Counselors' Attitudes and Knowledge About Engineering - CiteSeerX

Counselors’ Attitudes and Knowledge About Engineering Authors: Siobhán J. Gibbons, Center for Pre-college Programs, New Jersey Institute of Technology, [email protected] Linda S. Hirsch, Center for Pre-college Programs, New Jersey Institute of Technology, [email protected] Howard Kimmel, Center for Pre-college Programs, New Jersey Institute of Technology, [email protected] Ronald Rockland, New Jersey Institute of Technology, [email protected] Joel Bloom, New Jersey Institute of Technology, [email protected]

Abstract – Research on school counselors’ attitudes to and awareness of engineering as a career is limited even though school counselors can play a significant role in students’ career choices. The current paper summarizes the results obtained from the initial piloting of a survey designed to measure school counselors’ attitudes to and knowledge about engineering. The survey was developed as part of a wide-ranging pre-college engineering intervention that aims to increase the knowledge and awareness of engineering in middle and high school students, their teachers, parents, and school counselors and to promote more positive attitudes to engineering. Results indicate that while school counselors may have positive attitudes to engineers and discuss engineering as a possible career with their students, they lack rudimentary knowledge about engineering careers. Results also indicate that counselors are not aware of various resources, such as summer and after school programs that can help their students to explore engineering as a possible career.

Index Terms – Attitudes to engineering, engineering counseling efficacy, knowledge about engineering careers, school counselors.

INTRODUCTION The demand for engineers in the United States is expected to increase about three times faster than all other occupations between 2000-2010 [1]. Yet, nationwide, less than 10% of undergraduates are enrolled in engineering majors [2]. In New Jersey the number of engineering baccalaureate degrees conferred between 1989 and 1999 declined by approximately 23%, from 1,738 in 1989 to 1,339 in 1999 [3]. Furthermore, women and certain race/ethnic minorities are chronically underrepresented in engineering fields in New Jersey. The proportion of women in engineering has never exceeded 11% and the proportion of African Americans and Hispanic engineers has changed very little between 1989 and 1999 [3]. Students’ career choices depend largely on their ability to accurately assess their skills, abilities and interests and to relate them to the needs of the workplace [4]. School counselors can assist students in assessing their skills and relating their interests to the current labor market, and thereby help to bridge the gap between workforce supply and demand. Counselors can facilitate students’ decision making, increase their knowledge of workforce demands, and provide access to appropriate courses and experiences [5]. Such assistance is particularly important if students are considering engineering and other technical careers. Students are often unaware of the consequences of their academic choices when they select their high school programs and unless guidance counselors acquaint them with the advantages of more challenging courses they may avoid them [6]. Although most studies of potential engineering students focus on high school students, middle school students also need wide-ranging grade appropriate information on engineering careers. In a survey of practicing engineers, Prien [7] found that 24% made their choice to pursue engineering in middle school. Thus engineering career counseling should be initiated in middle school before students make academic choices that limit their options. Despite the importance of career planning and the potential role of school counselors, evidence suggests that school counselors are not always a major source of career information. In fact, some researchers have asserted that school counselors have acted as barriers, preventing students from seriously considering engineering and other science based careers [8], [9]. Others report that as few as 20% of high school students turn to school counselors for career guidance [10], [7]. Hirsch et al. reported that only 16% of their high school respondents indicated that a school counselor had spoken to them about engineering careers [11]. In contrast, Lee and Ekstrom [12] report that 56% of public high school students, especially African Americans, women, and those in the academic track, say that a counselor had influenced their career decisions. Further research is needed in order to draw accurate conclusions about the impact school counselors many have on students’ career choices. The importance of career counseling varies with a student’s gender, race/ethnicity, and socio-economic background. Often those most in need of career guidance are the least likely to receive it [13]. Students who are poor, are the first in their

