Addressing gender as part of a Multifactorial Model of professional identity formation in a PoPBL engineering learning environment

Previous studies on the interaction of gender and professional identity formation (PIF) in engineering curricula showed how PBL and group-work could affect female students’ experience. An ongoing study on an engineering school’s project-oriented, problem-based learning curriculum analyses the interactions of the learning environment and students’ personal characteristics with their PIF. This article describes an attempt to draft a multifactorial model of PIF, analysing the relative influences of gender and other factors in the process.
Correlation tests and Multiple Correspondence Analyses were used to sort data collected from questionnaires to a cohort in the programme. Qualitative data from interviews with 31 of these students were also analysed using lexicometric tools.
Data presented in this paper suggest that:
– Environmental factors are more relevant than personal characteristics (including gender) to explain most PIF differences amongst students;
– Gender does affect PIF in two ways in this programme:
 Female students resort more to external resources (p-value=0.020) and tutoring (p-value=0.05);
 Female students express more career goals flexibility (p-value=0.017).
Three perspectives arise to use this draft of a multifactorial model of PIF to develop curriculum inclusiveness:
1. Address gender as part of a global scheme to address diversity via tools valuing individuals’ qualities [7];
2. Address diversity management through tutoring, which is the most relevant factor for several indicators of PIF;
3. Use experience expression as a reflexive tool for students and teachers, and for research design purposes.