A qualitative study on the effects of participation in pre-college engineering programs on first-year engineering students

As a result of the growth of formal and informal pre-college engineering opportunities, many students are enrolling in university engineering programs with significant prior exposure to engineering ideas and practices. This study explores how participation in pre-college engineering programs and activities affects the experiences of students in a first-year engineering program. Twenty-three students selected for maximum variation in their experiences were interviewed and the resulting transcripts analyzed using a phenomenographic research framework. Preliminary results suggest seven broad categories of description encompassing a broad range of both positive and negative effects resulting from pre-college engineering experiences.