Preparing Future Engineers Through Project Based Learning

ABSTRACT

A significant amount of research suggests the common reasons students leave an engineering major include lack of faculty mentoring, lack of a sense of belonging, financial hardships, and course difficulties in the prerequisite STEM courses [1]. Project-based learning (PBL) potentially addresses several of these reasons and increases the chances of a student completing an engineering major. Engineering students are more likely to persist when they feel a sense of belonging and community engagement, when they have early interactions with faculty mentors, and when they experience a series of successes [2]. The research question involves whether student research projects with small, faculty-mentored groups promotes student retention. Students participating in Contra Costa College's Center for Science Excellence (CSE) STEM mentoring program are encouraged to apply for external internships and internal research projects. As of the last cycle before the interruption of internship opportunities associated with COVID-19, 79% of participating students intended to apply for summer internships. Students are also able to work on internal research projects mentored by CSE faculty mentors. Over the past three years, engineering students that have participated in research projects have remained in our program and transferred at a high rate. Of thirty student research participants, fourteen have transferred into engineering majors (47%), two have transferred into other STEM majors (7%), eleven continue to take transfer preparatory courses at Contra Costa College (37%), and the educational status of three students is unknown (10%). For the college as a whole, the transfer rate is 32%, the graduation rate is 24%, and the retention rate after one year is 67%. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021