2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This study builds on prior research, and compares the creative self-efficacy, creative mindset, and perspectives of engineering as creative of female and male undergraduate engineering majors. The intention is to help to provide insight into why only approximately 20% of engineering graduates are women, 15% of female engineering graduates never enter the profession, and the engineering field is comprised of only 16.5% women. To better understand why women choose engineering, their perspectives on creativity, and how they connect to success in engineering, a mixed methods study was conducted to analyze how creative self-efficacy (CSE), creative mindset, and lived experiences lead women undergraduate students to choose engineering. The initial study was comprised of a survey of CSE, and creative mindset distributed to undergraduate women engineering majors, and interviews of selected volunteers who completed the survey. The synthesis of findings from the initial study revealed that CSE and creative mindset were related to lived experiences. This research, which extended the initial study to include male participants, sought to help to answer the research question, "How do creative self-efficacy, creative mindset, and perceptions of engineering as a creative field compare between female and male undergraduate engineering students?" The survey was distributed nationally to engineering majors and engineers in the field. Analysis of a subset of survey responses from undergraduate engineering majors that included 197 women and 211 men revealed that (1) for all students, as both GPA and CSE increased, Growth Creative Mindset (GCM) or the belief that creativity can be cultivated increased. (2) women were less likely than the men to have a Fixed Creative Mindset (FCM), or the belief that creativity cannot be improved, (3) CSE had no effect on FCM for women, but for men, as CSE increased the belief that creativity cannot be improved also increased, (4) for women, progression in the engineering major, and for both groups, succeeding to the senior year contributed to the increased belief that engineering is a creative field.