A phenomenographic study of students\u27 experiences with transition from pre-college engineering programs to first-year engineering

Recent national dialogues on the importance of preparing more students for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics has driven the development of formal and informal learning opportunities for children and adolescents to explore engineering. Despite the growth of these programs, relatively little research exists on how participation in these programs affects students who choose to pursue further study in engineering. The present study addressed this gap through an exploration of the different ways that First-Year Engineering students experience the transition from pre-college engineering to undergraduate engineering studies. Given the focus of this research on students\u27 experiences, phenomenography was chosen to explore the phenomenon of transition from pre-college to first-year engineering at a large, public Midwestern university. This facilitated understanding the range of variation in the ways that students experienced this transition. Twenty-two students with different amounts of participation in a variety of different engineering programs were selected to be interviewed using a purposeful maximum variation sampling strategy. The interviews were guided by a semi-structured interview protocol that encouraged the participants to reflect on their pre-college engineering experiences, their experiences in First-Year Engineering, and the transition between the two domains. The interviews were analyzed using phenomenographic methods to develop an outcome space consisting of five qualitatively different but related ways of experiencing the transition from pre-college to First-Year Engineering. These categories of description included Foreclosure, Frustration, Tedium, Connection, and Engaging Others. With the exception of the first category which was characterized by a lack of passion and commitment to engineering, the remaining four categories formed a hierarchical relationship representing increasing integration in First-Year Engineering. The outcome space that emerged from this study captured a variety of positive and negative ways that the participants experienced their transitions to First-Year Engineering. Positive outcomes included increased familiarity and confidence with the material being taught in First-Year Engineering, a stronger commitment and drive to be successful in engineering, and the ability to encourage and incorporate input from others in the design process. Negative outcomes included less interest in First-Year Engineering projects, disappointment at the lack of alignment with pre-college engineering, and a struggle to connect with their peers. While not initially guided by Self-Determination Theory, the results of this study align with aspects of Self-Determination Theory, and the relationships between the results of this study and the motivational factors of competence, autonomy, and relatedness are explored. Finally, implications for First-Year and pre-college engineering instructional practices are presented, along with a plan for future work