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family to go to college or wish to explore non-traditional careers depend on schools to provide accurate information and individualized attention: they cannot turn to their parents for information on college and professional careers such as engineering [5], [6]. In the absence of career counseling in school, such students must come upon information on engineering careers elsewhere. However, engineering is a low profile career. In mid-1990s only 2% of characters in speaking roles on television portrayed scientists of any kind (no mention was made of engineers), while high profile careers such as medicine, law, or journalism were portrayed regularly [1]. The few scientists that were portrayed were often presented as geeks, solitary and socially incompetent [1], [14]. Thus, students are unlikely to encounter positive images of engineers or detailed information on engineering careers unless they actively seek it or have family or friends who are engineers. Research has shown that many students who ultimately choose engineering were exposed to influential role models, or were strongly pushed by parents to be engineers [15]. Girls who become engineers often have fathers who are also engineers [10]. Students who do not know engineers personally may have accumulated negative stereotypes that must be dispelled if they are to consider engineering as a possible career [14], [15]. Twenty five percent of adults surveyed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) thought that scientists were “apt to be odd and peculiar”, and 29% thought that scientists had “few interests outside of their work” [1]. In addition, 53% thought that scientific work was dangerous. Although the NSF survey asked only about scientists, given the scarcity of attractive images of engineers, it is unlikely that the respondents would have viewed engineers as any more engaging or charismatic than scientists. In the September 2000 Harris Poll a random sample of adults ranked engineers below doctors, scientists, teachers, policemen, and members of Congress, but above lawyers, athletes, and entertainers [16]. Students may also have negative impressions about engineering work conditions that prevent them from seriously considering engineering careers. For example, they may not see themselves as fitting the profile of the typical engineer or may fear that the engineering environment will not be welcoming [14]. Fouad found that some African Americans and women were more likely to choose majors and careers in which their race or sex was adequately represented because they perceived less discrimination and greater opportunity for achievement [6]. Students who are not in the top of their class may believe that engineering and other technical careers are only open to those who are outstanding [9]. Well-informed school counselors can correct such misinformation and negative impressions. They can introduce students to women and minorities who have succeeded in engineering. While engineering is still a male dominated field, they can inform women that sex discrimination in engineering wages in the US has almost been eliminated. Salaries of men and women engineers with the same years of experience are virtually equal, with women earning 97 cents for every dollar men earn [13]. Another important prerequisite for effective counseling of those contemplating engineering careers is accurate information about engineering. Adults surveyed by the NSF seem to be aware that they have little knowledge about the engineering profession. Sixty one per cent of the respondents did not consider themselves well informed about engineering [1]. Moreover, they often underestimated the engineers’ role in science and technology advancement, tending to credit scientists instead. For example, they ascribed a lesser role to engineers in conducting space research, developing new forms of energy, and creating new materials than is true in reality [1]. Thus it is important to know what school counselors know and believe about engineers and engineering as they are adults responsible for advising students but to date very little research has been conducted in this area. Currently it is not known to what extent school counselors hold stereotypes about engineers, whether they attribute the same modest status of engineers as many other adults or if they encourage students to consider engineering as a career. The current paper summarizes the results obtained from the initial piloting of a survey designed to measure school counselors’ attitudes to and knowledge about engineers and engineering including beliefs in stereotypes and other common misconceptions. The survey was developed as part of a wide-ranging, pre-engineering intervention, The Pre-Engineering Instructional and Outreach Program (PrE-IOP), a three-year project funded by the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education. The goal of PrE-IOP is to increase the number of students, particularly those from groups traditionally underrepresented in engineering, who enroll in engineering schools in New Jersey. Chief among the project’s objectives are to increase the knowledge and awareness of engineering in middle and high school students, their teachers, parents, and school counselors, and to promote more positive attitudes to engineering.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SURVEY The School Counselors’ Attitudes to Engineering Survey was adapted from the High School Attitudes to Engineering Survey [7] and is intended to measure school counselors’: • Positive and negative impressions about engineers and engineering as a career choice for students, • Awareness of the information necessary to help students prepare for a career in engineering, • Willingness to suggest engineering as a possible career, and • Knowledge about engineering careers. International Conference on Engineering Education


