Tinkering Self-efficacy and Team Interaction on Freshman Engineering Design Teams

Abstract

The results revealed that Bandura's sources of self-efficacy influenced tinkering involvement. The self-efficacy source, performance accomplishment measured through prior tinkering experience, was the most influential on tinkering involvement. Unlike Bandura's ranking of influence, verbal persuasion was shown to correlate with more tinkering behaviors than the observation of others. The number of females on a team had no impact on tinkering involvement. Tinkering involvement did not change as students progressed from one project to another. However, the competitive nature of the design project appeared to have a negative impact on tinkering involvement and the division of tasks within the team. In addition, a difference was found in the female students' perception of their tinkering involvement and observation of their tinkering involvement. The findings suggest that effective implementation of teamwork including teamwork preparation, more emphasis on the design process and the elimination of competition between teams are necessary to create a more equitable learning environment.