NSF Award
2024466
Engineering students are entering the profession at a time when technical challenges are increasingly complex and societal inequities abound. There are countless examples, though, where the engineering profession has not met the needs of this increasingly diverse society. In one example, facial recognition security software is failing to uniquely identify African-American and Asian faces at rates of 10 to 100 times higher than Caucasian faces. In another, artificial intelligence systems misconstrue disabled persons as ?obstacles? rather than as ?humans? in algorithmic decisions in collision avoidance scenarios. A recurring theme in these examples is engineers designing artifacts that meet the needs of the majority while failing to meet the needs of underrepresented groups. These inequities are not intentionally fueled by the engineering profession alone; rather, they are fueled by many of the professions ? engineering among them ? simply not knowing or acknowledging the full ramification of their decisions and decision-making processes toward non-dominant groups. This shortcoming in mindset must be challenged so that the United States can uncover the full range of opportunities associated with broadening both participation and perspectives in curricula, design processes, and professional practices. This project will generate evidence toward a teaching practice that seeks to broaden students? mindset to be more critical of societal inequities in the context of an introductory engineering mechanics course. The study will be led by a PI who is new to the field of engineering formation research, and the PI will be mentored and guided through research methods by an education researcher, which aligns with the RIEF program?s goals of initiating new researchers into engineering formation research that seeks to meet the needs of the dynamic and diverse workforce. Undertaking such research holds the promise of realizing new teaching practices that influence both instructors? and students? ability to emerge as change agents. This project will also provide evidence to support inclusive practices in the classroom and in the workplace, which helps respond to the needs of an increasingly complex and diverse society.<br/><br/>In this study, a curricular intervention will be grounded in a culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) framework and explored for its ability to foster a change-agent mindset in engineering students in a targeted course: statics and dynamics ? which is the typical entry point to the engineering mechanics curriculum. A mixed-methods (sequential design) approach will be used to measure student attitudes, perceptions, and successes in meeting the three tenets of CRP, namely the development of students? academic achievement, sociocultural (or multicultural) competence, and critical consciousness. The extent of students? mindset development will be measured by three specific research questions: 1) to what extent does the intervention shift students? academic preparedness; 2) how are students? multicultural competence and racial attitudes developed as a result of the intervention; and 3) how are students? sense of social-, environmental-, and economic-justice issues in engineering influenced by the intervention? A blend of validated instruments found in the social sciences literature will be used to quantitively answer those research questions. Focus groups will be conducted to generate qualitative narratives that add value and insight to the quantitative measures. The outcomes of this study will generate valuable knowledge in this intervention?s design toward teaching practices that foster inclusive and critically conscious teaching and learning practices. The overall goal of this research is to explore a curricular intervention?s ability to enhance engineering students? mindset toward change advocacy when the intervention is grounded in a CRP framework.<br/><br/>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.