As a result, the survey has three measures: 1) the Attitudes to Engineering Scale, 2) a Pre-Engineer Counseling Efficacy measure, 3) a Knowledge of Engineering Careers measure, and a short demographic section. The Attitudes to Engineering Scale measures opinions about stereotypes of engineers and engineering, the skills necessary for engineering, the perceived rewards of becoming an engineer, and what engineers actually do. The Pre-Engineering Counseling Efficacy measure is a self-report of counselors’ working knowledge about special programs and information sources to help prepare students for a career in engineering and the extent to which they actually encourage students to study engineering. The Knowledge of Engineering Careers measure is a multi-part, open-ended question designed to measure how much counselors know about different types of engineers. Counselors are also asked whether they actually know any engineers and what they feel they need to prepare students for a career in engineering. The Attitudes to Engineering Scale has 26 items that ask school counselors to indicate the degree to which they agree or disagree with statements about engineers and engineering as a career using a modified five point Likert-type scale. The typical five-point Likert scale (1= Strongly disagree, 3 = “No opinion”, 5 = Strongly agree) has been altered to include a sixth point, “0” (zero) to indicate, “I don’t know”. Twenty-four of the items were taken directly from the High School Attitudes to Engineering Scale. Where necessary, wording in items was slightly altered to reflect the shift in perspective from high school student to school counselor. Two items, one asking if school counselors would like any of their students to become engineers and another asking if engineering is a desirable career for women, were added. The Pre-Engineering Counseling Efficacy measure has 13 items that ask counselors whether they have or know where to find specific kinds of information necessary to prepare students for a successful career in engineering, what types of careers they suggest to students who excel in math and science, and whether they specifically encourage students to pursue engineering. The Knowledge of Engineering Careers measure asks counselors to name five different types of engineers and to give an example of the work each type of engineer does. Space is provided to list five types of engineer and one example of work done by each type of engineer. Three different sources were used to develop a coding protocol for this measure: four textbooks that cover introduction to engineering [17], [18], [19], [20]; web sites such as American Society for Engineering Education, The National Academy of Engineering “Engineer Girl”, and those for professional engineering organizations and; a panel of engineering experts. Responses to the first part “Name a type of engineer” are coded as either correct and given a score of ‘1’ (one) or incorrect and given a score of ‘0’ (zero). Responses to the second part “Give an example of the work they do” are coded as correct and given a score of ‘2’ (two), partly correct and given a score of “1” (one) or incorrect and given a score of ‘0’ (zero). Possible scores range from zero to five for the first part and zero to 10 for the second part.

RESULTS The initial version of the survey was given to 233 middle (20%) and high school (80%) counselors who attended various conferences and professional workshops in New York and New Jersey. Though a few counselors declined to indicate their gender, approximately 75% were female, 25% were male. One hundred sixty seven (72%) attended a conference for counselors from schools participating in a nationally recognized pre-engineering program (pre-engineering counselors). Except for the open-ended Knowledge of Engineering Careers measure, no significant differences were found between the pre-engineering counselors and the other counselors. Attitudes to Engineering Scale Though the sample size is small for a multivariate type analysis, a preliminary factor analysis accounting for approximately 46% of the variance in the Attitudes to Engineering Scale suggests a factor structure (i.e. subscales) that is comparable to that found for high school students [11]. The subscales that measure positive attitudes/aspects of engineering (POSITIVE) (e.g. “Engineers are highly respected by others”), negative opinions about engineering (NEGATIVE) (e.g. Engineers are those people who were called nerds in high school”) and how engineers spend their time (TIME) (e.g. “Engineers spend most of their time working with computers” or “Engineers spend most of their time working in laboratories”) were similar to those found for high school students. More research is needed before conclusion can be drawn about the items that did not fall on these three subscales. Responses to most of the Attitudes to Engineering items were positive. Higher averages (close to 5) are desirable for items that emphasize positive aspects of engineering while lower averages (close to 1) are desirable for items that depict negative aspects. To calculate the overall average, negatively stated items such as those on the NEGATIVE and TIME subscales were reversed so that a higher average score indicates more positive attitudes. The average response to all items on the scale was 3.72 with a standard deviation of .21. Although the average response to all the items was not as high as expected, it was greater than three, indicating that the responses were more positive than negative. The average response to International Conference on Engineering Education


