Identify as Engineers

When students actively engage in engineering challenges, collaborate with peers, and persist through testing and improvement, they begin to see themselves as capable problem solvers. Engineering identity grows through authentic experiences, including imagining ideas, designing solutions, learning from failure, and making evidence-based decisions. 

Early, high-quality engineering experiences build confidence, creativity, and a sense of belonging in STEM. When youth identify as engineers, they are more likely to pursue future opportunities in engineering and envision themselves shaping solutions for their communities and the world. 

• Call students engineers. Use language that connects students directly to the discipline by referring to their work as engineering and to them as engineers and problem solvers.  
• Celebrate the engineering practices students use. Highlight moments when students collaborate, communicate ideas, persist through failure, test solutions, or improve designs so they recognize the skills they are developing.  
• Connect engineering to students’ lives and experiences. Invite students to solve meaningful problems, share their ideas, and draw on their own experiences and creativity as they design solutions. 

Research shows that students are more likely to see themselves as engineers when they engage in authentic engineering challenges, collaborate with peers, and share their ideas and solutions. Early engineering experiences help youth build confidence, persistence, and a sense of belonging in STEM.