Page 107 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11338.html

90 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020

(1) outreach efforts to increase the number of students from under-
represented groups in engineering; (2) efforts to work with students
from under-represented groups who enroll in engineering to improve
their success rate; and (3) curricular reforms that promote success in
engineering for all students, including students from underrepresented
groups.
Examples of outreach programs include: sending engineering stu-
dents into K-12 schools to provide information and demonstrations of
the nature of engineering; working with K-12 students on weekends or
during the summer to promote their understanding of the nature of
engineering; and working with K-12 teachers and/or guidance counse-
lors to improve their understanding of the nature of engineering and
career opportunities for their students. Examples of “success efforts”
included: peer mentoring programs; summer bridge programs to pro-
vide support for students during the transition from high school to
college; academic success programs to improve study skills, essential
technical and nontechnical skills, and social skills that are vital to aca-
demic success, especially for students from underrepresented groups;
and programs on women in engineering and minorities in engineering.
Although outreach and success efforts by EECs did increase partici-
pation and the retention of students from underrepresented groups, they
were not unique to EEC participating institutions and did not promote
systemic reform in engineering education. In addition, most outreach
and success efforts did not involve engineering faculty members who
were not engaged in constructing these programs. As a result, they re-
mained uninformed about research on underrepresented groups in en-
gineering, rationales for outreach and success programs, and the suc-
cesses of such programs. Consequently, these programs have not
changed the learning environments in which the vast majority of stu-
dents study engineering.
Efforts at curricular reform were based on the understanding that
recruiting members of underrepresented groups into engineering cur-
ricula fashioned by white males and then working with them to encour-
age their success did not address a basic problem—the curricula in place
in 1990 did not have the attributes that would stimulate interest and
promote the success of students from underrepresented groups, or, in
fact, all students. The curricula did not provide students with experi-
ence with engineering practice and artifacts, did not build links
between abstract concepts and real-life tasks, and did not build connec-

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