Tool 5: Identity
What are we talking about here?
Identity might seem to be a topic more suited to the clinical psychologist than the engineering educator:“I don’t need to know if my first years are well-adjusted 18 year olds, I just need to worry about whether they are learning any engineering!” It is therefore important to note that the view on identity that we wish to consider for inclusion in our guide does not focus on internal psychological makeup but is much more about how you present yourself to the world and how the world recognises you. In engineering education we are continually assessing whether our students are able to display engineering skills and knowledge with confidence.This is basically what we are talking about when we focus on identity.
→ Read more
What does this mean for engineering education?
Learning engineering is not simply a matter of ‘acquiring knowledge’; engaging with engineering is an act that has implications for how others will see you. Students come to engineering with some identities already in place that they use in the home, at school, with their friends.Taking on the new identity associated with learning engineering will either merge seamlessly with these other identities or else there might be a clash. A clash between these identities could result in academic failure or ultimately not choosing to follow a professional engineering career.
→ Read more
In what ways might this be a useful thinking tool?
Many engineering educators are concerned about the involvement of students from ‘non-traditional’ backgrounds in engineering education, for example women and ethnic minorities42.These concerns centre on the choice to do engineering, success in engineering programmes and taking up engineering careers. Research in this area has often focused on trying to identify the‘factors’that underpin career choices and [...]
→ Read more
Show me an example
Walker, M. (2001). Engineering identities. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22 (1), 75-89.
In this paper Melanie Walker reports on a project which sought to understand the experiences of male and female students in a large Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at a pre-1992 university. She interviewed six men and nine women in in-depth [...]
Where can I read further to learn more about this tool?
Gee, J. P. (2001). Identity as an analytic lens for research in education. Review of Research in Education, 25 (1), 99-125.
James Gee is well known for his work in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis. In this paper he presents his take on ‘identity’ which is sociologically grounded with a particular focus on discourse (see tool 6). [...]
