Perceived Barriers to Participation in Engineering: Why Underrepresented Groups Remain Underrepresented

This study examines barriers that are perceived to prevent successful enrollment and matriculation of students from underrepresented groups in engineering. Data includes surveys administered to high school math and science teachers and their students. Around 50 high school teachers and over 1,200 high school students have been surveyed during the process of collecting assessment data for the NSF-sponsored UTA Research Experiences for Teachers in Hazard Mitigation. Survey data is illuminated and supported by data collected from teacher focus groups, classroom observations and teacher-produced materials such as lesson plans and reflective papers. Additional data was collected by surveying undergraduate engineering students. For each group (e.g. High School STEM Teachers, High School STEM Students, and Undergraduate Engineering Students), key findings regarding the group's perception of barriers for underrepresented populations are discussed. Perceptions of barriers are organized by disability, gender, and race/ethnicity. Concluding remarks discuss some of the themes reflected across groups, including how curriculum, identities, and self-perceptions are constructed based on traditional norms and historically held biases about gender, race/ethnicity, and (dis) ability. While there are similarities of perceived barriers among high school students, high school teachers, and undergraduates, the analysis of our data shows that perceptions are not uniform among participants, but rather that they perceive curricula, instruction, student differences, engineering, and engineers differently. Our data suggests that approaches to diversifying engineering need to consider perceptions, as well as be multipronged and differentiated.