2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Developing a growth mindset can be beneficial for students in handling academic stress. It can be particularly useful for succeeding in the Chemical Engineering (ChE) major, which has a demanding curriculum. To support our students in navigating the ChE journey, we implemented some growth mindset interventions, such as normalizing struggles to learn difficult concepts, quiz resubmissions after correcting mistakes, etc., in a core course of our program. The interventions were upgraded from our previous initiatives and applied when the course was offered during both Fall and Spring semesters of the 2024-2025 academic year. In this paper, we focused on exploring students’ mindsets about the major and the impact of the course interventions. We used a mixed-methods approach, where we collected both quantitative and qualitative responses through a post-semester online survey. The survey statements for the quantitative portion focused on the importance of smartness vs hard work for succeeding in the major, which was followed by an open-ended question where students could provide more explanation. From the quantitative responses (N=118 from both semesters), collected using a 6-point Likert scale, we calculated mindset scores based on gender and academic level. We did not notice any significant impact of gender or academic level on mindset about the major. Interestingly, students in general had a strong agreement about the importance of hard work, but they had mixed opinions about the necessity of smartness. The qualitative analysis supported these observations in addition to providing further insights. We generated three themes from the qualitative responses (N=88 from both semesters) using thematic analysis. The themes were as follows: 1) Innate intelligence is necessary to be successful in the major due to its challenging nature, 2) While hard work ensures success in the major, a baseline level of intelligence and interest in the subject matter can be helpful, and 3) Inclusive professor and intentional class design positively impact students’ perceptions about the major. The observations suggested that mindset plays an important role in students’ experiences in the major, and it can be influenced positively by integrating support within the curriculum.