Investigating Primary School Children’s Perceptions of Engineers and Engineering
We are currently collecting data for a project called, Junior Engineering Development Initiative (JEDI): Investigating Children's Perceptions of Engineers and Engineering. Science Foundation Ireland are supporting this research to inspire young people’s interest in engineering.
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Who are the research team?
Dr Hao Lucy Liu is a postdoctoral researcher on the JEDI project, and works at the School of Psychology, University College Dublin. Dr Katie Gilligan-Lee is leading this JEDI project. She is an assistant professor of Cognitive Development at the School of Psychology, University College Dublin where she leads the Cognition, Development and Learning lab. Sophie Burns is a research assistant working on this project. She is completing her final year of an undergraduate degree in Psychology at University College Dublin.
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What is the research about?
In this project, we are investigating children's perceptions of engineers, including what an engineer looks like and what characteristics they have. We are also interested in gender differences in children’s self-confidence in STEM and their interest in pursuing STEM careers.
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Why are we doing this research?
The results will be used to design an intervention to promote children’s interest in engineering and help to give them the confidence to pursue a career in engineering.
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Why have you/your child been invited to take part?
Your child’s school has already agreed to take part in this research. Therefore, we are inviting all 5th and 6th class children in their school to participate.
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What will happen if you and your child decide to take part in this research?
You will be asked to complete an online consent form and questionnaire about your child. This will take approximately 5 minutes to complete. It will include some simple demographic questions (e.g., child’s age, ethnicity, socio-economic status). Your child will then complete one activity session in their school, led by their teacher. This is very similar to the sort of activities children typically complete in their classrooms. The session will last 1 hour. Your child will first be asked to provide consent that they would like to take part. They will then complete a worksheet. There will be space on the worksheet for your child to fill out their details, including name, age, school etc.. This will be removed once all the data has been collected. Your child will be asked to draw an engineer and to answer a series of questions about their confidence in science and maths, what they would like to be when they grow up, the type of people (physical and trait qualities) who work in engineering and where they work.
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How will your data be used?
The data collected will be anonymised and used to answer research questions about children’s perceptions of engineers and engineering. Confidential data is stored on secure UCD Google-drive servers in password-protected files and on password-protected computers. Records may be reviewed by the Ethics Review Board at UCD or funding agencies. Anonymised data will be shared on a secure online repository called the Open Science Framework. However, neither you nor your child will be identifiable in this shared data set. No confidential/identifying information will be included in published reports. You can ask for a copy of the personal data you have submitted, which we can send to another organisation, upon your request. If you want any changes to your personal data or your child’s, please contact us and we will resolve the issue.
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How will your privacy be protected?
Children’s identities are kept confidential. All children will be assigned a unique identification number instead of their name. All data will be stored using this ID number. No personal data will be shared outside the research team at UCD.
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What are the benefits of taking part in this research study?
We think that participating in this research will be enjoyable for children and the research will help us to understand how children perceive engineers and engineering. This will help us to design interventions to improve attitudes towards engineers and engineering.
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What are the possible disadvantages or risks of taking part?
Children may feel frustration or fatigue when completing the activities. Children will be reminded that they are only expected to do their best. They will be encouraged by the teacher and reminded that they can stop taking part at any time. We will lease with classroom teachers to ensure that they miss the minimum amount of classroom time and do not miss any important lessons.
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Do I have to take part and can I change my mind?
No, you do not have to participate. There will be no negative consequences if you or your child decide not to participate or withdraw at a later stage. You or your child can withdraw your participation by contacting one of the researchers working on the study (details below). You can request for your data to be withdrawn until the data have been analysed (before February 28th 2025) without giving a reason. In this case your data will not be included in the report. Children will also be informed that they can stop completing the tasks at any time or can continue later if they like. If a child is experiencing anxiety or discomfort the teacher will let them know they can stop at any point.
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How will you find out what happens with this project?
If you choose to provide your information, we will send you a short report of our findings. However, we will not share details of individual child performance.
Contact details for further information:
Dr Hao Lucy Liu lucy.liu1@ucd.ie; Dr Katie Gilligan-Lee katie.gilligan-lee@ucd.ie; Sophie Burns sophie.burns@ucdconnect.ie