Instilling an Entrepreneurial Mindset through IDEAS Studio Courses

Abstract

Erin received her PhD at Iowa State University with funding from a NSF graduate fellowship before taking a NRC postdoctoral position at NIST. She joined the faculty at Bucknell in 2004 and has taught courses across the curriculum.Dr. Michael J. Prince, Bucknell University Dr. Michael Prince is a professor of chemical engineering at Bucknell University and co-director of the National Effective Teaching Institute. His research examines a range of engineering education topics, including how to assess and repair student misconceptions and how to increase the adoption of researchbased instructional strategies by college instructors and corporate trainers. He is actively engaged in presenting workshops on instructional design to both academic and corporate instructors. Dr. Katharyn E. K. Nottis, Bucknell UniversityDr. Nottis is an Educational Psychologist and Professor of Education at Bucknell University. Her research has focused on meaningful learning in science and engineering education, approached from the perspective of Human Constructivism. She has authored several publications and given numerous presentations on the generation of analogies, misconceptions, and facilitating learning in science and engineering education. She has been involved in collaborative research projects focused on conceptual learning in chemistry, chemical engineering, seismology, and astronomy.

Exploration of the Experiences That Shape Engineering Students’ Entrepreneurial Mindset Development

“…Though EE and the assimilation of EM are necessary for all students, EM in engineering has been an area of particular focus over the last several years (Huang-Saad et al., 2018). EM integration through curricular activities has been shown to have a positive impact on undergraduate engineering students' EM development (Bernal et al., 2017; Fraley et al., 2018; Ghazi Nezami et al., 2016; Huerta et al., 2017; Jensen & Schlegel, 2017; Kim et al., 2016; Kirkpatrick et al., 2016; Riofrío et al., 2015; Wang, 2017). Interventions in first year engineering are widely studied, often within general engineering courses that utilize design and problem solving (Huerta et al., 2017; Jensen & Schlegel, 2017; Riofrío et al., 2015; Wang, 2017).…”

“…Many college and university engineering departments have taken to tailoring projects and courses to encourage student development of EM (Cook & Cuper, 2010; Kim et al., 2016; Riofrío et al., 2015; Wang, 2017). Many of these curricular interventions have been successful, with engineering students having learned or refined important technical and business skills (Ghazi Nezami et al., 2016; Jensen & Schlegel, 2017; Riofrío et al., 2015).…”

“…Although it has been proven that EM skills are being developed through interventions, this is often assessed using grading rubrics or surveys. Though surveys address student perceptions of their EM development to a certain degree, these surveys often ask students to rank specific skills that the instructors or researchers feel they should have developed through the specified intervention (Ali et al., 2012; Hsiao, 2013; Kim et al., 2016). In addition, the assessment of EM development is often done immediately after an intervention takes place (Ali et al., 2012; Hsiao, 2013; Kim et al., 2016), which may not effectively measure if students associate that specific intervention with their overall EM development.…”

“…Though surveys address student perceptions of their EM development to a certain degree, these surveys often ask students to rank specific skills that the instructors or researchers feel they should have developed through the specified intervention (Ali et al., 2012; Hsiao, 2013; Kim et al., 2016). In addition, the assessment of EM development is often done immediately after an intervention takes place (Ali et al., 2012; Hsiao, 2013; Kim et al., 2016), which may not effectively measure if students associate that specific intervention with their overall EM development. These approaches may not allow for students to fully express their perceptions toward their EM development as a whole, which is what this study seeks to address.…”

Mapping Engineering Outcomes to the Lean Launch Curriculum in the Context of Design

“…20 Teaching engineering design, as in teaching entrepreneurship, is also about teaching a process or way of thinking. Co-curricular engineering design experiences, like the K-WIDE program, have already integrated the teaching of entrepreneurial skills within an engineering design experience 21 and have found that students do couple concepts from the two fields to form an overarching engineering mindset. 8 In engineering curricula, accredited departments are required to offer an engineering design course in the final year of study, called a capstone design course.…”