Fostering Engineering Identities and Attitudes through Place-Conscious Learning Introduction

Limited research focuses on how participating in place-conscious engineering affects students’ engineering identities and attitudes toward engineering. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study investigated the effect of engaging elementary school students in place-conscious engineering activities on their engineering identities and attitudes toward engineering. Twenty fourth grade students enrolled in a rural elementary school in the northwestern United States completed two place-conscious engineering activities: (1) after a local wildfire polluted the air with smoke and made it unhealthy for breathing, students designed and built air filters to prevent smoke from entering the homes of affected families residing in a nearby community, and (2) after the state issued several warnings about imminent floods due to ice jams on a local river, students designed flood prevention strategies to address this challenge. Data included pre-and postsurveys about students’ engineering identities and attitudes toward engineering as well as semistructured focus group interviews to explain the trends observed from the quantitative surveys. Findings suggested that participation in place-conscious engineering activities improved elementary school students’ engineering identities and attitudes toward engineering and technology. Students reported that they were satisfied with learning engineering, appreciated its societal benefits, developed positive perceptions of engineers, and desired to pursue engineering careers. Further, they took pride in themselves as individuals capable of solving real local problems. Based on these findings, recommendations include exposing elementary school students to place-conscious engineering activities to improve their engineering identities and attitudes toward engineering.