The purpose of this dissertation was to compare the results of traditional and systemic techniques in motivating black eighth grade junior high school students with low socio-economic status toward careers in engineering. The traditional techniques were directed at the general population and showed the importance of engineering to society as a whole. The systemic techniques were aimed at blacks who have been victimized by social and technological systems and illustrated how engineering could be used to change these systems to meet the needs of black people. The population consisted of 200 black eighth grade junior high school students of low socioeconomic status, who attended a junior high school whose composition was 99% black and located in the inner city of Cleveland, Ohio. The results are summarized as follows: (1) the groups that received the systemic slide-audio presentations had a significantly higher amount of self-reported motivation toward engineering careers than the groups receiving the traditional slide-audio presentations, (2) the lecture presentations produced no significant differences between groups on the measures of motivation, (3) the male students who received treatment had a significantly higher amount of self-reported and behavioral motivation toward engineering careers than the female students who received treatment, (4) the interaction between slide-audio presentations and sex on the self-reported measure approached significance, and (5) the groups that received the systemic slide-audio presentations had a higher percentage of "yes" responses (indicating behavioral motivation toward engineering careers) than the groups that received the traditional instruction. (Author/AM)