An Overview of First-Year Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Problem Solving in Engineering during a Major Exploration Course

This full paper will present the perceptions of engineering of first-year engineering (FYE) students before and after completing an optional major discovery course. Existing literature has documented the impact that common first-year engineering programs (FYEPs) and coursework can have on students, especially as part of their major selection process. Many programs help students decide whether engineering as a field is correct for them and some programs also help students decide which field of engineering most aligns with their interests. However, the amount of time dedicated to major selection in FYEPs varies – in some, it is a required component while others offer little or no coursework in this area. Despite knowing of many benefits of FYEPs, less is known about the longitudinal benefits of the major discovery component. This study will use data from multiple cohorts of FYE students to determine the impacts of a major discovery course on the perceptions of engineering of FYE students. At the institution being studied, the major discovery course is an optional, half-semester, one credit, pass / fail course offered in the FYEP in addition to the program's primary sequence of technical focused coursework. All FYE students are in a non-degree granting FYE major during their time in the program and matriculate into degree-granting engineering majors at the conclusion of the program. At the beginning and end of each semester, all students enrolled in an FYE course are asked to complete a survey which includes items about their intended major and their confidence in that choice. Additionally, students who take the major discovery course complete an additional survey as part of their coursework. The focus of this paper will be on first-year engineering students' perceptions of engineering and how those perceptions change after completing a major discovery course. We will seek to answer the following research question: How do first-year engineering students perceive engineering before and after completing a major discovery course? Responses to the open-ended survey item that asks students, "What do engineers do for a living?" will serve as the basis for analysis. Subsequent work will investigate how students' perceptions of their intended engineering majors change before and after completing the major discovery course. Initial results highlight some of the common themes in the literature about why students enroll in engineering. The most common responses analyzed so far indicate that students perceive engineers as people who solve problems, use math and science, and design and create products and processes. We expect that our complete results will be of value to advisors and instructors of FYE students and serve as additional evidence in support of the existing benefits of major discovery courses.