GSE/RES: Examining Engineering Perceptions, Aspirations and Identity among Young Girls

智力优势：本研究项目的主要目标是研究女孩（1-5年级）对自我和工程的概念，以及她们在各种工程活动中的参与和学习如何塑造这些概念。更具体地说，这项研究旨在了解女孩如何接近、体验和参与工程活动，以及她们的学习如何告诉女孩们她们认为自己是谁（她们参加了什么样的实践社区），她们想成为什么样的人（她们渴望什么样的实践社区）。这项研究的背景是普渡大学的P-12工程研究与学习研究所（INSPIRE），这是一项新的倡议，旨在通过P-12工程教育研究和奖学金创建一个工程素养的社会。指导本研究的研究问题包括：1)小学生对工程和职业抱负的看法是什么？女孩的观念和愿望与男孩的观念和愿望相比如何？2)小学女生认为自己是什么样的人，想成为什么样的人？女孩的自我形象与男孩的自我形象相比如何？3)儿童构建了哪些新的工程内容知识？儿童构建的新知识是否存在性别差异？4)女孩的认知、职业抱负、身份发展和工程学习之间的关系是什么？使用混合方法（工程身份发展量表[EIDS]，工程前/后知识测试，半结构化访谈和文件审查），这项为期三年的研究测量了关系，学校和职业身份的个体差异；工程观念和抱负；并通过问题解决和建模来构建工程内容知识。该研究小组与来自密歇根州底特律和印第安纳州拉斐特的小学教师和学生合作。抽样过程将优先考虑表现出以下特点的小学教师：1)在2008-11年度对参与INSPIRE有很高的兴趣和承诺；2)教师与同一班级的学生从一个年级升入下一个年级的循环做法；3)人口统计资料，其中包括25%的少数民族和50%的女性学生。本研究假设有一些可识别的指标（即学校的作用、学术、工程知识和自我形象）有助于女孩在学术生涯开始时的工程身份发展。基于现有的认同发展文献和自我感知工具，研究小组为青春期前学习者开发了一个工程认同量表，该量表将产生一组综合指标，表明工程认同发展的高、中或低趋势。更广泛的影响-了解身份如何与工程学习相互作用，有可能改变工程课程，教育计划和教学实践的制定方式。此外，该项目的研究结果可能会激发对女性学习与青春期后工程身份发展之间联系的进一步研究。研究结果的交流将通过工程和科学教育附属机构进行，促进教育工作者和研究人员对女孩如何构建工程内容知识以及这些知识如何与女孩如何发展和转变其身份相互作用的更深层次的理解。长期潜在的好处是更好地理解为什么孩子们选择把工程作为一个研究领域。这些知识可能有助于增加将工程作为职业的学生的数量，这满足了国家对增加高素质专业工程师生产的持续呼吁。

Intellectual Merit: The primary goal of this research project is to examine girls' (grades 1-5) conceptions of self and engineering and how these conceptions are shaped by their engagement and learning in various engineering activities. More specifically, the study seeks to learn how girls approach, experience, and interact with engineering activities and how their learning informs who girls think they are (what community of practice they participate in) and who they want to be (what communities of practice they aspire to). The context of this research study is Purdue University's Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning (INSPIRE), a new initiative focused on creating an engineering literate society through P-12 engineering education research and scholarship.The research questions that guide the study include: 1) What are elementary school children's perceptions of engineering and career aspirations? How do girls' perceptions and aspirations compare to boys' perceptions and aspirations? 2) What do elementary school girls report as who they think they are and who they want to be? How do girls' self-images compare to boys' self-images? 3) What new engineering content knowledge do children construct and are there gender-related differences in the new knowledge children construct? and 4) What is the relationship between girls' perceptions, career aspirations, identity development, and learning in engineering? Using a mixed-methods approach (Engineering Identity Development Scale [EIDS], Pre/Post Engineering Knowledge Tests, semi-structured interviews, and document review), the three year study measures individual differences in relational, school, and occupational identity; engineering perceptions and aspirations; and engineering content knowledge construction through problem solving and modeling.The research team works with elementary school teachers and students from school sites in Detroit, MI and Lafayette, IN. The sampling process gives preference to elementary school teachers who demonstrate: 1) high interest and commitment to participating in INSPIRE in 2008-11; 2) looping practices whereby teachers advance from one grade level to the next with the same class of students; and 3) a demographic profile that includes a composition of ~25% minority and ~50% female students. This research study assumes that there are identifiable indicators (i.e. role of school, academics, engineering knowledge, and self-images) that contribute to girls' engineering identity development at the beginning of their academic careers. Building on existing identity development literature and self-perception instruments, the research team developed an engineering identity scale for the pre-adolescent learner that will yield groups of combined indicators that suggest a high, medium, or low tendency toward engineering identity development. Broader Impacts - An understanding of how identity interacts with learning in engineering has the potential to change the ways in which engineering curriculum, educational programs, and instructional practices are formulated. Furthermore, project findings may instigate further research on the link between women's learning and identity development in engineering post-adolescence. Communication of the findings will be through engineering and science education affiliations, catalyzing deeper understanding among educators and researchers on how girls construct engineering content knowledge and how this knowledge interacts with how girls develop and transform their identities. The long term potential benefit is to gain a better understanding of why children elect to pursue engineering as a field of study. This knowledge may help increase the number of students who pursue engineering as a career, which addresses the national and persistent call for increased production of high-quality professional engineers.