items on the POSITIVE subscale was 4.24 with a standard deviation of .41, which is higher than the average response to all the items. The average response to items on the NEGATIVE subscale was 1.72 with a standard deviation of .47, which is much lower than the average response to all the items. The average response to items on the TIME subscale was 2.32, which is not as low as desired. The standard deviation of the TIME subscale (.63) was much larger than the standard deviations of the other subscales indicating that the counselors’ opinions about how engineers spend their time varies more than their opinions about other aspects of engineering. Ninety-two percent of the counselors agreed that engineering could be an interesting career and that engineering plays an important role in solving society’s problems while 84% agreed that most of the skills learned in engineering would be useful in everyday life. Eighty percent disagreed that engineering was boring but only 59% disagreed that engineers are usually those people who were called nerds in high school. Eighty-nine percent agreed that engineering is a desirable profession for women who are good in science and math but fewer (79%) agreed that a woman could succeed in engineering as easily as a man of similar ability could. Seventy five percent agreed that students would have no problem finding a job if they had an engineering degree and only 5% agreed with the idea that to be a good engineer required an IQ in the genius range. Pre-Engineering Counseling Efficacy Although 89% of the counselors indicated that they have discussed engineering as a possible career with their students, responses to many of the other Pre-Engineering Counseling Efficacy items were not as positive. For instance, only 57% indicated they felt they had the information they needed to help prepare students who may want to become engineers and only 70% percent indicated they actively encourage students to consider engineering as a career. See Table 1 for a summary of all items on the Pre-Engineering Counseling measure. Knowledge of Engineering Careers The distributions of scores for “Name a type of Engineer” and “Give an example of the work they do” were not normally distributed so it was not possible to calculate means for these measures. Of the 233 counselors who took the survey 60% correctly named five different types of engineers but only 2% gave a correct example of the type of work done by each type of engineer. For “Name a type of engineer” 7% either gave no response or none of their responses were correct. Another 5% gave one or two correct answers and the remaining 28% gave three or four correct responses. A large sample Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test, the non-parametric equivalent of a two-sample t-test, found a significant difference between the distribution of responses from the pre-engineering and the other counselors (Z=2.2, p=.01). Sixty-four percent of the pre-engineering counselors correctly named five different types of engineers and less than 5% did not give any correct responses as compared to 52% and 15% for the other counselors. For “Give an example of the type of work they do” 45% of all counselors either gave no response or none of their responses were correct. There was also a significant difference between the distributions of the “Give an example” responses for the two groups (Z=1.65, p=.05). Forty two percent of the pre-engineering counselors did not give any correct examples of work done by the engineers they named compared to 53% of the other counselors. The distributions of all items on the Attitudes to Engineering Scale were examined to identify items where the percentage of "I don't know" and/or "No Opinion" responses was greater than ten percent. For instance, 15% of the counselors indicated that they had no opinion or did not know whether students would have a problem finding a job if they had an engineering degree. Thirteen percent indicated they did not know or had no opinion as to whether most of the skills learned in engineering would be useful in everyday life. Even more, (19%), do not know or have no opinion as to whether the advantages of studying engineering outweigh the disadvantages (see Table 2).

DISCUSSION Responses from the school counselors in the current sample were expected to be positive because most of them attended a conference for counselors from schools served by a nationally recognized pre-engineering project. What was not expected was that there would be so few significant differences between the responses of the pre-engineering counselors and the other counselors. With the exception of the Knowledge of Engineering Careers measure both groups gave similar responses. Four fifths or more of the counselors agreed that engineers are creative, are highly respected by others, and play an important role in solving society’s problems. A similar proportion agreed that engineering is a desirable profession for women who are good in math and science and expect their students to be given the same opportunities, pay raises and promotions as their colleagues if they become engineers. They also do not agree that one has to be a genius in order to be an engineer.



