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

智力价值：这项研究项目的主要目标是调查女孩(1-5年级)的自我和工程概念，以及这些概念是如何通过参与和学习各种工程活动而形成的。更具体地说，这项研究试图了解女孩如何接近、体验和互动工程活动，以及她们的学习如何告知女孩认为她们是谁(她们参加了什么实践社区)和她们想成为谁(她们渴望成为什么实践社区)。这项研究的背景是普渡大学的P-12工程研究和学习研究所(INSPIRE)，这是一个新的倡议，旨在通过P-12工程教育研究和奖学金创建一个有工程素养的社会。指导这项研究的研究问题包括：1)小学生对工程的认知和职业抱负是什么？女孩的认知和渴望与男孩的认知和渴望相比如何？2)小学女孩报告说，她们认为自己是谁，想成为谁？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有什么关系？这项为期三年的研究采用混合方法(工程身份发展量表[EID]、工程前后知识测试、半结构访谈和文件回顾)，通过问题解决和建模来衡量个人在关系、学校和职业认同、工程感知和抱负以及工程内容知识构建方面的差异。研究团队与底特律、密歇根州和印第安纳州拉斐特的小学教师和学生合作。抽样过程优先考虑以下方面的小学教师：1)对参加2008-11年度INSPIRE的兴趣和承诺；2)循环做法，即教师与同一班级的学生一起从一个年级提升到下一个年级；以及3)人口统计资料，其中包括约25%的少数族裔学生和约50%的女性学生。这项研究假设，有一些可识别的指标(即学校、学术、工程知识和自我形象的作用)有助于女孩在学术生涯开始时的工程认同发展。在现有的同一性发展文献和自我知觉工具的基础上，研究小组开发了一个针对青春期前学习者的工程同一性量表，该量表将产生一组组合指标，这些指标表明工程同一性发展的高、中、低趋势。更广泛的影响--理解身份如何与工程学学习相互作用，有可能改变制定工程学课程、教育计划和教学实践的方式。此外，项目结果可能会激发关于女性学习与青春期后工程学中身份发展之间联系的进一步研究。将通过工程和科学教育分支机构传播研究结果，促进教育工作者和研究人员更深入地了解女孩如何构建工程学内容知识，以及这种知识如何与女孩如何发展和改变其身份相互作用。长期的潜在好处是更好地理解为什么孩子们选择工程学作为一个学习领域。这些知识可能有助于增加以工程为职业的学生数量，这满足了国家对增加高素质专业工程师培养的长期呼声。

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.