AWISE

AWISE (AWE in Student Environments) extends the AWE mission to the engineering classroom. This 3-year project investigates research issues pertinent to the retention of undergraduate women engineering students through gender comparative studies of classroom climate in three diverse departments at Penn State
This research project is addressing the following research questions:

• How frequently do certain types of classroom activities occur?
• Team or collaborative projects, Student to student interactions in non-formal teams or lab work, Student to faculty interactions.
• How do students participate in these activities/ interactions in engineering classrooms and laboratories? (e.g. who leads, who asks questions)
• How do students perceive these activities? (e.g. productive, beneficial, frustrating)
• Are there differences (and what are they) between
• men and women?
• ethnic minority and majority students?
• How do faculty perceptions of classroom activities compare to student perceptions?

Copies of the surveys are available upon request.

Marra, R., Bogue, B, Shen, D. (2008). Engineering Classroom Environments: Examining Differences by Gender and Departments. In proceedings of American Society for Engineering Education (www.asee.org), 22 - 24 June, Pittsburgh, PA.