Building Engineering Identity Through Mentorship Vision Boards

Research on science identity, a framework outlining key dimensions that shape one’s sense of being a “science person” and thus persisting in STEM, ensures learning is not only meaningful but attentive to how identity is shaped, especially for those who experience oppression and exclusion in their STEM environments and worlds more broadly. However, few practical and flexible course interventions exist for bolstering science identity in the classroom. In this paper, we report on a novel intervention to build engineering identity in first-year students: The Mentorship Vision Board (MVB). This paper adopts a thematic analysis to identify salient themes in students' written reflections about their MVB. Our results suggest that the MVB nurtures engineering identity by giving students an active role in carving out a material and conceptual space to reflect on who they are, underscoring the value of reflective writing and arts- based pedagogy in technical fields.