The difference between engineering and science students: Comparing backgrounds and high school experiences

Abstract

This paper analyzes the differences between engineering and science students, as measured by their intended college major at the end of high school. The data used in this analysis was taken from the nationally-representative Factors Influencing College Science Success (FICSS) survey. Implemented in 2003, this survey was completed by over 8000 college students (53% female) across the U.S. who were enrolled in first-year science courses (biology, chemistry, and physics). The topics covered on the survey focused on the experiences of the students in their last high school science class, as well as their out-of-school interests, demographics, and academic performance. This paper categorizes students based on their response to the survey question "When you were a senior in high school, what major did you think you would pursue in college?" The available responses were "A science discipline", "Engineering (includes computer science and technology)", "Preparation for professional school", "Mathematics", "Social science", "Non-science related field" and "Had no idea". There were 1707 students (58% female) whose sole response was "A science discipline" and 1074 (16% female) whose sole response was "Engineering". We compared the responses of these two groups of students (denoted hereafter as "science" and "engineering" students, respectively) to correlate different experiences, attitudes and backgrounds with their stated college intention. Engineering students had lower socio-economic backgrounds compared to science students (measured by the highest level of parental education, p<0.05). They were more likely to have taken Calculus in high school (any calculus, p<0.001; or AP calculus, p<0.001). They had, on average, higher SAT math scores (p<0.001) but had lower grades on other indicators (last high school English grade, p<0.001; SAT verbal score, p<0.001) Also, engineering students were more likely to report that they were encouraged by their guidance counselor (p<0.01) but less likely to report that they were encouraged by their science teacher (p<0.001). The two groups of students reported significantly different experiences on some items. In particular, engineering students reported that they spent less time studying outside of class each day (p<0.001) and that they spent less time reading from the textbook (p<0.001). They were less likely to report that they prepared for their laboratories the day before doing it (p<0.001) but they were more likely to report that they prepared for the laboratories immediately before starting (p<0.05). Furthermore, they indicated that their laboratories more frequently addressed their real-world beliefs (p<0.001), and that they had more freedom in designing/conducting their labs (p<0.01). © American Society for Engineering Education, 2009.