2023 Collaborative Network for Computing and Engineering Diversity (CoNECD)

Exploration of the role and needs of high school counselors in supporting broader participation within engineering fields

Presented at Session 4 - Track 3: Exploration of the role and needs of high school counselors in supporting broader participation within engineering fields

[PROJECT NAME] is an initiative aimed at broadening participation within engineering through implementation of a high school curriculum which emphasizes that engineering is for everyone. In addition to working with students and teachers, the project team seeks to engage additional stakeholders in the discussion of how to support all learners in engineering with the goal of advancing the ideal that anyone can engage in engineering. To this end, high school counselors were asked to join a professional learning experience in the summer of 2020 and later join project’s learning community of practice. We wanted to introduce this stakeholder group to the tenets of the project and to create a bigger network to support students at the schools in which the project curriculum is being taught. In subsequent years, counselors who participated in the initial training and the learning community have been interviewed individually or in focus groups to better understand how the pre-college environment supports broader participation of students in engineering. Altogether, 3 focus groups and five individual interviews have been conducted. Findings from these focus groups suggests that even after 3 years post-professional learning, these counselors are considering how to support broader participation, particularly for girls, in engineering. They are still reporting the existence of barriers to participation in engineering coursework, including either a real or imagined need to take advanced math coursework and a lack of knowledge of the field of engineering. In the most recent focus group conducted during the Spring of 2022, participants reported constraints in how the counseling process occurs as a barrier to informing students and others about the course, suggesting that to effect additional systemic change further supports for counselors might be necessary to address common barriers within counseling systems. These findings suggest that enhancing the understanding of engineering careers and capacity building of school counselors could be an effective approach towards broader participation. However, more importantly, the engineering education community needs to recognize the often-neglected stakeholder group of school counselors and the pivotal role counselors play in students’ career pathways.

Authors

Dr. Jeanette Chipps http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9029-2304 Johns Hopkins University [biography]

Jeannie Chipps is a research assistant at the IDEALS institute at Johns Hopkins University. She received her EdD in Mind, Brain, and Teaching from Johns Hopkins and has an interest in supporting STEM teachers as they work to create inclusive environments for diverse learners.
Dr. Medha Dalal http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5705-1800 Arizona State University [biography]

Dr. Medha Dalal is an associate director of scholarly initiatives and an assistant research professor in the Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. She holds a PhD from Arizona State University in Learning, Literacies and Technologies with a focus on engineering education. Her research interests span four related areas: democratization of engineering education, ways of thinking, engineering curiosity among pre-college students, and faculty development.
Dr. Adam R Carberry http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0041-7060 Arizona State University [biography]

Dr. Adam Carberry is an associate professor at Arizona State University in the Fulton Schools of Engineering, The Polytechnic School. He earned a B.S. in Materials Science Engineering from Alfred University, and received his M.S. and Ph.D., both from Tufts University, in Chemistry and Engineering Education respectively. His research investigates the development of new classroom innovations, assessment techniques, and identifying new ways to empirically understand how engineering students and educators learn. He currently serves as the Graduate Program Chair for the Engineering Education Systems and Design Ph.D. program. He is also the immediate past chair of the Research in Engineering Education Network (REEN) and a senior associate editor for the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE). Prior to joining ASU he was a graduate student research assistant at the Tufts’ Center for Engineering Education and Outreach.
Dr. Jennifer Kouo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4609-8555 Institute for Innovation in Development, Engagement, and Learning Systems (IDEALS) [biography]

Jennifer L. Kouo, is an Assistant Research Scientist at the Institute for Innovation in Development, Engagement, and Learning Systems (IDEALS), a professional learning and research hub within the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Dr. Kouo received her PhD in Special Education with an emphasis in severe disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from the University of Maryland at College Park. She is passionate about both instructional and assistive technology, as well as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and utilizing inclusive practices to support all students. Dr. Kouo is currently engaged in multiple research projects that involve multidisciplinary collaborations in the field of engineering, medicine, and education, as well as research on teacher preparation and the conducting of evidence-based interventions in school environments.

Download paper (208 KB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session

For those interested in:

Pre-College