Research on Innovation and Creativity in Higher Education in Engineering and Science for Community Colleges: Student Strengths and Challenges

There is a critical need for more students with engineering and science majors to enter into, persist, and graduate from postsecondary institutions. Increasing the diversity in engineering and science is also a profound identified need. According to national statistics, the largest groups of underrepresented minority students in engineering and science attend United States public higher education institutions and in particular the community colleges. Recent research has indicated that students from these populations who are strong problem solvers, and who understand how to seek assistance and navigate college campuses, are most likely persist to degree completion. Accordingly, this research seeks to examine a sample of non-traditional college students enrolled in science and engineering programs in four urban community colleges to determine (a) the types and frequency of support practices they utilize, (b) how such practices influence their achievement, persistence and transfer status to four year colleges and universities, and (c) how in turn their propensity for innovation and creative problem solving affects such choices and persistence. The study analyzes the pedagogical practices—practices designed to foster successful transfer from community college to four-year colleges and universities and how students’ innovative capability influences such transfer capacity. The goals are: (1) to explore the pedagogical practices used to support non-traditional students in community colleges to inform persistence, (2) to understand whether such practices are effective in offering non-traditional students a program that enables them to stay in engineering and science majors and to transfer to a four year college or university, and (3) to determine if students’ propensity for innovative problem solving influences use of pedagogical practices and ultimately, transfer persistence. The research targets five research questions: (1) What are the patterns of pedagogical practices that community colleges employ to enhance students’ transfer success in engineering and science? (2) Are there discernable profiles of non-traditional students enrolling in engineering and science majors in community colleges that utilize these pedagogical practices? (3) How do students’ creative and innovative problem solving approaches influence the choices that they make in using pedagogical support practices? (4) What are the impacts of pedagogical practices and differences among pedagogical practices, on persistence toward students’ transfer to colleges and universities? (5) How do students’ creative and innovative problem solving approaches influence their persistence toward transfer to engineering and science programs at 4-year universities? This research studies an area and group of students that have been historically understudied, community college students in engineering and science. It builds upon the researchers’ current studies of STEM pathways and students’ propensity for innovation, both of which are research areas recognized as areas that engineering education must cultivate in students. The research also provides rigorous empirical research on students who have been traditionally underrepresented in higher education research, thereby advancing the knowledge to higher education research communities. Motivation and overview There is a critical need for more students with engineering and science majors to enter into, persist, and graduate from postsecondary institutions. Increasing the diversity in engineering and science is also a profound identified need. According to national statistics, the largest groups of underrepresented minority students in engineering and science attend the US public higher education institutions and in particular the community colleges. Recent research has indicated that students from these populations who are strong problem solvers, and who understand how to seek assistance and navigate college campuses, are most likely persist to degree completion. The present research underscores the importance of innovative problem solving for students to persist in engineering majors. Accordingly, this engineering education seeks to examine a sample of non-traditional college students enrolled in science and engineering programs in four urban community colleges to determine (a) the types and frequency of support practices they utilize, (b) how such practices influence their achievement, persistence and transfer status to four year colleges and universities, and (c) how in turn their propensity for innovation and creative problem solving affects such choices and persistence. This paper presents on the first and second year of a three-stage research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The value of the study’s findings depends largely on an exploratory research design, which analyzes the pedagogical practices—practices designed to foster successful transfer from community college to four-year colleges and universities and how students’ innovative capability influences such transfer capacity. The goals of this research are: (1) to explore the pedagogical practices used to support non-traditional students in community colleges to persist in engineering and science majors, (2) to understand whether such practices are effective in offering non-traditional students a program that enables them to stay in engineering and science majors and to transfer to a four year college or university, and (3) to determine if students’ propensity for innovation and creative problem solving influences a particular use of pedagogical practices and ultimately, transfer persistence. This study builds upon a pilot study that the study’s research team conducted that focused on one community college, student persistence and propensity for innovative problem solving, and extends this research to a multidimensional, comparative study of four community colleges. The research targets five research questions: (1) What are the patterns of pedagogical practices that community colleges employ to enhance students’ transfer success in engineering and science? (2) Are there discernable profiles of non-traditional students enrolling in engineering and science majors in community colleges that utilize these pedagogical practices? (3) How do students’ creative and innovative problem solving approaches influence the choices that they make in using pedagogical support practices? (4) What are the impacts of pedagogical practices and differences among pedagogical practices, on persistence toward students’ transfer to colleges and universities? (5) How do students’ creative and innovative problem solving approaches influence their persistence toward transfer to engineering and science programs at 4-year universities? The first two years of this research focuses upon the first four questions from the list above. Critical factors affecting community college students Based on a review of the literature and the authors’ research over the last decade, four “givens” undergird the argument for this engineering education study: (1) Community colleges continue to grow more rapidly than other postsecondary sectors; (2) growth in demand for postsecondary education is increasing, while science and engineering enrollments are not presently growing; (3) the leadership of the United States in postsecondary education provision is eroding; and (4) future increases in enrollments will be composed significantly of “non-traditional” students. Each point is discussed briefly below. Ongoing growth of community colleges While some of the community college growth has leveled in the last two years, the nation has seen a tremendous growth in the past 15 years in this sector. Currently, community colleges (CCs) serve more first generation college students, those who are traditionally underrepresented in science technology, engineering and math (STEM) and others with financial needs. According to the American Council of Community Colleges, full time enrollment in CCs remain stable, with approximately 8,000,000 students enrolled full time, yet part time enrollment is on the rise. Importantly, community colleges in the state in which this research is being conducted enroll 2.6 million annually, roughly 32.5% of the entire sector, and therefore such community colleges often set national trends. Community colleges enroll some of the neediest students nationally with 34% of all Pell Grant recipients during the first quarter of 2012 enrolled in community colleges, a share that increased by 3% compared to the same period last year. Of all degrees completed by those who initiated their experiences in community colleges, only 12% of all degrees completed were in STEM fields compared to 34% in social sciences and humanities fields. Increasing importance of postsecondary education for everyone The present research would not be so vital were it not for the reality that the country’s economic and social well being increasingly depends on the skills and knowledge that each citizen acquires. What one earns depends increasingly on what one learns. Rises in the wages of college graduates relative to high school graduates demonstrate this growing relationship between learning and earning. This is especially the case in the technical fields. Increasingly, those individuals with more formal education earn more and the differential is widening. The earnings of prime working-age men (30–59) with at least a bachelor’s degree, like their female counterparts, have increased, but at a slower rate than women. In contrast, the earnings of men with some college or less have seen declines in their inflation-adjusted earnings. The earnings advantage of bachelor’s degree holders over high school graduates increased by about 36% between 1979 and 2001, reaching 76%. As the United States gradually evolves from a national industrial economy to a global knowledge economy, a significantly higher level of educati