Messaging for Engineering From Research to Action (2013) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 11-24
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From page 11... ...
But the situation outside the engineering community is quite different. Studies have shown that most K–12 students and teachers have a limited appreciation of all the ways that engineering makes their lives better and, furthermore, that they have little understanding of what engineers do or of the opportunities that an engineering education offers (Cunningham et al.
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From page 12... ...
publication Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering explained it this way: A number of important public policy issues, from climate change to the marketing of genetically modified foods, involve scientific and technical issues. Decision making on these and other topics will involve trade-offs, as we attempt to simultaneously manage limited resources while sustain ing quality of life.
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From page 13... ...
For all these reasons it is important to encourage understanding of engineering throughout the US population and not solely in the groups, such as white and Asian males, whose members have long dominated the ranks of engineering. CHANGING THE CONVERSATION In 2002 the NAE published Raising Public Awareness of Engineering, which reported that although the engineering community had been spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year to advance public understanding of engineering, the messaging seemed to be having little effect.
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From page 14... ...
The committee worked with a communications firm and a market research company in developing and testing the messages, and the results of the committee's efforts were published as Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving Public Understanding of Engineering. Positioning Statement, Messages, Taglines, and Survey Results In deciding on an approach to get people to talk and think differently about engineering, the committee relied on a strategy commonly used by companies and other entities interested in establishing a "brand." It first developed a positioning statement to serve as a guide for the sorts of messages that should be created, and then produced (and tested)
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Four of the messages tested well (Box 1-2) .1 To make sure the results would provide statistically valid data for underrepresented groups, the survey population included an oversampling of Hispanics and African Americans.
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In place of traditional outreach efforts, which tended to sell engineering as a remunerative career choice and to emphasize the need for students to be good at science and math, the report called for the community to present engineering as an emotionally satisfying vocation that is inherently creative and concerned with forging a better world.
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From page 17... ...
. The goal was to convince these various organizations to base their own messaging efforts on the new positioning statement, using the specific messages and taglines provided in the report if they wished.
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From page 18... ...
The stereotype of engineers is due in part to messaging efforts of the engineering community itself, which has often emphasized the role of science and mathematics in engineering and failed to discuss how engineers grapple with real-world problems, including societal and environ mental issues. It should be possible to move away from this brand, but
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From page 19... ...
Finally, a rebranding program must deal with the "promise gap" -- the gap between what is described in the rebranding effort versus what people encounter in real life. For instance, if students decide to major in engineering because they have heard that it is a creative profession that enables people to help address societal problems but then experience several years of classes focused mostly on solving science and math problems, they may feel misled and may convey their disillusionment to others.
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From page 20... ...
The workshop was designed to educate the attendees about the original Changing the Conversation project; to discuss how the project's messages had been put to use by selected organizations; and to identify further actions the engineering community might take to more fully implement the CTC positioning statement, messages, and taglines, including • using the messages and taglines in new outreach activities; • disseminating new messaging consistent with Changing the Conversation through specific communications tactics and tools, such as web-based media; • and supporting a coordinated messaging effort, including pos sibly a national-scale advertising campaign. The third goal, an action plan, is the subject of this report, which presents a series of steps that can -- and, the committee believes, should -- be taken to encourage the new ways of thinking about engineering described in Changing the Conversation.
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From page 21... ...
The professional engineering societies, such as the American Society for Engineering Education, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, ASME, American Society of Civil Engineers, and Society of Women Engineers compose one key audience. These societies generally have outreach efforts, and their members take part in those efforts, such as by volunteering in schools or other venues.
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From page 22... ...
There are also a number of associations connected with education in STEM, such as the National Science Teachers Association, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and International Technology and Engineering Educators Association. Each has activities aimed at informing public views of engineering.
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From page 23... ...
In American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Chicago: American Society for Engineer ing Education.
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From page 24... ...
Washington: National Academies Press. NSF (National Science Foundation)
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