Becoming an Engineer: Toward a Three Dimensional View of Engineering Learning. Research Brief

In this paper, the authors develop an analytical framework referred to as "Becoming an Engineer" that focuses upon changes occurring over time as students traverse their undergraduate educations in engineering. This paper discusses three conceptual dimensions used to follow the engineering students' educational pathways: the development of "accountable disciplinary knowledge" (ADK); forming an "identity" as an engineer; and "navigating" through engineering education. The case studies described in this paper demonstrate how the differences in students' ways of navigating their educational experiences can be consequential. In general, the two issues that these cases and others in this study raise are the importance of mentors or sponsors who provide images of futures and the ways students get to those futures that are fully legitimate but do not appear in the official student guidebooks or in the recommendations of official advisors.