Introduction
Beginning with the National Academy of Engineering’s release of TheEngineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century (The Engineer of2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century, 2004), the U.S. has seen anincreased demand for colleges and universities to produce more flexible,innovative engineering students.
Background of the study
Introduced by Bandura (1977) as a part of his social cognitive theory,self-efficacy beliefs are the convictions people hold about their abilities toperform the tasks they deem necessary to achieve a desired outcome.
Problem statement
Due to the far-reaching implications of declining retention rates inengineering programs, engineering educators have also expressed concernover the issue of poor retention.
This problem was found to be accentuated among womenin engineering who were more likely than men to leave, despite havingdemonstrated similar capabilities.
Purpose of the study
The following goals were established to guide this project in itsinvestigation of engineering students’ efficacy beliefs: (1) quantify the efficacybeliefs of first- and second-year engineering students, (2) qualitativelyinvestigate the experiences and perceptions that lead to students’ formations ofthese beliefs, (3) explore the presence of any gender differences in students’level of efficacy and mode of efficacy belief formation, and (4) study anyvariations in level of efficacy and mode of efficacy formation based on thestudents’ year in the engineering curriculum.