Why women choose service-learning: seeking and finding engineering-related experiences
Why women choose service-learning: seeking and finding engineering-related experiences
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为什么女性选择服务学习：寻求和寻找与工程相关的经验
DOI：
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发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
C. Zoltowski
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
H. Matusovich;W. Oakes;C. Zoltowski
作为一个领域，工程学在性别平等和种族多样性方面仍然面临挑战，尽管过去20年来一直在努力缩小这种差距。尽管研究和课程改革的努力促进了我们对如何吸引女性进入工程学的理解，但从学生的角度来看，我们仍然知之甚少，为什么有些做法能成功地吸引和留住女性。仅仅知道什么是有效的是不够的，我们还必须知道为什么有些做法有效，以创造更快的变化和实现多样性目标。我们的研究首先回答了这个为什么的问题，定性地检查了8名女性参与者选择参加一个服务学习课程(社区服务工程项目(EPICS))，该课程在过去16年里成功地吸引了女性。我们的结果表明，我们的参与者选择EPICS作为一种获取工程经验的方式；EPICS提供了情境学习的好处，并在EPICS和其他课程中产生了影响；EPICS对工程承诺产生了积极的影响。解释我们的结果，我们认为，女性正在寻找方法，在一个她们感到舒服的环境中获得工程经验，比如史诗。帮助他人的经验和能力的背景很重要，但相对于获得工程经验来说，这是次要的。
As a field, engineering remains challenged with regard to gender parity and ethnic diversity despite efforts over the last 20 yearsaimed at closing such gaps. Although research and curricular reform efforts have advanced our understanding of what works toattract women to engineering, we still know little from the student perspective as to why some practices are successful in attractingand retaining women. It is not enough to know what works, but we must also know why some practices work in order to createlasting change and reach diversity goals. Our study begins addressing this why question by qualitatively examining eight womenparticipants’ choices to enroll in a service-learning course (Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)) that has beensuccessful in attracting women over 16 years. Our results show that our participants choose EPICS as a way to gain experiencedoing engineering; that EPICS provides the benefit of contextualized learning with resulting impacts within EPICS and in otherclasses, and that EPICS positively impacts commitment to engineering. Interpreting our results, we argue that women are seekingways to gain engineering experience in a setting that is comfortable to them, such as EPICS. The context of the experience andability to help others is important, but secondary to gaining engineering experience.