Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 800 de 957
Bandura (1986) argues that self-efficacious perceptions are developed by a person’s
vicarious experiences (seeing someone else complete a task and believing you can do the
same), mastery experiences (previous success leads a person to believe he/she is capable
of completing a similar task), physiological state, and social persuasions (supportive
people in a person’s life such as a teacher or mentor). A person’s belief about their efficacy
potentially influences their goals, behavior, and how they persist in the face of obstacles.
Engineering self-efficacy is a person’s belief that he/she can successfully navigate the
engineering curriculum and eventually become a practicing engineer. Strategies for
increasing engineering self-efficacy in Black students have the ability to improve their
retention in engineering.
Relevant Research
Ohland (2002) found that students from Florida A&M University (FAMU) who participate
in the minority engineering programs are 25% more likely to graduate than students who
do not participate. Their minority engineering program consists of the Engineering
Concepts Institute (ECI), where students come for a six week program over the summer to
learn engineering fundamentals, the cooperative academic resources for excellence
(CARE) program, designed to increase a students’ engineering awareness, and the
Department Learning Center (DLC) program, facilitated in the freshman and sophomore
years instructing students on skill and processes. The programming offered at FAMU is
similar to that offered through NSBE. The effect of these programs is directly correlated
with retention and graduation rates.
To address the decline of minority students in engineering degrees, the study conducted
by Reichert (1997) worked to recommend minimum improvements Universities could
implement to help retention and graduation of Black students in Engineering. In the study
13 institutions were identified as meeting or exceeding the target minority retention ratio
set by NACME in 1991. The best practices amongst these Universities were analyzed and
out of the 13 institutions, 12 of them had active NSBE chapters.
At Purdue University, Hutchison (2006) studied factors influencing the self-efficacy beliefs
of first-year engineering students. After administering the engineering efficacy survey,
they found nine influential factors; Understanding/Learning, Drive and Motivation,
Teaming, Computing Abilities, Help, Working Assignments, Problem-Solving Abilities, and
Enjoyment/Interest/Satisfaction. This study helps support Bandura’s framework for selfefficacy
belief.
Research Questions
The authors wish to understand engineering self-efficacy of students involved with
professional minority engineering societies, specifically, the National Society of Black
Engineers. Particularly:
1. What factors are significant to NSBE members’ engineering self-efficacy?
2. Does involvement in NSBE constitute high self-efficacy?
3. Are there differences in engineering self-efficacy of women vs. men in NSBE?
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011