Preparing Early Engineers through Context, Connections and Community (PEEC3)

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the academic preparation of entering engineering students and ultimately increasing the number and diversity of engineering graduates. Students enter community college with varied levels of preparation, particularly in science and mathematics. The COVID-19 pandemic has likely increased this variability, due to academic interruptions and social isolation. To overcome these challenges, this project intends to develop a two-quarter, integrated learning community to help prepare students to study engineering and to transfer to four-year institutions. Plans include developing a place-based curriculum that embraces a holistic model for academic preparation. The project will feature cross-disciplinary collaboration of faculty in engineering, math, physics, English and history working together to design, implement, and assess the new curriculum. Once the curriculum is developed, a 24-student cohort will be recruited to complete a two-quarter sequence of three tightly integrated and team-taught courses. Quarter one will combine courses in engineering, pre-calculus, and Pacific Northwest history and culture. Quarter two will combine introductory design and computing, additional pre-calculus, and English composition. The integrated two-quarter experience will blur traditional disciplinary boundaries and incorporate multiple high-impact practices including contextualized mathematics and English, service-learning, and a course-based undergraduate research experience. This approach should improve learning outcomes for participating students compared to the current a la carte model of course offerings, and advance student progress along factors such as intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, and sense of belonging that are vital to student success as engineering majors.

The project is intended to: (1) address disparities in community college students' academic, social, and emotional preparation for an engineering major using a holistic approach; (2) accelerate engagement of participating students within existing curriculum, community, and support systems; and (3) increase course success rates, improve program retention, and reduce equity gaps in engineering transfer preparation and associate degree completion. Program outcomes will be assessed using a mixed methods approach consisting of student surveys, focus group interviews, and comparison of outcomes data to demographically matched samples of students simultaneously progressing through the existing early engineering curriculum. In addition, disseminating project results through the engineering education community at regional and national conferences, the project aims to produce modular curriculum products that could be implemented in individual courses. Lastly, a detailed financial sustainability analysis will be conducted to determine if retention gains attributable to the program justify the up- front cost of this intensive curriculum intervention. The NSF program description on Advancing Innovation and Impact in Undergraduate STEM Education at Two-year Institutions of Higher Education supports projects that advance STEM education initiatives at two-year colleges. The program description promotes innovative and evidence-based practices in undergraduate STEM education at two-year colleges.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.