How Relationships with Faculty and Peers Affect Value Development in Undergraduate Engineering Education: A National Survey Analysis

To prepare students for the serious ethical dilemmas encountered in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), higher education educators strive to influence students’ value development. Despite this goal, little is known about value development in undergraduate engineering education. Survey data from the 2008-2009 national administration of the revised College Student Experiences in STEM Questionnaire (CSESQ) was analyzed to examine the relationship between students’ engagement with faculty and peers and their perceived value development. Findings from the present study offer insight into (a) engineering students’ value development in college, and (b) the influence of relationships with peers and faculty members on such outcomes. Results from our analysis indicate that students who rate their relations with peers and faculty as positive, supportive, and welcoming also tend to report higher perceived gains in terms of value development. College classification and relationships with others such as faculty members were found to be statistically significant predictors of value development for undergraduate engineering students.