This innovative practice full paper examines mindset understandings of three cohorts of first-year student scholars in a College of Computing at a private technical Carnegie-classified Doctoral University in the northeastern United States. Grounded in theories of intelligence, a growth mindset posits that intelligence and skills can be developed through continued practice and learning, while a fixed mindset situates one with the skills they have at birth, never to evolve or grow. Thirty-two undergraduate students across three years (10 students in year one, cohort one; 10 students in year two, cohort two; and 12 students in year three, cohort three) participated in a holistic growth mindset program that included three pillars: (a) faculty-student mentoring infused with growth mindset, (b) growth-mindset augmentations to the introductory programming course and (c) a growth mindset-scholar seminar - a series of meetings where each cohort met as a group to discuss and practice activating a growth mindset. Previous work with students has focused on more limited growth mindset interventions rather than a holistic approach.
Prior to the scholars arriving on campus, the faculty involved in each of the pillars were part of a Community of Practice to learn about and activate their own growth mindset. At the end of their first semester in the project, each of the student cohorts participated in a focus group to learn about their understanding and application of growth and fixed mindset. We report findings from the student scholar data after one semester of participating in the three programmatic pillars in the context of growth mindset: mentoring, programming instruction, and the scholar seminar. Summary findings from the student perspectives are described including the use of illustrative quotes, in the students' own words, serving as a powerful reminder of the importance of growth mindset and relationship building. This has implications for addressing mindset in the future by considering how the innovative practice of embedding a growth mindset holistically into mentoring, instruction and a student seminar can provide support for students that standalone interventions cannot.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on June 23, 2025
Understanding the Nature and Evolution of Sustainability Mindset in First-Year Engineering Students
This article reviews the notion of a Sustainability Mindset in comparison to sustainability competencies in the context of a study of a first year cohort of students beginning a minor in Sustainability Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez. A framework of Knowledge (K), Skills (S), Attitudes (A), Behaviors (B), and Attitudes (A) is adopted to capture the students' developing mindsets broadly the context of Sustainability. A detailed open-form survey was administered after the first semester and was completed by 9/11 participants. Results show mature growth in the domain of sustainability (e.g., broad knowledge of the concept of sustainability to encompass the three 'pillars' of environmental, equity, and economic factors, and deep knowledge regarding ideas such as circular economy and earth systems cycles). Further growth is also demonstrated in academic and personal development (e.g., improved study skills, time management, and research skills). Future work will endeavor to continue observing the evolution of the mindset at the KSBA level and at finer levels of detail.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2150461
- PAR ID:
- 10519358
- Publisher / Repository:
- ASEE Conferences
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Sustainability, mindset, competency, curriculum, first-year
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, OR
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
In this paper we explore the ability of educational frameworks focused on developing the entrepreneurial mindset to be used to develop students’ abilities to approach convergent problems. While there is not a single widely accepted definition of convergence, there are some general aspects noted by the NSF including: socially relevant, multidisciplinary, complex, and not being adequately addressed by current methods and practices. Convergent problems require existing disciplines to collaborate to create new knowledge, skills, and approaches in order to be appropriately addressed. We believe that there are aspects of the entrepreneurial mindset and the learning of it that can support the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to approach convergent problems. This is relevant because most work on convergent problems happens at the graduate level and beyond and our interest is to create experiences for undergraduates that prepare them to embark on this work after graduation. This study maps entrepreneurial mindset learning (EML) onto a framework based on prior work on convergence to identify the aspects of EML that directly support convergence work or preparation for convergence work. The existing dataset of KEEN cards is used as a proxy for existing work in this space, as well. If existing work in EML can address some or all of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for convergent problem solving then engineering educators have a set of tools and practices that can contribute towards creating engineers who are better prepared to work on the hard problems of tomorrow.more » « less
-
This study meticulously probes the evolution of engineering undergraduates' attitudes and skills related to renewable energy and sustainability over two years at two institutions in the Southeastern United States. Data were intensively collected in two phases – fall 2022 and spring 2024 – amassing over 250 initial and upwards of 200 follow-up responses. This rigorous effort culminated in over 150 complete and matched datasets subjected to detailed examination. A bespoke, five-part survey was employed to capture the complex spectrum of students' attitudes. Our analytical approach incorporated ANOVA; these results indicated minimal group variances across most survey dimensions, hence suggesting a uniformity in perceptions. Paired sample tests brought to light a minor, but statistically significant increase in sustainability-related knowledge. The educational methods employed included hands-on projects, seminars, and group assignments focused on various aspects of renewable energy and sustainability. These incremental yet impactful changes highlight the potential of precise educational strategies to effectively mold student perspectives towards sustainability. By integrating solid statistical techniques and delving into the broader educational implications, this study provides valuable insights into the refinement of a sustainability-centered engineering curricula.more » « less
-
This study meticulously probes the evolution of engineering undergraduates' attitudes and skills related to renewable energy and sustainability over two years at two institutions in the Southeastern United States. Data were intensively collected in two phases – fall 2022 and spring 2024 – amassing over 250 initial and upwards of 200 follow-up responses. This rigorous effort culminated in over 150 complete and matched datasets subjected to detailed examination. A bespoke, five-part survey was employed to capture the complex spectrum of students' attitudes. Our analytical approach incorporated ANOVA; these results indicated minimal group variances across most survey dimensions, hence suggesting a uniformity in perceptions. Paired sample tests brought to light a minor, but statistically significant increase in sustainability-related knowledge. The educational methods employed included hands-on projects, seminars, and group assignments focused on various aspects of renewable energy and sustainability. These incremental yet impactful changes highlight the potential of precise educational strategies to effectively mold student perspectives towards sustainability. By integrating solid statistical techniques and delving into the broader educational implications, this study provides valuable insights into the refinement of a sustainability-centered engineering curricula.more » « less
-
Beliefs play a central role in human development. For instance, a growth mindset—a belief about the malleability of intelligence—can shape how adolescents interpret and respond to academic difficulties and how they subsequently navigate the educational system. But do usually-adaptive beliefs have the same effects for adolescents regardless of the contexts they are in? Answering this question can reveal new insights into classic developmental questions about continuity and change. Here we present the Mindset × Context framework and we apply this model to the instructive case of growth mindset interventions. We show that teaching students a growth mindset is most effective in educational contexts that provide affordances for a growth mindset; that is, contexts that permit and encourage students to view ability as developable and to act on that belief. This evidence contradicts the “beliefs alone” hypothesis, which holds that teaching adolescents a growth mindset is enough and that students can profit from these beliefs in almost any context, even unsupportive ones. The Mindset × Context framework leads to the realization that in order to produce more widespread and lasting change, we must complement the belief-changing interventions that have been aimed at students with new interventions that guide teachers toward classroom policies and practices that allow students' growth mindset beliefs to take root and yield benefits.more » « less
