Resumen de A mixed-methods investigation of multiple background factors affecting aerospace engineering student success
C. Danielle Grimes, Rachel J. Brown, Rani W. Sullivan, M. Jean Mohammadi Aragh
Numerous pre-college engineering opportunities for K-12 students exist, including summer engineering programs atuniversities, engineering courses in high schools, and summer internships within industry. While these programs have beenshown to increase student enrollment in engineering, the lasting effect of background factors on engineering identity, self-efficacy, and retention has not yet been examined. The goal of this mixed-methods investigation is to investigate how and towhat degree background factors affect student success in engineering. We surveyed and analyzed 98 aerospace engineeringstudents’self-reportedbackground factors, engineeringidentity,and engineeringself-efficacy. Studentinformation suchasGPA, retention information, demographics, standardized test scores, and initial major of study were analyzed with thestudents’ self-reported data to determine significant factors. Our study used aerospace engineering students to investigatehow background factors impact success factors (i.e., retention, GPA, engineering identity, and self-efficacy) in engineering.We found that having any single positive engineering pre-collegiate experience impacted success factors, with the mostinfluential experience on success to be school experiences (e.g., high school engineering classes). This work establishes aframework, which can be used to conduct further examinations of background factors and success, which can inform thecreation of pre-collegiate programs and curricula.
