Confidently uncomfortable: First-year student ambiguity tolerance and self-efficacy on open-ended design problems

Abstract

First year engineering students are generally confident and able to self-direct when working on closed-ended tasks. These students are, however, generally much less confident or self-directed on open-ended problems, such as design challenges. It is naturally uncomfortable to work on open-ended problems, because it feels risky to proceed along an ambiguous solution path. Nevertheless, some students seem to be more confidently uncomfortable, ready and willing to begin working on open-ended problems. We sought in this study to understand the factors that make a student better able to begin work on these projects without directed guidance from the instructor. Here, this student ability is ascribed to, in part, a student's ambiguity tolerance and self-efficacy on open-ended problems. A survey instrument to measure ambiguity tolerance and self-efficacy on open-ended problems was created and subject to internal validation. Students taking a 2-course sequence of required, foundational courses over their first year of engineering were studied using this instrument in pre-, mid-, and end-of-class surveys. The current academic year is the third year of the study, and data from the first two years of the study have been analyzed for presentation here. Several interventions, including the use of improv-theater inspired games, were included in the class with the goal of promoting student growth in the surveyed areas. Survey results show that the course as a whole creates statistically significant positive growth in general engineering project work self-efficacy and in two key metrics of ambiguity tolerance and self-efficacy towards open-ended design problems. Still, while the course overall shows significant positive impacts, results specifically on the improv game intervention are less conclusive. No significant effect of the games specifically on self-efficacy or ambiguity tolerance could be found within the scope of this study. Nevertheless, the instructor and a large majority of students indicated that the games were a positive addition to the course climate.