Engineering education: An exploration of the classroom climate in sophomore engineering courses

Lynette Ann Osborne, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the classroom climate in engineering education at a Research I university. Despite the well-documented under-representation of women in higher education engineering programs, little research has probed the perceptions of gendered treatment of women as compared to men in these programs. Nor have researchers empirically explored the classroom environment in engineering education that plays an important role in student persistence in engineering, particularly for women students. Such information may be important not only to helping young women navigate the complex social and academic requirements of the major, but also to illuminate men students and faculty to their contributions to the environment. With regard to the first research question, (How do male and female engineering students perceive treatment of women in engineering education?) a web questionnaire was developed to access information about student perceptions about the treatment of women in engineering. Interviews with engineering students were conducted to gain more extensive information about their experiences. From the student voices emerged a view of the engineering education climate that revealed three themes regarding perceptions of treatment of females in engineering emerged from the data. First, women and men students maintain that women are treated as equals to men in engineering education. Second, women students assert that men students treat them differently, but that they like the differential treatment. Third, women students argue that they experience differential treatment from men students, which they perceive in negative terms. The second research question, (Do engineering faculty use teaching techniques associated with optimal student learning?) was explored using classroom observations and interviews with faculty and students. Results of the study reveal that instructors in this sample use primarily the traditional lecture method rather than innovative pedagogical approaches that have been associated with a more hospitable and learning-centered classroom. The major findings of this project contribute to the understanding of the classroom climate for women in engineering education, and led to the development of a program, based on these findings and existing literature, to reduce attrition of women in engineering.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Grauerholz, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Educational sociology|Womens studies|Gender|Higher education

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