Active Learning Group Work: Helpful or Harmful for Women in Engineering?

Active Learning is a trending engineering education technique used at universities across the country. This educational approach fosters students’ technical and non-technical skills through group projects that require teams to apply their collective knowledge to solve various “real world” problems. Its collaborative, hands-on nature is appealing to instructors who are interested in better preparing their students for the increasingly complex and dynamic world of engineering. However, group settings have shown to put additional stresses on women in engineering, an already marginalized group in STEM fields. The results of this study, conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder, show that many women enjoy active learning because it helps them develop long-term material retention and problem-solving skills, as well as because they find it rewarding to see the effects of their engineering in action. However, women also reported that they face several challenges in team settings, especially being pressured to take on non-technical roles in group projects. In order for active learning group work to realize its full potential, the challenges that women face in team settings must be addressed in the classroom. If the issues are mitigated, active learning will become an increasingly successful way to prepare men and women for group work in the future.