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Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
Julie P. Martin (open in a new tab) Engineering Education Transformations Institute, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Maura Borrego (open in a new tab) STEM Education, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA; Center for Engineering Education, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78705, USA
Karin J. Jensen (open in a new tab) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1101 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
Walter C. Lee (open in a new tab) Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech, 353 Goodwin Hall, 635 Prices Fork Rd, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA
Joel Alejandro Mejia (open in a new tab) Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Applied Engineering & Technology (AET) Building Room 1.310, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, Texas 78249, USA
Homero Murzi (open in a new tab) Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Christen Priddie (open in a new tab) Center for Postsecondary Research, School of Education, Indiana University Bloomington, 201 N. Rose Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Hyun Kyoung Ro (open in a new tab) College of Education, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76201, USA
Leonard D. Taylor, Jr. (open in a new tab) Auburn University, Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology Department 3084 Haley Center Auburn, AL 36849
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"IT MAKES ME WANNA GO OUT AND HELP PEOPLE": ENHANCING AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH'S PERCEPTIONS OF ENGINEERING

pages 41-74
DOI: 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2021036696
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ABSTRACT

Researchers theorize that identification with a career field is achieved when there is alignment between student values and their perceptions of the values a career field meets. Stereotypically, engineering is perceived to align with status values, such as high pay, but the reality is that engineering is a collaborative enterprise that solves critical social challenges. To portray a more accurate view of the field, we designed a summer camp experience around the Grand Challenges for Engineering to highlight the impacts of engineering on society and our everyday lives. We evaluated the effects of this camp in reframing engineering as an altruistic career for grade 8−10 African American students who came from a low-income, urban community. Interviews and surveys assessed the impact of the camp on students' self-efficacy and interest in engineering. We used qualitative coding in our interview data and a combination of nonparametric and intensive longitudinal models for our quantitative data. Analyses indicated that students' engineering self-efficacy increased. Intensive sampling of attitudes suggested that camp activities that were rated higher on "helping people" received higher ratings of interest and self-efficacy. Through the interviews, we found that the camp led to meaningful changes in students' appreciation of engineering and, in some cases, new interests in pursuing engineering as a career. Framing engineering as an altruistic career path led to meaningful changes in students' definitions of engineering and their connection of engineering to their career interests. Future research should explore extensions of this work to other populations of students.

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