Mandy McLean
Papers
2
Total Citations
20
H-Index
2
About
Mandy McLean is a leading voice in engineering education, with a focused research agenda on broadening participation and fostering engineering identity in young learners, particularly girls. Her most impactful work, "The Importance of Collaborative Design for Narrowing the Gender Gap in Engineering" (2020, 16 citations), provides a critical framework for understanding how collaborative, identity-focused interventions in elementary school can address the gendered attrition that begins in early childhood. This study argues that cultivating an engineering identity is more crucial for long-term persistence than performance alone, a finding that has shaped curriculum design in K-12 STEM programs. McLean also explores the power of mentorship and creativity in her work "Dancing Robots" (2017, 4 citations), which demonstrates how collaborative projects between elementary students and undergraduates can make engineering accessible and engaging. By centering her research on the intersection of identity, collaboration, and early intervention, McLean is helping to redefine how we approach equity in engineering, offering actionable insights for educators and policymakers committed to building a more diverse and resilient engineering workforce.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Dancing Robots4 citations · 2017