Examining the Relationship Among Perceived Academic Climate, Belongingness, and Engineering Identity
Semester
Summer
Date of Graduation
2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
College of Education and Human Services
Department
Learning Sciences and Human Development
Committee Chair
Reagan Curtis
Committee Co-Chair
Jake Follmer
Committee Member
Jake Follmer
Committee Member
Karen Rambo-Hernandez
Abstract
An attempt to cultivate an inclusive learning environment in engineering is trending as a response to women's underrepresentation and a lower retention rate than men undergraduates. This study was situated in such an undergraduate engineering program where interventions were embedded in the course curriculum focusing on cultivating an inclusive engineering identity. Following a sociocultural perspective, the present study aimed to examine the relation of engineering identity with perceived academic climate, sense of belonging, and gender among two engineering cohorts (before covid and during covid context). A total of 482 first-year engineering undergraduates' survey responses were analyzed in this study using a moderated mediation model. The findings of this empirical study revealed that the sense of belonging mediated the effect of perceived diversity promotion of academic climate on engineering identity. These relationships were not found to be varied between males and females, nor before and during COVID 19 pandemic. This study shed light on the social, cognitive, and affective factors that impact engineering identity in an inclusive curriculum and informed future design of interventions.
Recommended Citation
Raisa, Sumaia Ali, "Examining the Relationship Among Perceived Academic Climate, Belongingness, and Engineering Identity" (2022). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 11433.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/11433