In a yearlong project, Britain's Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) investigated why some students leave their educational programs before achieving their certificates or diplomas. The project drew information on completion rates from the BTEC database. Views of BTEC centers' staff were canvassed through a national survey covering…

The Computer Assisted Teaching Unit (CATU) was instituted at Queen Mary College in 1973 to provide aid to the Faculty of Engineering in developing and implementing computer-based learning procedures to support the undergraduate teaching program. Earlier computer programs had simulated electrical and nuclear systems to give students the opportunity…

Introduction: This study sought to answer three questions: 1) Would the level of domain knowledge significantly affect the user's search behaviour? 2) Would the level of domain knowledge significantly affect search effectiveness, and 3) What would be the relationship between search behaviour and search effectiveness? Method: Participants were…

This paper reports the current status of women in science and engineering careers. Statistical data comparing women with men in various subject areas are presented, with graphs at these various levels: (1) precollege; (2) bachelor's degrees; (3) graduate school; (4) master's degrees; (5) doctoral degrees; and (6) labor force. Most of the…

The College of Engineering and Computer Science at Wright State University implemented its first summer pre-engineering program in 1988 to increase the number of minority students from the area who graduate from high school with sufficient interest and academic preparation to successfully pursue engineering or some other science- or…

The validity of a spatial visualization test for selecting candidate engineering students was assessed. The test was administered to 300 out of the 318 students enrolled during the winter quarter of 1989 in the Engineering Graphics 110 course at a major state university. Developmental steps undertaken to enhance the theoretical basis and validity…

In 1985-86 the "Women in the Technical Curricula" project was developed at Queensborough Community College to encourage more women to choose a technical curriculum and to provide support services to help them successfully complete the curriculum. The project activities were designed to eliminate the stereotype of mathematics and related…

Engineers and technologists are generally thought to be critical to various aspects of our society, including national security, economic competitiveness, and the general welfare. This report asks questions and provides some answers about how employment of engineers in defense industries and laboratories affects employment in civilian industries…

This document is intended to serve as a resource for state societies of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in the preparation of action plans targeted at legislative changes in support of engineering education. The results of action taken recently by various state legislatures in response to NSPE state society activities are…

This study was an examination of the usefulness of a statistical regression approach to identify prospective Engineering and Information and Computer Science (ICS) applicants most likely to succeed at the University of California at Irvine (UCI). The specific purpose was to determine the extent to which preadmissions measures such as high school…

Since engineering graduates and other technical students are frequently expected to document their projects as well as present such material orally, a Speech and Technical Writing course was designed at a New Hampshire college to prepare students for both technical writing tasks and oral presentations of their material. The course provides an…

In July, 1986, the American Chemical Society (ACS) initiated a study which was intended to address future trends in the chemical industry. A survey was developed by and distributed to the member companies of Corporation Associates, which is the formal link between ACS and the chemical industry. The Executive Summary of the report, which makes up…

Though women constitute 53% of students graduating annually from provincially assisted Ontario universities with bachelors and first professional degrees, they tend to remain concentrated in fields more conventionally dominated by females, and their representation in traditionally male disciplines (engineering, applied science, mathematics, and…

Research on the values of women in traditional and nontraditional careers has produced differential results. To compare the home, career and leisure value orientations of college students in high-tech majors, 100 male and 100 female freshmen enrolled in science and engineering majors completed Super's Work Salience Inventory (1983). Results of…

Faced with a shortage of skilled personnel in certain branches of engineering towards the end of the seventies, the Engineering Industry Training Board (United Kingdom) launched initiatives to recruit 16-year-old girls into technician training and to interest girls following "A" level courses in physics and mathematics in a career of…