MENU
  • ASEE Logo
  • Give
    Give
    ASEE Donations...
    Classified Volunteer
    Login Join
  • Join Login Volunteer Classified Give
    Give
    ASEE Donations...



About
  • Overview
    • Mission, Vision, Goals
    • Public Policy Statements
    • Constitution
    • Bylaws
    • Organizational Structure
    • Investment Policy
    • Financial Policy
  • Our History
  • Staff Contacts
  • Leadership
    • Board Of Directors
    • Academy Of Fellows
    • Past Board Members
    • Advisory Committees
    • Representatives to External Organizations
    • Executive Director's Message
    • Meeting Minutes
  • Volunteer
  • Careers at ASEE
  • Privacy Statement
I Am A...
  • Member
      Login Required
    • Your Member Page
    • Membership Directory
    • Financials
    • No Login Required
    • Awards
    • Divisions, Fellows, and Campus Reps
    • Sections and Zones
    • Resources
  • Prospective Individual/Organizational Member
    • About ASEE
    • Individual Membership
    • Institutional Membership
    • Major Activities
  • Donor
  • Prospective Partner or Sponsor
  • Advertiser
  • Fellowship Seeker
    • About Fellowships
    • High School
    • Undergraduate
    • Graduate
    • Post-Doctoral
    • Other Programs
Events
  • Conferences and Meetings
    • 2021 Annual Conference & Exposition
    • 2020 Virtual Annual Conference & Exposition
    • Section & Zone Meetings
  • Council Events
    • Conference for Industry and
      Education Collaboration (CIEC)
    • CMC Workforce Summit
    • Engineering Deans Institute (EDI)
    • Research Leadership Institute (RLI) (Formerly ERC)
    • Engineering Technology Leaders Institute (ETLI)
    • EDC Public Policy Colloquium (PPC)
  • Featured Events
    • Frontiers in Education
    • NETI
    • CoNECD
    • First Year Engineering Experience
    • Workforce Summit
  • Future Conference Dates
Publications
  • News
    • Newsletters
    • eGFI
    • Division Publications
  • Journals and Conference Papers
    • Overview
    • Journal of Engineering Education
    • Advances in Engineering Education
    • Conference Proceedings
    • Section Proceedings
    • Zone Proceedings
    • PEER
    • Plagiarism
  • Monographs and Reports
  • Prism Magazine
  • Data
    • Profiles of E&ET Colleges
    • Case Study Series: Engineering-Enhanced Liberal Education
Impact
  • Public Policy Statements
  • Data Analysis
  • Annual Reports
  • Diversity
Education & Careers
  • Academic Job Opportunities
  • Course Catalog
  • Engineering Education Research and Innovation
    • Engineering Education Community Resource
  • PreK-12
    • eGFI Teachers
    • eGFI Students
  • Engineering Teacher PD Endorsement
Calendar
2020 Annual Conference
The ASEE 2020 Virtual Annual Conference content is available.
See More....
  • Overview
    • Conference Overview
    • 2019 Highlights
    • ASEE-TV
  • Travel
    • Hotel Accommodations
  • Program
    • Schedule-at-a-Glance
    • Conference Highlights
    • Social Media Contest
    • Online Session Locator
    • National Award Winners and Video Competition Winners
    • 2020 VC Program
  • Registration
  • Sponsors & Exhibitors
    • Marketing Kit
    • Sponsors
    • Exhibitors
    • Exhibit Space Contract
    • Information Guide
    • Sponsorship Contract
  • Paper Management
    • Important Deadlines
    • For Authors
    • For Chairs
    • For Workshop Organizers
    • For Reviewers
    • For Moderators
    • Call for Papers
  • Kid's Korner
    • Overview
  • Wellness
    • Overview
  • Overview
    • Conference Overview
    • 2019 Highlights
    • ASEE-TV
  • Travel
    • Hotel Accommodations
  • Program
    • Schedule-at-a-Glance
    • Conference Highlights
    • Social Media Contest
    • Online Session Locator
    • National Award Winners and Video Competition Winners
    • 2020 VC Program
  • Registration
  • Sponsors & Exhibitors
    • Marketing Kit
    • Sponsors
    • Exhibitors
    • Exhibit Space Contract
    • Information Guide
    • Sponsorship Contract
  • Paper Management
    • Important Deadlines
    • For Authors
    • For Chairs
    • For Workshop Organizers
    • For Reviewers
    • For Moderators
    • Call for Papers
  • Kid's Korner
    • Overview
  • Wellness
    • Overview

