Paired peer learning through engineering education outreach

Fogg-Rogers, Laura; Edmonds, Juliet; Lewis, Fay

Abstract

© 2016 SEFI. Undergraduate education incorporating active learning and vicarious experience through education outreach presents a critical opportunity to influence future engineering teaching and practice capabilities. Engineering education outreach activities have been shown to have multiple benefits; increasing interest and engagement with science and engineering for school children, providing teachers with expert contributions to engineering subject knowledge, and developing professional generic skills for engineers such as communication and teamwork. This pilot intervention paired 10 pre-service teachers and 11 student engineers to enact engineering outreach in primary schools, reaching 269 children. A longitudinal mixed methods design was employed to measure change in attitudes and Education Outreach Self-Efficacy in student engineers; alongside attitudes, Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy and Engineering Subject Knowledge Confidence in pre-service teachers. Highly significant improvements were noted in the pre-service teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy, while both the teachers and engineers qualitatively described benefits arising from the paired peer mentor model.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 12, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Jul 13, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 2, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 15, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 13, 2017
• Journal: European Journal of Engineering Education
• Print ISSN: 0304-3797
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-5898
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 75-90
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2016.1202906
• Keywords: active learning, teacher training, women in engineering, peer learning/teaching, science education, engineering education outreach
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/900762
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2016.1202906
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Engineering Education on 13 July 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03043797.2016.1202906
• Contract Date: Jun 15, 2016