2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Many engineering problems require both critical and creative thinking knowledge and skills to generate unique solutions. To give students the opportunity to practice this, university engineering programs often focus on team design projects to connect course content with real-world applications that are open-ended and require novel ideas. One goal of these projects is for students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset (EM), defined as the student’s ability to be curious, draw connections, and create value. In this study, we developed curiosity-focused materials for an introductory engineering graphics and design course. The course has 400+ students enrolled annually, with a majority being first-year mechanical, industrial, and systems engineering students. This new content, including activities, were introduced throughout the pilot semester to engage students' ideation skills and inspire curiosity about design concepts. To determine the impact of this modified content on student growth in curiosity and EM as a whole, a survey was administered to ~150 students at the beginning and end of the semester. The survey included Likert scale questions (range from 1-5) to gauge students’ perception of their creative ability and the components of EM. This work analyzes quantitative and qualitative response data from the beginning (n=128) and end (n=70) of the semester, corresponding to before and after intervention, respectively. Quantitative analyses revealed statistically significant increases in aspects of students’ EM, particularly in creating value from ideas and market insights to generate solutions. Moving forward, we aim to develop and assess activities to further target students’ ability to be curious and draw connections, while maintaining the curricular modifications that this modified content on student growth in curiosity and EM as a whole creating value. Assessing the impact of these activities can inform best practices to expand students’ EM earlier in their post-secondary education, both within similar introductory engineering design courses as well as other engineering courses that utilize team design projects to reinforce EM concepts.