Exploring How First-Generation College Students' Funds of Knowledge Support the Formation of an Engineering Identity

• In Event: Imagining New Possibilities for Undergraduate Student Learning and Development in STEM

Abstract

Seeing oneself as the type of person that can do engineering is essential for student success, yet shaped by social context. This study explores how 784 students, 46 percent identified as first-generation college students, developed an engineering identity through their culturally developed funds of knowledge. A multiple regression analysis was run on survey measures that captured ten aspects of students’ funds of knowledge. Results indicate that for first-generation college students, tinkering knowledge from home is especially important for their views of themselves as engineers, their interest in engineering, and their belief about being able to perform well and understand engineering concepts. This work begins to illustrate the influence that home activities have on first-generation college students’ engineering identity development.

Authors

• Dina Verdin, Arizona State University

• Jessica Smith, Colorado School of Mines

• Juan Lucena, Colorado School of Mines