2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This WIP study hopes to assess Dweck's growth mindset framework for junior and senior engineering students, predominantly from civil, industrial, environmental & other engineering majors. The course, Technical Drawing, and Visualization is aimed to teach 2D and 3D visualization skills and computer-aided design (CAD) for the first time (i.e., AutoCAD 2025).
A growth mindset is the ability to believe in developing skills or evolving in skills that we may not be initially good at, but we hope to get better at through practice, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The growth mindset was examined within this student population and course due to the vital importance of spatial and visualization skills, which are essential competencies in this curriculum. Recognizing that students enter the course with varying proficiency levels in these areas, it is crucial for all students to engage actively and purposefully in developing these skills. Mastery of spatial and visualization abilities is necessary for aspiring engineers, particularly for effective design work and problem-solving in their future careers.
Forty-nine students participated in the study in Fall 2024. They were asked to complete an adapted Growth Mindset Survey (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) at the middle and end of the semester.
The survey includes Questions that gauge students' beliefs in their ability to tackle challenges, their willingness to try new approaches, their confidence in their skills, their commitment to investing time in skill development.
Using descriptive statistics, we will explore the relationship between students' beliefs and their actual performance in the course. We plan to use Spearman correlation to assess the strength and direction of the relationship between the mindset score (Likert scale) and student performance.
The plan is to expand the study to include courses taught by other faculty members, develop a more comprehensive understanding of our students, and create tailored learning experiences that enhance their confidence, engagement, and academic success. The study will include some recommendations for similar courses in engineering.