Engineering educators often look to imbue students with behaviors or traits beyond the retention and recall of facts, or the understanding of concepts taught in class. Many of these traits are not cognitive, but rather psychological in nature, such as self-efficacy, curiosity, perseverance (grit), and creativity. These and other psychological constructs are often measured and correlated to traditional aspects of student performance. In contrast, they are seldom measured to determine whether they are influenced by specific academic interventions. For example, the literature on active learning, problem-based learning, and peer learning are rife with claims that they either cultivate or depend upon curiosity and creativity, yet we are unaware of any direct assessments that demonstrate that this is so. In engineering education, pre-post quantitative comparisons of these psychological constructs in response to instructional interventions appear to be wholly lacking.
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