Grant recipients and project team:
Jen Rathlin, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering
Eugene Li, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering
Islai Rathlin, Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University
(Project timeline: September 2017 - December 2018)
Description
Minoritized students are underrepresented in the STEM fields and are disproportionately represented among early program withdrawals. A lack of attention given to the intersectional identities of students hints at a systemic erasure of specific differences in these programs. This erasure and the lack of relatable mentors or role models can severely affect important factors influencing student success and retention, including self-confidence, self-efficacy, and a sense of belonging.
WATiMake is an academic makerspace developed by the MME department. This project investigated the potential for this makerspace to serve as a Third Space, which allow students to bridge their personal identities with their academic or professional identities, by providing students with the freedom to learn and develop through self-driven, skill-building activities and project-based learning.
The impact of making activities was explored through the lenses of student success, program satisfaction, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and a sense of belonging.
Questions Investigated
This project sought to better understand the impact of academic makerspaces in the development of minoritized students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields as well as factors that may affect student success and retention. Specific issues investigated included:
- Identity-building in students in engineering through making
- Impact of opportunities that allow students to explore intersections of personal and professional identities through making
- Identity-building in students in engineering where diverse mentors or role models are not available
- Impact of making on feelings of belonging of students in engineering
- Impact of making on perceptions of engineering of students in engineering
This path of inquiry was intended to verify whether interesting knowledge can be learned on the impact of academic makerspaces.
Findings/insights
Major insights produced through a mixed methods analysis of interview transcripts and survey results include:
- Respondents who used the makerspace for non-academic projects were more likely to feel like they belonged in their academic program;
- Respondents valued the makerspace for the access it provided to tools, friendly and helpful support, and the ability to work on non-academic projects;
- Respondents were more likely to use the makerspace for non-academic projects related to their religion, cultural heritage, or interests, rather than their gender, sexuality, nationality, or other identities;
- Most respondents did not report any specific experiences in their academic program relating to their identities; and
- Some respondents reported feelings of disconnection between their engineering identity and other identities.
Dissemination and impact
- At the deparment level: Once a final research report has been compiled, results will be presented to the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering.
- At the institutional level: A submission for presentation will be prepared for the 2020 University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference.
- At the provincial, national, and international level: Research findings and implications for further study will be compiled into articles for submission to scholarly journals on engineering education and gender in education. A submission for presentation was prepared for Canadian Engineering Education Association conference in 2019.
Impact of the project
As a result of the findings in this research project, the researchers plan to integrate identity and personal development concepts more when teaching STEM subject matter.
Through the process of developing a LITE Seed Grant project, the researchers have made connections with supporting staff from the Centre for Teaching Excellence who have been helpful in navigating research ethics applications, research account management, and research methods. The researchers also made connections with researchers in psychology who were able to provide insights and assist with research methods and data analysis methods.
References
Project Reference List (PDF)