2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work in Progress: PEERSIST – A Formation of Engineers Framework for Understanding Self-Efficacy and Persistence among Transfer Students

Presented at Work-in-Progress Session: Supporting Students To, Through, and Beyond Transitions

Transfer students, who are disproportionately URM and first-generation, are a target population for boosting engineering representation. Transfer students in mechanical, aerospace and civil engineering at [the institution] take thermodynamics, a required gateway course, in their first or second term. This paper outlines the results from an observational study to determine how students interact in a peer-led learning environment. The PEERSIST (Peer-led, Student Instructed, Study group) model promotes academic competence through peer dialogue, in which disciplinary knowledge is socially co-constructed and refined over successive sessions. In order to help demonstrate that student interactions are the main source of learning in Peer-Led Study Groups (PLSGs), interactions between students were recorded and compared to those in traditional TA-led recitations using the observation protocol. Results show that students in PLSGs interact with their peers significantly more than students in the TA-led control group. The study also compares peer interactions by incoming course preparedness and finds a non-significant relationship between incoming GPA and peer-to-peer interactions. In contrast, the study finds a negative relationship between the rate at which students ask for and receive help and incoming GPA.

Authors

Cody D. Jenkins http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3210-5769 Arizona State University
Ms. Thien Ngoc Y. Ta Arizona State University [biography]

Thien Ta is an educational program evaluator for Quality Evaluation Designs. She obtained her B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in Vietnam and the U.S. She has taught at Cao Thang Technical College for seven years in Vietnam.
Dr. Ryan James Milcarek Arizona State University [biography]

Ryan Milcarek obtained his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department at Syracuse University. He also obtained a M.S. in Energy Systems Engineering, Certificate of Advanced Study in Sustainable Enterprise and Certificate in University Teaching while completing his graduate studies. His current research is focused on engineering education, solid oxide fuel cells, generating fuels (hydrogen, hydrocarbons) and chemicals, microcombustion, manufacturing of ceramic materials, energy storage for demand response, and thermochemical energy storage.
Dr. Gary Lichtenstein Quality Evaluation Designs [biography]

Gary Lichtenstein, Ed.D., is founder and principal of Quality Evaluation Designs, a firm specializing in education research and program evaluation. He is also Affiliate Associate faculty member in Rowan University's Experiential Engineering Education program.
Dr. Samantha Ruth Brunhaver http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8607-5959 Arizona State University [biography]

Samantha Brunhaver, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor within The Polytechnic School of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Her primary areas of research include engineering career pathways and decision-making, undergraduate student persistence, professional engineering practice, and faculty mentorship. Brunhaver graduated with her B.S. in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
Dr. Karl A. Smith University of Minnesota, Twin Cities [biography]

Emeritus Professor of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering, and Morse-Alumni Distinguished University Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota; and Emeritus Cooperative Learning Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University.

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