Enculturation of Diverse Students to the Engineering Practices through First-Year Engineering Experiences

American Society for Engineering Education, 2016. This paper describes a Work-in-Progress (WIP) on analyses of engineering enculturation constructs and the way diverse groups adopt engineering practices as performed in the field. Studies of socialization processes by which engineering students come into engineering practices provide impetus for further study about enculturation. The studies of socialization processes investigate how students start with pre-conceived notions of successful engineers and how they could eventually adopt proper work practices actually realized in the field. In the workplace, communication and teamwork are highly valued. Yet many engineering students value individual accomplishment and competitiveness as the tactic to succeed. Our approach seeks to quantify students' enculturation related to engineering communications and teamwork taught in a first-year engineering course to large diverse classes at a southwestern institution. The study seeks to help understand how enculturation may contribute to the development of engineering students adopting favorable behavior and engineering practices for eventual usefulness and success in the workplace.

Enculturation of Diverse Students to the Engineering Practices through First-Year Engineering Experiences Conference Paper