Nevertheless, some of the counselors have reservations about careers in engineering. Almost one quarter indicated that they disagree, do not know, or have no opinion as to whether engineering would leave a person with enough time to have family and leisure activities. Such counselors may not be able to fully endorse a decision to choose engineering, especially for a person who makes family and leisure time a high priority. Slightly more than 40% of the counselors either agreed, did not know, or had no opinion as to whether engineers are usually those people who were called nerds in high school, suggesting that at least some counselors hold the common misconception that engineers are nerds. Despite the current demand for engineers, about one sixth did not know or had no opinion as to whether students would have a problem finding a job with an engineering degree and, surprisingly one tenth of them actually disagreed that students would have no problem finding a job with an engineering degree. Counselors’ self-efficacy in relation to preparing students for engineering careers presents a mixed picture. A majority of the counselors (89%) indicated that they have discussed engineering as a possible career with their students, while fewer, though still a substantial proportion said that they have actively encouraged students to pursue engineering. They also reported suggesting engineering more often than either medicine or other science/math based careers to their students who do well in math and science. This is encouraging for engineering recruitment, considering that all three careers tend to recruit from the same pool of students, however, it contradicts much of the literature, which suggests that counselors do not engage in substantive career counseling with their students [5], [9], [10], [18]. Counselors in the current sample seem to have some basic knowledge about types of engineering careers. Three-fifths correctly named five types of engineering careers, with the pre-engineering counselors naming significantly more than the other counselors. However, even though 78% of all the counselors indicated that they think they know what engineers do, very few counselors in either group gave correct examples of the work engineers do. Less than 2% gave five correct examples. Hence, these data do not support the contention that school counselors have sufficient knowledge of engineering careers to provide detailed, accurate information to students. Although almost two-thirds of the counselors felt they did not have the information necessary to help their students prepare for a career in engineering, most of them felt that they knew where they could find the information. Almost four fifths indicated they know an engineer who could talk to their students about engineering, but their access to other resources seems less clear. Only three fifths are aware of grade appropriate information on engineering careers and less than half are aware of engineering competitions that their students could enter. Given the easy Internet access to various engineering web sites that target middle and high school students and the existence of a number of long standing national competitions such as Junior Engineering Technical Society TEAMS Competition this is disappointing. Over half of the counselors are aware of summer programs but only one-fifth knows of after school programs that would help prepare students for engineering careers. Because such programs are likely to be local or regional, the low level of awareness may result either from the unavailability of such programs or the counselors’ lack of information. For students in the schools served by the preengineering programs, such a low level of awareness and/or program availability may be of little consequence because their teachers are likely to be informed. In schools not served by pre-engineering programs, these responses imply that students may not have access to some of the most effective means of promoting students’ interest in engineering.

REFERENCES [1] National Science Board, Science and engineering indicators-2002, Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation Division of Science Resources Statistics, (NSB 02-01), 2001. [2] National Science Foundation, Women minorities and persons with disabilities in science and engineering (2000), Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation, (NSF 00-327), 2000. [3] New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, Higher education outcomes and high-tech workforce demands. The fifth annual systemwide accountability report., Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, 2001. [4] Barker, J., "School counselors' perceptions of required workplace skills and career development competencies", Professional School Counseling, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2000, pp. 134-140. [5] Shill, K., "Precollege guidance and counseling. Highlights: An ERIC/CAPS Digest", ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Personal Services. Ann Arbor, MI., 1987. [6] Fouad, N A., "Career linking: An intervention to promote math and science career awareness", Journal of Counseling & Development, Vol. 73, No 5, 1995, pp. 527-534. [7] Prien, J. D. Jr., "Helping Young People Make Informed Decisions", Engineering Education, Jan. 1980. [8] Baum, E., The Cooper Union 1989 National Survey of Women Engineers, New York: The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, 1989. [9] Shoffner, M. F. and Vacc, N. N., "Careers in the mathematical sciences: The role of the school counselor. ERIC Digest", ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services, Greensboro, NC, 1999, pp. 1-4.



