Investigating university students’ conceptions of engineering: an implied identity perspective

ABSTRACT

Examining how learners ascribe meaning to different aspects of their university life is a necessary undertaking in higher education. This article aims to investigate university students’ conceptions of engineering and explore how these conceptions relate to the context of their experience. Our data collection method and data analysis are informed by the techniques of the phenomenographic approach and the Implied Identity Framework. Fifteen engineering students in a course about sustainability participated in the study. Results revealed eight categories of participants’ conceptions: (1) engineering as a practice for designing solutions; (2) engineering as a pragmatic practice for the welfare of people; (3) engineering as a knowledge-based practice; (4) engineering as a communicative practice; (5) engineering as a technology-mediated practice; (6) engineering as thinking; (7) engineering as an independent practice; and (8) engineering as learning. These conceptions had cognitive, technological, or social orientations and were related to three aspects of engineering: outcome-focused; process-focused; and person-focused. Also, findings demonstrated that different contexts of the university, workplace, and society prompt different ways of thinking about engineering. The findings place a greater emphasis on personal agency and the development of student identities as lifelong learners.

KEYWORDS:

• Context
• engineering higher education
• implied identity
• phenomenography
• students’ conceptions

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank our anonymous participants for taking part in the interviews. Preliminary findings were disseminated at different intervals, including at the doctoral colloquium, Sydney School of Education and Social Work, the University of Sydney, Australia, and the First International Conference on Engineering Education, Shiraz University, Iran.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).