Amy Kramer
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Am I smart enough to be an engineer? How undergraduate engineering students articulate their identities Open
Background Students' identification with engineering is intertwined culturally with being smart. Broadly, engineering students are often considered to be smart by others and by themselves, and these beliefs about smartness—what it is and w…
Board 74: Are All Engineers Brilliant White Men? What Television Tells Us About Engineers Open
From MacGyver to Howard Wolowitz to Tony Stark, depictions of engineers cultivated in popular media reinforce cultural understandings of engineering. These depictions can have a profound impact on public perceptions of engineering as well …
Empowering Engineering Students as Allies Through Dedicated Classroom Instruction Open
Women and other minoritized groups experience an unwelcoming environment in higher education [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. This is particularly acute in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields, where students have reported experienc…
Who’s Smarter? Beliefs about Smartness and Self-Identities Across Institutionalized Educational Pathways into Engineering Open
The underrepresentation of non-male and non-white individuals continues to be a persistent problem at all levels of engineering. In undergraduate education, multiple pathways into engineering degree programs (e.g., introductory courses off…
Who is Smart? High School Science and Engineering Students’ Beliefs about Smartness Open
The purpose of this research paper is to present findings from an exploratory, qualitative study of high school students' beliefs about smartness. The construct of smartness, which is deeply embedded into all levels of engineering educatio…
Intelligence and Smartness in Engineering: Gatekeepers to Diversity and Inclusion Open
The ideas of intelligence and smartness are woven into all levels of engineering education. The individuals who are 1) accepted to study engineering, and 2) persist to practice engineering are broadly recognized as smart. In Western contex…
GIFTS: Learning Theory Workshop Led to First-Year Classroom Innovations Open
This GIFTS paper presents an internal workshop that first-year engineering faculty at The Ohio State University attended on Learning Theories and the resulting classroom innovations that arose from that workshop. In Spring 2022, first-year…
Engaging undergraduate researchers: Contextualizing beliefs and identities about smartness in engineering Open
Undergraduate research is considered a high-impact practice. It provides students with the opportunity to improve their critical thinking and personal communication skills and offers the opportunity to build mentoring relationships with fa…
Ways of Being Smart in Engineering: Beliefs, Values, and Introductory Engineering Experiences Open
Common discourse conveys that to be an engineer, one must be “smart.” Our individual and collective beliefs about what constitutes smart behavior are shaped by our participation in the complex cultural practice of smartness. From the liter…
Beliefs in engineering education research: A systematic scoping review for studying beliefs beyond the most popular constructs Open
Background Beliefs are a complex research construct with deep connections to innumerable different research areas and agendas. Engineering education researchers are increasingly studying beliefs, and synergy across these efforts can lead t…
You’re an Engineer? You Must Be Really Smart! A Theoretical Discussion of the Need to Integrate “Smart” into Engineering Identity Research Open
Background: Those who participate in engineering are often assumed to be smart by others. At the same time, the cultural construction of what counts as “smart” is biased and therefore functions as a barrier to broadening participation in e…
Smartness in engineering: Beliefs of undergraduate engineering students Open
Background Modern engineering culture is rooted in assumptions of intellectual superiority. Scholars have demonstrated that smartness functions as an oppressive cultural practice in educational settings. However, the shared ways in which u…
Smartness in Engineering Culture: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue Open
This theory paper contributes to the study of smartness in engineering culture from different disciplinary perspectives. We are interested in the construct of smartness, which is a powerful, yet implicit, driver of students’ experience in …