Student and Instructor Reflections on Integrating Short Mindfulness-Based Meditation Practices into a First-Year Engineering Design Course

Hannah Nolte; Elizabeth Marie Starkey; Christopher McComb; Nicolas F Soria Zurita

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Conference: 2022 First-Year Engineering Experience
Location: East Lansing, Michigan
Publication Date: July 31, 2022
Start Date: July 31, 2022
End Date: August 2, 2022
Conference Session: Technical Session T1B
Tagged Topics: Diversity and Full Papers
Page Count: 7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42247
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42247
Download Count: 224

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Paper Authors

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Hannah Nolte The Pennsylvania State University

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Hannah Nolte has recently completed her doctoral degree in Industrial Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University specializing in human factors and ergonomics. Her research investigates the applicability of mindfulness interventions as a stress-management technique for engineering design to improve design outcomes and student well-being. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics and Psychological Science from Gustavus Adolphus College and earned her master’s degree in Industrial Engineering at Penn State by researching the impact of practica style assessments on first-year engineering student self-efficacy.

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Elizabeth Marie Starkey Pennsylvania State University

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Elizabeth Starkey is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State. Her research focuses on creativity during the design process and building tools to facilitate learning and creativity in engineering design education.

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Christopher McComb Carnegie mellon University

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Christopher McComb is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He earned dual B.S. degrees in Civil and Mechanical Engineering from California State University Fresno as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. His research merges perspectives from psychology, computer science, and engineering design to create better human systems. This includes both systems of humans (teams, organizations, marketplaces) as well as systems that interact with humans (intelligent design tools, smart products).

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Nicolas F Soria Zurita The Pennsylvania State University & Universidad San Francisco de Quito

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Abstract

Engineering students in the United States are experiencing substantial stress and threats to their well-being. Mindfulness-based meditation practice may help students to better manage these challenges as mindfulness-based interventions have been found to improve college students’ well-being and critical competencies. However, only limited mindfulness-based research has been conducted with the engineering student population. Nonetheless, this research indicates that engineering students are receptive to mindfulness-based interventions and perceive benefits from participating in these practices. This work integrated mindfulness-based meditations into a first-year engineering design course to explore how these practices affect engineering students. All practices were formatted as five-minute guided seated meditations. These practices were implemented as part of two larger studies. During the first study, the course was taught online and during the second study, it was taught in person. To understand students’ perceptions of these practices, written reflections were collected in the first study and follow-up interviews were conducted with students in the second study. Generally, students perceived these in-class practices positively and described improved stress management, being more self-aware, and improvements in learning and coursework. Students also detailed some drawbacks to completing these practices and provided recommended changes for improving the integration of these practices into the course. Additionally, the authors share their insights on implementing these practices into their courses. We highlight the differences between implementing these practices within an online and in-person course. We also discuss challenges associated with engagement, the timing of the practices, and logistical issues. Lastly, considerations and suggestions are provided for implementing these practices into a first-year engineering course. Overall, the results of this work encourage the integration of mindfulness-based practices into introductory engineering courses as students perceive many benefits. However, at the same time, it is necessary to recognize that implementing these practices can be challenging for instructors. The integration of mindfulness-based meditation practices into engineering courses could contribute to an improved student experience and the development of holistically sound engineers. Future research should investigate the effects of implementing these practices in other types of engineering courses like a first-year seminar course.

Citation
Format

Nolte, H., & Starkey, E. M., & McComb, C., & Soria Zurita, N. F. (2022, July), Student and Instructor Reflections on Integrating Short Mindfulness-Based Meditation Practices into a First-Year Engineering Design Course Paper presented at 2022 First-Year Engineering Experience, East Lansing, Michigan. 10.18260/1-2--42247

TY - CPAPER
AB - Engineering students in the United States are experiencing substantial stress and threats to their well-being. Mindfulness-based meditation practice may help students to better manage these challenges as mindfulness-based interventions have been found to improve college students’ well-being and critical competencies. However, only limited mindfulness-based research has been conducted with the engineering student population. Nonetheless, this research indicates that engineering students are receptive to mindfulness-based interventions and perceive benefits from participating in these practices.
This work integrated mindfulness-based meditations into a first-year engineering design course to explore how these practices affect engineering students. All practices were formatted as five-minute guided seated meditations. These practices were implemented as part of two larger studies. During the first study, the course was taught online and during the second study, it was taught in person. To understand students’ perceptions of these practices, written reflections were collected in the first study and follow-up interviews were conducted with students in the second study. Generally, students perceived these in-class practices positively and described improved stress management, being more self-aware, and improvements in learning and coursework. Students also detailed some drawbacks to completing these practices and provided recommended changes for improving the integration of these practices into the course.
Additionally, the authors share their insights on implementing these practices into their courses. We highlight the differences between implementing these practices within an online and in-person course. We also discuss challenges associated with engagement, the timing of the practices, and logistical issues. Lastly, considerations and suggestions are provided for implementing these practices into a first-year engineering course.
Overall, the results of this work encourage the integration of mindfulness-based practices into introductory engineering courses as students perceive many benefits. However, at the same time, it is necessary to recognize that implementing these practices can be challenging for instructors. The integration of mindfulness-based meditation practices into engineering courses could contribute to an improved student experience and the development of holistically sound engineers. Future research should investigate the effects of implementing these practices in other types of engineering courses like a first-year seminar course.

AU - Hannah Nolte
AU - Elizabeth Marie Starkey
AU - Christopher McComb
AU - Nicolas F Soria Zurita
CY - East Lansing, Michigan
DA - 2022/07/31
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Student and Instructor Reflections on Integrating Short Mindfulness-Based Meditation Practices into a First-Year Engineering Design Course
UR - https://peer.asee.org/42247
DO - 10.18260/1-2--42247
ER -