2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This complete paper evaluates the effectiveness of “People-Oriented Recitation Problems” (PORPs), a novel intervention aimed at improving first-year students' engagement and retention in chemical engineering (ChemE). Engineering programs in the United States face persistent challenges in student retention, as 40-60% of all engineering students change majors or leave college before earning their degrees [1]. Nearly half of this attrition occurs during the first year, making it a critical period to understand and influence students' decisions to stay in engineering [2], [3]. In ChemE, the first-year experience is often dominated by foundational concepts and theory, with minimal connection to professional practice or career paths [4]. This disconnect can leave first-year students struggling to make informed decisions about pursuing ChemE without a complete understanding of its breadth of work.

PORPs were designed to bridge this gap by contextualizing recitation problems with specific faculty members, their research areas, and the broader societal implications of their work. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study investigates two primary research questions: 1) Do PORPs influence students’ interest in ChemE and its subfields? 2) Do PORPs influence students’ intention to pursue ChemE? Data were collected during the Fall 2024 semester through surveys, focus groups, and enrollment trends, with Social Cognitive Career Theory framing the analysis of students’ career interests, outcome expectations, and choice goals.

Results from the study revealed that ChemE subfields incorporating PORPs—Process Systems Engineering and Air Quality & Climate—showed higher end-of-semester interest than those which used traditional recitation problems and exhibited the greatest increase in interest across the semester. Focus group feedback highlighted that PORPs broadened students’ understanding of ChemE career pathways and fostered connections to departmental research. However, students also expressed a desire for more technical content in recitations, reflecting the trade-offs of time allocation in a first-year curriculum. These findings underscore the potential of contextualized learning activities like PORPs to enhance engagement and retention in ChemE by linking course content to relevant faculty research and career opportunities. Future work will assess the long-term impacts of PORPs on major declarations and academic performance.