Contingent Identification in a Biomedical Engineering Classroom

Abstract

This study, set in a university biomedical engineering capstone design course, explores how students identify as engineers, finding this process to be contingent and dynamically negotiated. Biomedical engineering, as a degree program, serves as a legitimate pathway towards engineering and medical school, making identification with engineering particularly contingent. Living narratives provide glimpses into experiences students have in their design course, which aligns more closely with authentic engineering practice than their previous coursework. As a result, the design course is a significant opportunity for students to consider themselves to be engineers. Framed by changes in accountable disciplinary knowledge and navigation (Stevens, O'Connor, Garrison, Jocuns, & Amos, 2008) within the interdisciplinary context of biomedical engineering and the varied goals of students for choosing the major (engineering vs. health sciences), students' identification as engineers emerges as particularly contentious. Leadership and underrepresentation are considered in relation to identification, navigation, and accountable disciplinary knowledge.