A Systematic Literature Review of Neurodiversity in Engineering Higher Education

This research paper (#1571006920) describes the preliminary findings of a systematic literature review. Neurodiversity is not a diagnosis, rather it is a broad term used to encompass a wide range of specific, non-specific, hidden and/or undetermined diagnoses that include but is not limited to: ADHD, autism, and dyslexia. Existing data on experiences and outcomes of neurodivergent students in engineering is limited and most likely underestimates the number of neurodivergent people in the sector. However, some evidence reveals that representation of neurodiverse people in engineering is far less than other STEM fields. This literature review seeks to clarify this gap in the literature and summarize what is known about neurodiversity in engineering education. We explored existing research and literature on this topic to answer the following research question: How has engineering education research explored neurodiversity in engineering context and specifically in relation to the structure and culture in engineering education? To address our research question, we performed a systematic literature review. First, we accumulated several articles in an initial database search of five databases. After identifying the preliminary set of articles, we performed secondary and tertiary rounds of inclusion and exclusion based on the applicability in addressing our research question. Then we performed categorical analysis on the remaining articles to explore main attributes that allowed us to examine possible trends between papers/studies and draw conclusions about how neurodiversity has been explored in the context of engineering. Findings indicate that limited research exists on neurodiverse people's experiences and outcomes in engineering context and the specific role of engineering education structure and culture. Future work includes collecting empirical data aiming to understand the experiences of neurodiverse people in engineering context and understanding what/how/why the structures and culture of engineering affects diversity, inclusion, equity, accessibility and other outcomes for neurodiverse populations.