Engineering education research can benefit from comprehensive tools for assessing student self-concept and its relationship to identity development. This research addresses this gap by introducing a novel framework for evaluating engineering self-concept and exploring its influence on identity status transitions among first-year students. Key…

Empathy is the ability to understand the thoughts, behaviors, and feelings of others. In addition to fostering strong relationships and overall personal growth, empathy plays a crucial role in college students achieving positive academic outcomes. However, a knowledge gap exists concerning the role and impact of empathy among college students,…

This article illustrates the need for an engineering-specific approach to student leadership development by exploring two contrasting case studies and the unique issues inherent to leading as engineers.

The case summarises 14 years of experiences with undergraduate and graduate programmes in engineering leadership at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Pennsylvania State University is globally engaged, technically broad and culturally aware; and has been blazing the trail in Engineering Leadership Development with one of the first engineering leadership development programs in the United States.

Background: While students possess procedural knowledge associated with engineering calculations and calculus, they often exhibit a disconnect between the conceptual meaning of mathematics and the problem being solved. This conceptual understanding of what mathematics "says" is defined by the theoretical framework of numeracy. Many…

Background: A defining characteristic of expertise is the use of intuition to navigate tasks. The construct of intuition and its importance is well-studied in other disciplines, but little is known about how it translates to engineering. Existing literature on intuition does not clearly define the construct and its relationship to problem solving,…

Parametric optimization techniques allow building designers to pursue multiple performance objectives, which can benefit the overall design. However, the strategies used by architecture and engineering graduate students when working with optimization tools are unclear, and ineffective computational design procedures may limit their success as…

Background: While researchers in graduate engineering education are beginning to study facets of student experiences as they relate to attrition and persistence, theoretical applications of thriving theory have not been applied to graduate education contexts. Literature addresses students who persist and those who depart, inherently making…

Contribution: This study assesses more than 800 students' awareness of engineering model types before and after taking two first-year engineering courses across two semesters and evaluates the effect of each course. Background: All engineers must be able to apply and create models to be effective problem solvers, critical thinkers, and innovative…

The dynamics of a simple pendulum are often presented to undergraduate engineering students in introductory courses in dynamics. It is usually the first dynamic system considered by students that is modelled by a differential equation. This paper presents the standard material given to students. It is fair to say that students are accepting this…

This paper is concerned with the gap between the ideology of 'autonomous individualism' deeply embedded in Western-centric engineering ethics education and the social and relational nature of engineering practice. The so-called 'individualistic approach' to engineering ethics often treats students as fully rational and autonomous individual…

Teamwork has been described as a leadership-coupled professional competency in postsecondary engineering education. It has been listed among the most critical professional skills by engineering industries and professional organizations. Here, a mixed-method case study is reported, which used Visual Thinking Strategies alongside a group project in…

To uncover and analyze conceptualizations of cross-institutional collaboration in engineering education, a systematic review study was conducted, identifying commonalities in frameworks, assessments and evaluations, and challenges across prior studies. 74 papers were reviewed, revealing "study descriptors," "theoretically applied…

Background: As more universities seek to offer international experiences for engineering students, it is important to design such programs to effectively support student learning abroad. Previous research on study abroad has focused on a limited number of outcomes and therefore failed to consider the diversity of experiences students may have in…