TY - GEN
T1 - Investigating the Intersection of Career Aspirations and Engineering Beliefs in First Year Engineering Students
AU - Rohde, Jacqueline A.
AU - Verdin, Dina
AU - Doyle, Jacqueline
AU - Godwin, Allison
AU - Kirn, Adam
AU - Benson, Lisa
AU - Potvin, Geoff
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (EEC Grants No. 1428689 and 1428523) for supporting the research reported in this paper. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 IEEE.
PY - 2019/3/4
Y1 - 2019/3/4
N2 - This research-category full paper investigates the relationship between first-year engineering students' career aspirations and attitudes towards engineering. Career aspirations describe students' beliefs about professional roles they might perform in the future. Attitudes towards engineering were measured using engineering identity, belongingness within engineering, and specific motivation constructs. Examining the intersection of aspirations and attitudes allows educators to understand how students' intended career choices are related to their perceptions of their educational experience. Using survey data from 2,916 students at four large public universities, we found that an interest in industry-based careers was associated with high engineering identity, belongingness, and motivation scores. We found that gender had a moderate effect on aspirations and attitudes. Additionally, we found that an interest in mechanical engineering was associated with increased certainty in an engineering/industry career, while interests in biomedical engineering, non-engineering STM majors, and non-STEM majors were associated with decreased certainty in an engineering/industry career. These results have implications for the current discourse around how engineering students make decisions about their future careers.
AB - This research-category full paper investigates the relationship between first-year engineering students' career aspirations and attitudes towards engineering. Career aspirations describe students' beliefs about professional roles they might perform in the future. Attitudes towards engineering were measured using engineering identity, belongingness within engineering, and specific motivation constructs. Examining the intersection of aspirations and attitudes allows educators to understand how students' intended career choices are related to their perceptions of their educational experience. Using survey data from 2,916 students at four large public universities, we found that an interest in industry-based careers was associated with high engineering identity, belongingness, and motivation scores. We found that gender had a moderate effect on aspirations and attitudes. Additionally, we found that an interest in mechanical engineering was associated with increased certainty in an engineering/industry career, while interests in biomedical engineering, non-engineering STM majors, and non-STEM majors were associated with decreased certainty in an engineering/industry career. These results have implications for the current discourse around how engineering students make decisions about their future careers.
KW - Belonging
KW - Careers
KW - Identity
KW - Motivation
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U2 - 10.1109/FIE.2018.8659311
DO - 10.1109/FIE.2018.8659311
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85063461735
T3 - Proceedings - Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE
BT - Frontiers in Education
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 48th Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE 2018
Y2 - 3 October 2018 through 6 October 2018
ER -