2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Preliminary Results of a Pilot Study of Students’ Phenomenological and Psychophysiological Reactions in Engineering Design

Presented at Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) Technical Session 2

Student assessments of their own creative thinking during engineering design reveals a possible disconnect between creativity-based curricula and students’ phenomenological experiences of their creative performance in the classroom. Among the factors that may account for this effect relates to the consequences of instructor or peer feedback for students’ creative thinking. Research that has examined the precise circumstances under which feedback can be beneficial or detrimental to student creativity is scarce. In this study, we used a novel multimethod paradigm to capture, using objective (psychophysiological), as well as phenomenological (self-report) measures the potential impact of different kinds of feedback for creativity. Senior engineering design students were randomly assigned to anticipate one of three types of feedback (faculty, peer, self-reflection) upon completion of solving an engineering design problem. Self-report measures of affect, believes about creativity, as well as objective measurements of stress response to feedback captured by electrodermal responses, were collected. Our results revealed variations in skin conductance response, self-report measures, and novelty ratings of the participants’ creative output, as assessed by an independent rater as a function of anticipated feedback. We highlight how these results contribute important knowledge toward understanding the role of feedback for creativity in the classroom.

Authors

Dr. Jennifer S. Atchison Drexel University [biography]

Jennifer Atchison received her Ph.D in Materials Science and Engineering in 2012 from Drexel University. Dr. Atchison’s research interests include creativity in engineering design, exploring the influence of industry collaboration in professional formation of engineers, and broadening participation of BIPOC and women in Mechanical and Electrical engineering. Her teaching interests are focused on infusing a human centered perspective into Senior Design. She is the faculty advisor for ASME student organization, and I am ME! Drexel Women in Mechanical Engineering organization. She is a member of ASEE and ASME.
Christine Chesebrough Drexel University
Dr. Lutfi Agartan Drexel University
Aaron Herbert Bernard
Jen Katz-Buonincontro
Evangelia G. Chrysikou Drexel University [biography]

Dr. Evangelia G. Chrysikou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Drexel University, the Director of the Applied Cognitive and Brain Sciences PhD Program (https://drexel.edu/coas/academics/departments-centers/psychology/research/applied-cognitive-and-brain-science/), and the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Arts and Sciences. She is also the President of the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity (www.tsfnc.org). She holds a Ph.D. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from Temple University, where she also completed a year-long postdoctoral appointment in cognitive neuropsychology, followed by postdoctoral training at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Chrysikou uses cognitive neuroscience methods, especially functional brain imaging and noninvasive electric brain stimulation, to study cognitive flexibility and creative thinking and problem solving, as well as the implications of such flexibility for theories of creativity, semantic knowledge organization, and cognitive control.

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