2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In order to build a diverse engineering workforce, it is important to create a pipeline of students from diverse backgrounds who are interested in engineering. The Inquiry Driven Engineering Activities using Bioengineering Examples (IDEA-BioE) project was designed to engage secondary science and mathematics teachers from school districts with highly diverse student populations in research focused on biomedical engineering and translate those experiences into modules that teachers can implement in their classrooms.

Interest in engineering among pre-college students, especially girls and students from racial and ethnic minority groups, is often low. This suggests the need for interventions at an early age. However, simply exposing students to engineering design principles is not sufficient to create interest in engineering careers among a broad range of students; interventions must also address social and psychological barriers.

We identify two sets of challenges to promoting interest in engineering and engineering careers among K-12 students. First, teachers may not be aware of the scope and specifics of the engineering field. In addition, teachers who are primarily trained in science pedagogy may struggle to incorporate and explain engineering design concepts within science courses. Second, students may be disinclined to engage with engineering for a variety of reasons. Students may be unaware of what engineers do. Students may also struggle to see themselves in the engineering field due to racial and gender stereotypes and a lack of role models. In addition, perceptions of engineering as a field that primarily involves working alone, requires brilliance to be successful, and is done by those who are nerdy or socially awkward may negatively impact student interest in engineering.

Our program involves an immersive six-week summer experience for preservice and practicing teachers. Participants are matched with bioengineering-focused research lab experiences from a variety of disciplines including chemistry, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering. Although teachers work on research projects within the labs, the key deliverable is development of modules for implementation in their classrooms. To aid in module development, the teachers attend workshops that address engineering design, next generation science standards, best practices for lesson design, and relevant educational psychology concepts (e.g., occupational values, STEM anxiety). Following the completion of the program, teachers implement the modules in classrooms.

Survey data from the participating teachers’ students indicates increased self-efficacy for engineering (“I am good at engineering”) and identification with engineering (“People who look like me use engineering”) after implementation of their modules. Initial analysis of responses to open-ended questions about perceptions of engineers and engineering also indicates changed views, demonstrating effectiveness of these modules on students’ perceptions of engineering as a future career option among diverse student populations.

Funding for this project was provided by the Research Experience for Teachers in Engineering and Computer Science program at the National Science Foundation.