A descriptive study of college minority and majority students' attitudes toward engineering courses and peer study groups

The purpose of this study is to summarize a description of perceptions of undergraduate minority and majority engineering students regarding their self-concept as learners and study skills, and their attitudes toward instructors, classmates, and cooperative learning strategies. Information was collected using a survey and interviews, and data was analyzed descriptively leading to patterns of undergraduate minority and majority engineering students' educational problems, needs, and attitudes. It is the authors' objective to document students' educational problems and needs when taking required courses that demand high level conceptual thinking and problem solving skills. A large portion of students taking two courses offered at the Systems and Industrial Engineering Department at The University of Arizona (USA) volunteered to complete the survey.