a qualitative approach is necessary and the students themselves must be the participants. The first component of the study is an online questionnaire that has been blended and modified to fit the context of this study from a series of studies used to assess students’ perceptions of engineering [2,3], and to incorporate both closed-ended and open-ended questions. Close-ended data will be analyzed using Excel, while open-ended data will be transcribed into individual Word files for coding and analysis. Once transcribed, descriptive statistics will be used to summarize the findings. The second component is eleven semi-structured interviews which provides the interviewer with the freedom to adjust the sequence of the questions and/or add questions based on the participants’ responses to further investigate the preconceived notions that high school students have about the engineering profession, and to obtain a rich understanding of their knowledge about the profession.
Results
The descriptive statistics from the closed-ended portion of the questionnaire serve as the primary results for this study thus far. The following figures contain the results from several questions on the questionnaire. For this study, a four point Likert scale was used and the responses converted to numerical values for statistical analysis purposes.
Q. 7 – How well do you know about each profession? / Q. 9 – What comes to mind when you think about engineering?Q. 12 – What courses are necessary to take in high school? / Q. 15 – Do you know any engineers?
Conclusions
The conclusions from this study are a work in progress. Currently, all of the data has been collected from both the questionnaire and interviews. Once the data is analyzed, the results from this study can be concluded and recommendation for future work can be made.
References
[1] Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. [2] Cunningham, C., Lachapelle, C., & Lindgren-Streicher. (2005). Assessing elementary school student's conceptions of engineering and technology. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition. [3] National Academy of Engineering. (2008). Raising Public Awareness of Engineering. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.