Boosting engineering identity of rising sophomore engineering majors through service learning based bridge program

Abstract

The BOOST program (Bridge Opportunities Offered for the Sophomore Transition) was developed to strengthen Engineering major students' professional identity and boost their motivation and perseverance to persist through the challenge and rigor of the Engineering program. Teams of rising sophomores, along with junior- or senior-level peer mentors, spent six weeks of their summer innovating, creating, and working collaboratively on Engineering projects which served their local community. BOOST partnered with three highly impactful urban service-focused community organizations - two non-profit organizations and a public elementary school. Despite most BOOST students being first-generation college students, and no BOOST student having had any previous engineering design experience prior to participation in the program, the students completed three substantial design projects which were all very well received by the community partners. Assessment results indicate that students greatly benefited from participating in design projects, providing service to their community, working in teams, peer mentorship, and interaction with faculty advisors. Most noticeably, BOOST students' engineering innovation and creativity scale increased by 50% (p