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Addressing First-Year Interest in Engineering via a Maker-Space-Based Introduction to Engineering Course

Presented at First-Year Programs: Maker Spaces in the First Year

This Complete Evidence-based Practice article is primarily focused on the impact an introductory engineering makerspace course had on enrolled first-year student’s interest in engineering. National retention rates for engineering undergraduate degrees continue to be well below expectations. A major contributing factor is the nature of many first- and second-year gateway courses resulting in an undesirably large number of students leaving the program. If student experiences can be implemented in the first year that augments their interest in engineering such that it offsets the discouragement resulting from certain early course experiences, then students will be more likely to persist through degree in engineering.

Contemporary research has shown that there are individual constructs that not only play an influential role in retention but are even more meaningful than the question of aptitude and/or work ethic. Thus, if these factors can be effectively accounted for, then retention rates can be improved without lowering academic standards. One barrier in particular, often referred to in literature as interest (in engineering), has been the focus of pedagogy for a makerspace-based, introductory engineering course (ENGR 111) that all first-year engineering students at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering (SSoE) at the University of Louisville must take.

The interest barrier, defined in this paper as “student beliefs related to the significance and/or usefulness of engineering”, inherently includes student perception(s) related to the level of pleasure experienced in conducting engineering-related tasks or activities. Research has identified interest as the most significant retention impediment for SSoE students; specifically, an increase in interest predicted which students remained in engineering. Yet the significance of the interest question extends well beyond SSoE to engineering programs all over the country.

First-year engineering makerspace courses can have a positive impact on first-year interest in engineering. Not only do makerspaces offer chances for young students to engage in engineering endeavors in creative ways, but makerspaces have shown great potential in addressing broader goals of education, such as the augmentation of first-year engineering student retention. Much of the research on makerspace impacts and practices have focused on K-12 and informal education. Little is known about how a well-designed, makerspace-based engineering course can address barriers to first-year students’ persistence in engineering, such as the interest in engineering barrier focused on in this paper.

Research also suggest that the makerspace movement provides a beneficial opportunity for student development of interests and identity. The structure of ENGR 111 provides a context and potential for addressing motivational barriers, such as interest in engineering, in a manner that traditional classrooms cannot do. Likewise, ENGR 111 provides students the situational means to experience problem solving in a way that wouldn’t be possible in a traditional course structure. While research in college retention has focused on integration into the university, research in engineering retention has focused more on integration into the engineering culture; thereby making ENGR 111 an ideal mechanism for addressing the first-year interest barrier. This study employed a post measure of students, asking about their individual interest in engineering and how impactful their ENGR 111 course experience was on their response to the interest query. This paper reports on the results and outcomes.

Authors
  1. Dr. Brian Scott Robinson University of Louisville
  2. Dr. James E. Lewis University of Louisville [biography]

    James E. Lewis, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Fundamentals in the J. B. Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville. His research interests include parallel and distributed computer systems, cryptography, engineering education, undergraduate retention and technology (Tablet PCs) used in the classroom.

  3. Mr. Nicholas Hawkins University of Louisville [biography]

    Nicholas Hawkins is a Graduate Teaching Assistance in the Engineering Fundamentals Department at the University of Louisville. A PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, he received both his B.S. and M. Eng. from the University of Louisville in the same field. His research interests include power electronics and controls, as well as engineering education for first-year students.

  4. Ms. Teresa Lee Tinnell Orcid 16x16http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2768-919X University of Louisville [biography]

    Terri Tinnell is a STEM Education Curriculum and Instruction PhD Candidate and Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Louisville.
    Research interests include: interdisciplinary faculty development, first-year engineering student retention, STEM teacher education, and collaborative, team-based learning experiences.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2020, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 26, 2021

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

« View session


  • Follow Us
  • twitter
  • facebook
  • youtube
  • instagram
  • linkedin
  • 1818 N Street N.W. Suite 600, Washington DC 20036

  • Telephone: 202.331.3500 | Fax: 202.265.8504

  • © 2021 Copyright: ASEE.org All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.