Montreal, Quebec, Canada
June 22, 2025
June 22, 2025
August 15, 2025
Student Division (STDT)
Diversity
11
https://peer.asee.org/56509
Zain ul Abideen is a Graduate Research Assistant and Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a Master’s in Engineering, bringing over 12 years of teaching experience with undergraduate engineering students. Currently, Zain’s research focuses on his Ph.D. dissertation, where he investigates the role of cognitive and motivational factors in problem-solving and cognitive engagement among engineering students. His work aims to enhance understanding of how these factors impact student learning and success in engineering education.
Dr. Oenardi Lawanto is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University, USA. He received his B.S.E.E. from Iowa State University, his M.S.E.E. from the University of Dayton, and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Lawanto has a combination of expertise in engineering and education and has more than 30 and 14 years of experience teaching engineering and cognitive-related topics courses for his doctoral students, respectively. He also has extensive experience in working collaboratively with several universities in Asia, the World Bank Institute, and USAID to design and conduct workshops promoting active-learning and life-long learning that is sustainable and scalable. Dr. Lawanto’s research interests include cognition, learning, and instruction, and online learning.
Angela (Angie) Minichiello, PhD is a military veteran, licensed mechanical engineer, and Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Utah State University.
Achievement goal orientation is a well-established concept influencing student behavior. It defines the primary reason for students’ engagement in academic activities like problem-solving in engineering. This study explores how different genders approach learning and achievement through mastery or performance-oriented goal orientation while solving problems in engineering. Engineering students face distinct academic challenges that can significantly influence their goal orientation. Students with mastery goal orientation tend to have a more comprehensive understanding of the learning material, promoting creativity and problem-solving skills. Students with a performance approach usually employ shallow strategies in problem-solving and desire to surpass their peers in performance and gain positive judgments. Individual characteristics of gender have acquired a particular interest in this research to investigate how different mastery and performance goal orientation profiles vary among men, women, and non-binary individuals in engineering education. Although the interaction between achievement goal orientation and gender has been studied across different disciplines, findings are still inconclusive in the engineering problem-solving context. This study explored gender differences by addressing the research question: How do engineering students differ in their goal orientations based on gender in problem-based learning? By investigating gender-specific tendencies, this research aims to provide insights into how students’ motivations shape their academic behavior and engagement. The research is part of a larger mixed-methods study on how cognitive and motivational factors impact engineering students’ cognitive engagement during problem-solving. Data is collected using a validated survey of achievement goal orientation-revised (AGQ-R) administered to second-year undergraduate engineering students at a land-grant public university in the western United States. The survey captured students’ preferences across the goal orientation dimensions and examined whether there were significant gender differences. Achievement Goal orientation has been widely studied in various fields, but there remains a gap in understanding how gender differences manifest in STEM generally and particularly in engineering education, a traditionally male-dominated discipline. By comparing goal orientations across genders, this study provides the foundation for research on specific motivational profiles during problem-solving activity in engineering education. The findings of this study revealed that there is no significant difference in overall achievement goal orientation based on gender among undergraduate engineering students. This research contributes to the development of gender-sensitive pedagogical strategies, enabling educators to foster more inclusive learning environments that cater to the diverse motivational needs of students in STEM fields. Keywords: achievement goal orientation, gender, engineering, mastery goal orientation, performance goal orientation.
Abideen, Z. U., & Lawanto, O., & Minichiello, A. (2025, June), Exploring Gender Differences in Achievement Goal Orientation Among Undergraduate Engineering Students Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/56509
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