The Chemical Engineering Environment: Catalyst Or Inhibitor To Students' Confidence In Success?

The achievement, retention, and interests of undergraduate engineering students have repeatedly been linked to their self-efficacy beliefs their perceived confidence in their abilities to complete the tasks that they deem necessary to achieve a desired outcome. This study has employed a qualitative survey instrument to monitor undergraduate chemical engineering students’ self-efficacy beliefs during their first year in a chemical engineering program. The survey was administered to all students enrolled in Chemical Engineering Calculations (CHE 205), a course required of all chemical engineering students at Purdue University. Open-ended survey questions prompted the students to list factors that affected their confidence in CHE 205 success. The results presented here examine beginning chemical engineering students’ efficacy beliefs and their sources as they transitioned into the chemical engineering program. The findings suggest how the chemical engineering environment, curriculum, and classroom practices might influence students’ self-efficacy, a significant factor to be considered in attempts to boost both the retention of capable students who are considering leaving the program and the performance, satisfaction, and enthusiasm of those who persist.

[1]  A. Bandura.  Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.

[2]  E. Seymour,et al.  Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave The Sciences , 1997 .

[3]  Frank M. Pajares,et al.  Against the Odds: Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Women in Mathematical, Scientific, and Technological Careers , 2000 .

[4]  Robert W. Lent,et al.  Relation of Contextual Supports and Barriers to Choice Behavior in Engineering Majors: Test of Alternative Social Cognitive Models. , 2003 .

[5]  B. Davis.  Tools for Teaching , 1993 .

[6]  Phillip C. Wankat.  The effective, efficient professor , 2001 .

[7]  K. Eble,et al.  The craft of teaching , 1976 .

[8]  G. Hackett.  Role of Mathematics Self-Efficacy in the Choice of Math- Related Majors of College Women and Men: A Path Analysis , 1985 .

[9]  G. McCullough,et al.  International Encyclopedia of Education , 2008 .

[10]  A. L. Zeldin,et al.  Sources and Effects of the Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Men with Careers in Mathematics, Science, and Technology , 2000 .

[11]  George M. Bodner,et al.  Twenty Years of Learning : How To Do Research in Chemical Education 1 2003 , 2004 .

[12]  J. Eccles,et al.  Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. , 2002, Annual review of psychology.

[13]  J. S. Long,et al.  From Scarcity to Visibility: Gender Differences in the Careers of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers. , 2001 .

[14]  David Nicol,et al.  Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers , 1994 .

[15]  Steven D. Brown,et al.  Comparison of Three Theoretically Derived Variables in Predicting Career and Academic Behavior: Self-Efficacy, Interest Congruence, and Consequence Thinking. , 1987 .

[16]  Margaret M. Nauta,et al.  Women's Career Development: Can Theoretically Derived Variables Predict Persistence in Engineering Majors?. , 1997 .

[17]  George M. Bodner,et al.  Twenty Years of Learning: How To Do Research in Chemical Education. 2003 George C. Pimentel Award, sponsored by Dow Chemical Co. , 2004 .

[18]  Clemens Heitzinger,et al.  Scientific Software Development , 2005 .

[19]  Nancy E. Betz,et al.  Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Cognitive Factors Predicting the Academic Achievement of Students in Engineering. , 1992 .

[20]  Cynthia J. Atman,et al.  Characteristics of Freshman Engineering Students: Models for Determining Student Attrition in Engineering , 1997 .

[21]  George M. Bodner,et al.  Self Efficacy Beliefs Of First Year Engineering Students: In Their Own Words , 2006 .

[22]  George M. Bodner,et al.  Factors Influencing the Self‐Efficacy Beliefs of First‐Year Engineering Students , 2006 .

[23]  Frank M. Pajares,et al.  Role of self-efficacy and self-concept beliefs in mathematical problem solving: A path analysis. , 1994 .

[24]  Suzanne G. Brainard,et al.  RETAINING FEMALE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE: 1995 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION , 1995 .

[25]  Robert W. Lent,et al.  Cognitive Assessment of the Sources of Mathematics Self-Efficacy: A Thought-Listing Analysis , 1996 .

[26]  Kim L. Siegenthaler,et al.  Phillip C. Wankat. The Effective, Efficient Professor — Teaching, Scholarship and Service , 2003 .

[27]  Allan Fisher,et al.  Unlocking the Clubhouse : Women in Computing by Allan Fisher , 2015 .

[28]  Frederick G. Lopez,et al.  Mathematics self-efficacy: Sources and relation to science-based career choice. , 1991 .