Building Inclusion in Engineering Teaming Practices

Abstract

Background: Teamwork is a commonplace component of engineering practice. Engineering educators have been studying ways to make teams more effective and inclusive. However, students’ interpersonal interactions often create exclusionary experiences. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study investigates how the team formation process and what kinds of teaming practices and behaviors promote inclusive team environments. We were sensitized to Tuckman and Jensen’s (1977) revised theory of the five stages of teaming along with opportunity structures theory as frameworks to study how particular team interactions did or did not promote the inclusion of its members. Design/Method: This interpretive multi-case study used team observations, classroom artifacts, and student interviews in a first-year engineering course to understand the experiences of three teams. The primary data source, student interviews, were analyzed to understand the individual and collective team experience. These results were triangulated with the other data sources to build three team descriptions and a cross-team comparison. Results: Our findings indicate that the process of storming and norming in teams is an essential point in which social inclusion is built into teaming practices or not. While all teams, regardless of inclusive behaviors, were academically successful, the inclusive norms developed by some teams increased student learning and belonging. Conclusions: The emphasis on teaming in engineering education has often focused on the effectiveness of teams for a final project. However, the process of teaming and how peers shape the engineering environment is just as important for student’s belonging and persistence. The results of this work can provide strategies for supporting students’ teaming processes to develop more inclusive teams.