Interactive Panel: Improving the Experiences of Marginalized Students on Engineering Design Teams

• Published in: Association for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers p. 26.1007.1
• Main Authors: Meadows, Lorelle A, Sekaquaptewa, Denise, Paretti, Marie C, Pawley, Alice L, Jordan, Shawn S, Chachra, Debbie, Minerick, Adrienne
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta American Society for Engineering Education-ASEE 14.06.2015
• Subjects: Design engineering; Engineering education; Learning; Motivation; Organizational aspects; Psychology; Students; Teamwork
• DOI: 10.18260/p.24344

Interactive Panel: Improving the Experiences of Marginalized Students on Engineering Design TeamsIt is widely recognized that collaborative learning (i.e., group work) benefits student learning bycreating an educational environment in which students achieve higher grades, learn at a deeperlevel and retain information longer. However, group work is fraught with challenges for studentswho are inexperienced in managing interpersonal interactions and for faculty who sometimesstruggle to guide student teams in achieving successful interactions and learning outcomes. Oneimportant challenge centers on the interactions between students from groups negativelystereotyped as poor performers in engineering (e.g., women and underrepresented racial/ethnicminorities) and others. A body of research in psychology indicates that students from thesemarginalized groups may have qualitatively different group work experiences compared toothers, which may contribute to their under-representation in engineering.Recent research suggests that the negative experiences of people from marginalized groups onengineering student design teams can influence many factors that contribute to persistence andsuccess, such as development of self-efficacy, sense of belonging, identification and identityintegration. Often, negative experiences are the result of subtle bias or schemas that studentsbring with them into their teams, and occur despite the employment of best practices in teamformation.However, faculty management and institutional factors can play a key role in how under-represented students experience their teamwork environment. This panel brings togetherresearchers in the fields of stereotype threat, engineering design, teamwork, motivation, race,gender and intersectionality to unveil a variety of mechanisms that contribute to the studentexperience on design teams and to explore opportunities for faculty and administrators toimprove the educational experience for all students.A paper will be developed to provide an orientation to recently published literature in theseareas. It will also include discussions from the perspectives of each panelist on the teamworkenvironment in engineering education. Lastly, the paper will highlight a selection of promisingstrategies for faculty, advocates and administrators.Panel attendees will benefit from a brief orientation to research on the experiences of peoplefrom under-represented groups in engineering, an opportunity to question assumptions associatedwith the teamwork environment, and an exploration of strategies for improvement and change.