[10] Jagacinski, C. M., "Engineering Careers: Women in a Male-Dominated Field", Psychology of Women Quarterly, Vol. 11, 1987, pp. 97-110. [11] Hirsch, L. S., Gibbons, S., Kimmel, H., Rockland, R., and Bloom, J., "High school students' attitudes to and knowledge about engineering", Frontiers in Education Conference, Boulder, Colorado, Nov 5-8, 2003, (submitted). [12] Lee, V. E. and Ekstrom, R. B. “Student access to guidance counseling in high school”, American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 24, No. 2, 1987, pp. 287-310. [13] Lal, B., Yoon, S. and Carlson, K., " How large is the gap in salaries of male and female engineers?", Division of Science Resources Studies: Issue Brief, Washington D.C.: National Science Foundation, (NSF 99-352), July 26, 1999. [14] Brush, S. G., "Women in science and engineering", American Scientist, Vol. 79, Sep-Oct, 1991, pp. 404-419. [15] Asmundsen, S. J., "Career counseling with the college students in science and engineering", In D. H. Montross & C. J. Shinkman (Eds.), Career Development, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1992, pp.121-127. [16] Taylor, H., "Doctors seen as most prestigious of seventeen professions and occupations, followed by scientists (#2), Teachers (#3), Ministers/Clergy (#4) and Military Officers (#5)", The Harris Poll # 51. 2000. http://www.louisharris.com/ harris_poll/ index.asp?PID=111. [17] Craver, W. L., Schroder, D. C. and Tarquin, A. J., Introduction to engineering, New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. [18] Kemper, J. D., Introduction to the engineering profession, New York: Oxford University Press. 1993 [19] Oakes, W. C., Leone, L. L. and Gunn, C. J., Engineering your future: An introduction to engineering, St. Louis, MO: Great Lakes Press, 2002. [20] Wright, P. H., Introduction to engineering, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002.

FIGURES AND TABLES TABLE I PRE-ENGINEERING COUNSELING EFFICACY No/ Don’t know

Yes

I have discussed engineering as a possible career options with my students.

11%

89%

I feel I have the information I need to help prepare students who may want to become engineers.

43%

57%

I know where to find the necessary information to help students if they want to be engineers.

15%

85%

I suggest engineering as a possible career if students do well in Math and Science.

12%

88%

I think I know what engineers do.

22%

78%

I suggest medicine as a possible career if students do well in Math and Science.

42%

58%

If students do well in math/science I suggest they study Math/Science in college.

25%

75%

I am aware of grade appropriate information on engineering careers for students.

42%

58%

I know at least one engineer who can give a career talk to my students.

23%

77%

I am aware if engineering competitions that my students can enter.

55%

45%

I actively encourage my students to consider engineering as a career.

30%

70%

I am aware of summer programs that would help students prepare for an engineering career.

46%

54%

I know of after-school programs would help students prepare for an engineering career.

79%

21%



TABLE II ATTITUDES TO ENGINEERING ITEMS WITH HIGH PERCENTAGES OF "I DON'T KNOW" AND/OR "NO OPINION” RESPONSES Agree

Disagree

I don't know /No opinion

Students would have no problem finding a job if they had an engineering degree.

75%

10%

15%

Most of the skills learned in engineering would be useful in everyday life.

85%

2%

13%

The advantages of studying engineering outweigh the disadvantages.

79%

2%

19%

5%

76%

19%

Engineers spend most of their time doing difficult mathematical calculations.

24%

53%

23%

Engineers spend most of their time working with computers.

25%

52%

23%

Engineers are usually those people who were called nerds in high school.

22%

59%

19%

6%

82%

12%

77%

5%

18%

Engineers spend most of their time working in laboratories.

Engineers seldom get involved in business decisions. A career in engineering would leave time for family & leisure activities.

Note. For this table, agree and strongly agree are combined into Agree, disagree and strongly disagree are combined into Disagree.

