Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: Career Education Program to Increase Engineering Identity for Students from Low-Income High Schools

STEM职业预计将在未来十年增长，其中大部分预计的就业增长将来自建筑、工程和建筑（AEC）职业。以目前的工程专业大学入学率来看，随着工程专业工作岗位的增加，加上老龄化的工程专业劳动力的退休，如果不能招聘更多的年轻人来填补空缺，预计工程专业工作岗位将出现短缺。女性、黑人、拉丁裔和土著学生在STEM中的代表性不足，为工程学的多样化和发展提供了机会。此外，这些途径为学习者提供了经济和社会资本。由于这些原因，年轻学生，特别是中学生，必须意识到并对工程职业感兴趣。本研究有两个主要目标：(1)通过研究创新中学外展计划的影响来开展与工程身份发展相关的研究，以支持低收入，种族多样化学校的工程和建筑学生的身份发展和职业道路；(2)通过在工程身份发展领域指导PI的发展来增加工程教育研究人员的社区。这项工作将把基于身份的激励框架引入到K-12教育的推广工作中。因此，它将提供新的、基于证据的方式来支持学生进入STEM领域。该研究使用多方法方法来回答研究问题：如何结合基于问题的学习，接触行业榜样和职业规划，专注于建筑行业应用，增加低收入家庭学生和边缘化学生追求STEM职业的身份动机？回答这个问题将为未来开发针对类似目标的干预措施提供信息，并将验证和扩展基于身份的动机框架到大学预科教育中。通过利用宾夕法尼亚州立大学（Penn State）人才搜索计划，干预的试点年将提供给40多名7年级和8年级的学生，然后在项目的第二年扩展到500多名学生。这个项目的重点是通过向学生介绍不同的AEC角色模型和让学生参与工程师所做的各种工作，拓宽中学生对成为一名工程师意味着什么的概念。预计这项赠款将产生若干短期和长期的更广泛的影响。通过扩大对各种工程职业和组成AEC行业的人员的理解，中学生可以开始看到工程身份与他们的其他身份一致。身份一致性具有激励作用，并与较高的学业成就相一致。这种努力在低收入、种族和民族多样化的人才搜索计划中尤为重要。因为中学是一个独立发展的时期，让学生认识到他们未来的自我是一名工程师的活动可能是富有成效的。提议的活动可能会激发长期的战略变化，使一些学生有可能从事工程职业，否则他们可能会选择放弃这种可能性。这一努力的结果将在短期内影响500多名学生，并通过人才搜索手册的开发影响数千名学生，该手册将分发给该计划的顾问和更大的工程教育界。此外，这一努力发展了PI在工程教育研究中的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

STEM occupations are expected to grow in the next decade with much of the projected job growth predicted in architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) occupations. With current rates of college matriculation in engineering, the increase in engineering jobs along with the retirement of the aging engineering workforce is expected to result in a shortfall unless more young people can be recruited to fill the void. The underrepresentation of women, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students in STEM provides an opportunity for diversifying and growing engineering. Additionally, these pathways provide economic and social capital for learners. For these reasons, it is imperative that young students, particularly in middle school, become aware of and interested in careers in engineering. This research has two primary goals (1) to conduct research related to engineering identity development by studying the impact of an innovative middle school outreach program to support identity development and career pathways in engineering and architecture for students in low-income, racially diverse schools and (2) to increase the community of engineering education researchers through the mentored development of the PI in the area of engineering identity development. This work will bring the Identity-Based Motivation framework to K-12 education outreach efforts. As such, it will provide new, evidence-based ways to support students’ pathways into STEM. The study uses a multimethod approach to answer the research question: How do the combination of problem-based learning, exposure to industry role models, and career planning, focused on building industry applications, increase identity-based motivation of students from low-income households and marginalized students in pursuing STEM careers? Answering this question will inform future work developing interventions that target similar goals and will validate and expand the Identity-Based Motivation framework into pre-college education. By leveraging The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) Talent Search Program, the pilot year of the intervention will be delivered to over 40 7th and 8th grade students in a pilot program and then be expanded to over 500 students in the second year of the project. This project focuses on broadening middle school students’ conceptions of what it means to be an engineer by introducing students to diverse AEC role models and engaging students in the kinds of work done by engineers. There are several short- and long-term broader impacts expected to result from this grant. By expanding the understanding of the varied engineering careers and people that make up the AEC industry, middle school students can begin to see engineering identities congruent with their other identities. Identity congruence is motivating and consistent with higher academic achievement. This effort is particularly important in the low-income, racially and ethnically diverse Talent Search Program. Because middle school is a time of blossoming independence, activities to engage the student’s perception of their future self as an engineer can be fruitful. The proposed activities may inspire longer-term strategic change that makes an engineering career possible for several students who may otherwise have self-selected out of this possibility. The results of this effort can affect over 500 students in the short term and thousands in the long term through the development of the Talent Search Handbook that will be distributed to counselors in the program and the larger engineering education community. Additionally, this effort develops the capacity of the PI in engineering education research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.