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

智力优势：该研究项目的主要目标是研究女孩（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形成的。更具体地说，这项研究旨在了解女孩如何接近，体验和互动的工程活动，以及他们的学习如何告知女孩认为他们是谁（他们参与的实践社区）和他们想成为谁（他们渴望的实践社区）。本研究的背景是普渡大学的P-12工程研究和学习研究所（INSPIRE），一个新的倡议，重点是通过P-12工程教育研究和奖学金创建一个工程素养的社会。指导研究的研究问题包括：1）什么是小学生的工程和职业抱负的看法？与男孩的看法和愿望相比，女孩的看法和愿望如何？2)小学女生报告说，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)儿童建构了哪些新的工程内容知识？儿童建构的新知识是否存在性别差异？（4）女生的观念、职业抱负、身份发展和工程学习之间的关系是什么？采用混合方法（工程身份发展量表[EIDS]，前/后工程知识测试，半结构化访谈和文件审查），三年的研究措施的关系，学校和职业身份的个体差异;工程的看法和愿望;和工程内容的知识建设，通过解决问题和建模。研究小组与小学教师和学生从位于密歇根州底特律和印第安纳州拉斐特的学校。抽样过程优先考虑表现出以下情况的小学教师：（1）对参加2008- 2011年INSPIRE的兴趣很高并作出承诺;（2）教师与同一班学生一起从一个年级升到下一个年级的循环做法;（3）少数民族学生约占25%，女生约占50%。这项研究假设有一些可识别的指标（即学校的作用、学术界、工程知识和自我形象）有助于女孩在学术生涯开始时发展工程身份。在现有的身份发展文献和自我感知工具的基础上，研究小组为青春期前的学习者开发了一个工程身份量表，该量表将产生一组综合指标，表明工程身份发展的高，中，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，项目的研究结果可能会激发进一步研究妇女在工程后青春期的学习和身份发展之间的联系。研究结果的交流将通过工程和科学教育的联系，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内容的知识，以及这种知识如何与女孩如何发展和转变其身份相互作用。长期的潜在好处是更好地理解为什么孩子们选择追求工程作为一个研究领域。这些知识可能有助于增加追求工程作为职业的学生数量，这解决了国家和持续要求增加高质量专业工程师的生产。

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.