2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Background: Within each engineering classroom, a variety of cultures and backgrounds exist, thus creating a classroom where multiple different epistemological beliefs exist. The different cultures present in a classroom can affect the way both students and teachers engage in a learning session. Many studies use Schommer’s epistemological beliefs survey to identify beliefs, however, there is a lack of research on the epistemological beliefs of Middle Eastern engineering students and the relationship between their beliefs about learning and middle eastern culture.
Purpose: This research explores the relationship between academic and home culture and the source of knowledge in the personal epistemology of Middle Eastern graduate engineering students at Oregon State University.
Methodology: The research utilizes thematic analysis using semi-structured interviews to study students’ beliefs about the source of knowledge and its relationship to the home and academic culture of Middle Eastern students. Three to six participants are purposively sampled from Oregon State University students enrolled in graduate engineering programs. The sampling process is done using a survey that includes demographic and previous schooling experiences in the Gulf States.
Findings/Conclusions: The results are expected to show the influence of both home culture and academic culture on the beliefs of graduate engineering students at Oregon State University. The authoritative nature of the culture in the Gulf States can be vivid in how students accept engineering knowledge without question. In addition, the influence of the pre-college academic culture is transferred over to the college in terms of the source of knowledge in the personal epistemological beliefs. Finally, a development of the epistemological beliefs is expected to happen with the experiences of student in programs in the United States.
Implications: Understanding the differences among students’ beliefs about learning aids instructors in developing pedagogies that accommodate those differences in their teaching curricula. Implications on how the existence of cultural differences can help reform the engineering education curriculum and develop engineers with skills necessary to work in diverse groups across different cultures.