Journal
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Volume 96, Issue 2, Pages 103-115Publisher
AMER SOC ENGINEERING EDUCATION
DOI: 10.1002/j.2168-9830.2007.tb00921.x
Keywords
culture of engineering; inclusion; individual diversity
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Engineers need a breadth of experience to enrich the gene pool of ideas from which elegant engineering solutions can be drawn, called individual diversity. While performing large ethnographic research studies where hundreds of engineering students were interviewed, we interviewed Inez, a student that epitomizes individual diversity. Inez is unlike most engineers: she is female, multi-minority, and from a socio-economically disadvantaged background. Inez's story is told here using ethnography of the particular, where the story of a single individual is explored. Inez has persevered through challenges posed by her lack of familiarity with the culture of engineering, her weak high school preparation, and her feelings of being an outsider in engineering. Inez's story demonstrates that the playing field in engineering is still not level, particularly for socio-economically disadvantaged students. Her story provides a poignant example of the impact of five of Conefrey's cultural myths of science.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available