Engineers in the Classroom: Their Influence on African-American Students’ Perceptions of Engineering

A Draw an Engineer Test was used to capture the perceptions of engineering held by two similar groups of 6th grade African-American students. Forty-four students who had graduate level engineers in their classrooms during a prior school year as part of a GK-12 project were matched to 44 students who had not. Matching criteria included race, gender, and academic standing. Using perceptions of common engineering artifacts, fields, tasks and processes as measures, student perceptions were quantified using a Draw an Engineer Test Scoring Guide. Additional descriptive analysis was also conducted. Control group students’ perceptions centered on engineering as physical work and portrayed engineers primarily in construction or building trades. Experimental group students were more likely to perceive engineering as involving mental tasks such as designing, presenting and experimenting. Experimental group students also displayed greater awareness and understanding of various engineering fields.