2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In this work, we explored how the math course students are enrolled in impacts engineering identity and self-efficacy across first-year engineering courses across two departments when engaged in design challenges. We conducted surveys in two first-year engineering courses (one in civil and construction engineering and one in chemical and biological engineering). Each course has one design challenge that groups students by other attributes besides math courses (heterogeneous) and another that groups students in the same or similar math courses (homogeneous). We define “on-track for math” as enrolled in Calculus I or above during the first semester (Fall) and Calculus II or above in the second semester (Spring), while “pre-track for math” indicates enrollment in any pre-requisite math class or not currently enrolled or never enrolled in a math class at the college level. Our findings show that students who are on-track in math start their engineering program with a higher engineering identity compared to students who are pre-track. However, our key finding is that when placed in teams with peers in the same or similar math courses, pre-track students showed a significantly greater increase in engineering identity than their on-track peers.