A Framework for Quantifying Student Self-Confidence and Task Choice in Engineering Design-related Activities

Abstract

where she worked on computational and experimental methods in spinal biomechanics. Since 2006, her research efforts have focused on the development and mechanical evaluation of medical and rehabilitation devices, particularly orthopaedic, neurosurgical, and pediatric devices. She teaches courses in design, biomechanics, and mechanics at University of Delaware and is heavily involved in K12 engineering education efforts at the local, state, and national levels.

Individual Design Experiences Improve Students’ Self-Efficacy on Team-Based Engineering Design Projects

“…A cohort-based, sequential exploratory mixed methods study design was used to determine whether the IDE experience improved student self-efficacy for hands-on prototyping tasks. Self-efficacy was assessed pre-and post-course with a validated instrument developed and previously reported by our team [12]. We created this instrument by combining items from APPLES [51] and a previously unvalidated tinkering instrument [52], and then checked the validity of the instrument using confirmatory factor analysis based on student responses from a larger data set (n=602).…”