Assessing the Grit and Mindset of Incoming Engineering Students With an Emphasis on Gender

Engineering programs can be very demanding, particularly in the first years where students encounter new forms of highly challenging coursework. To better prepare and support students, educators must acknowledge non-academic factors, such as the role of self-beliefs and personal attributes. Education research suggests that students are more likely to give up and disengage from their studies when they lack grit or assume a fixed mindset. Previous studies suggest that female students are generally grittier but less confident when compared to male students. This paper presents the initial work of an ongoing study to explore self-confidence and motivations to study engineering of first year engineering students experiencing a new multi-disciplinary curriculum. A dataset collected via an online survey at the start of the academic year with 102 students was analysed. Gender comparisons were undertaken to explore the association between self-confidence and motivations with grit and mindsets.