2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The development of the engineering workforce is a priority of engineering educators across disciplines. Domestically, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that approximately 25,000 new civil engineers will be needed each year of this decade. Given recent infrastructure legislation, many more civil engineers will likely be required to design, build, and maintain these proposed projects. Well-developed pre-college engineering curricula have been proven to increase student enrollment in engineering majors. However, these benefits depend on effective classroom technologies, tools, and techniques. This multi-year study looks at a one-week college-level course intended to foster interest in engineering among high school students and equip future engineering educators (graduate students who serve as instructors in the course) to use the current best practices in the classroom effectively. High school students should leave this course with a greater understanding of civil engineering as a field that presents real-world problems and offers innovative solutions, significantly impacting people’s lives. Instructors should leave this course with real-world practice in applying innovative teaching methods for student impact. This course allows graduate student instructors to develop independent and authentic engineering class content while engaging with high school students to enhance their knowledge and interest in the field. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of this course over three years in two areas: (1) fostering interest in civil engineering among high school students, motivating more students to pursue this path in college, and (2) training graduate students (future engineering educators) on best practices for student engagement, knowledge transfer, and course design. Many data sources are reviewed for this study, including student artifacts, instructor lessons, and pre-and post- course reflections. These longitudinal data include the period impacted by COVID-19. As such, this evaluation also considers the effects of transitioning to online-only delivery, in-person teaching with COVID-related restrictions, and traditional on-campus instruction.

Key findings include the growth in civil engineering knowledge for each cohort regardless of delivery method. Learners consistently identified innovative activities like debates and live demonstrations as the most impactful for student learning. They identified hands-on activities and field visits as the most engaging and memorable. At the end of each course, instructors self-identified as gaining knowledge of research-based educational methods, greater ease in teaching and managing a classroom, and confidence in assessing student learning. The innovative teaching approach to pre-college education has encouraged new cohorts of high school students to pursue engineering as a career and current graduate students to pursue engineering education as a profession.