Intelligence Is Overrated: The Influence of Noncognitive and Affective Factors on Student Performance

John Chen; James M. Widmann; Brian P. Self

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Student Performance and Learning & Open-ended problems
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43814
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43814
Download Count: 248

Paper Authors

biography

John Chen California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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John Chen is a professor of mechanical engineering. His interests in engineering education include conceptual learning, conceptual change, student autonomy and motivation, lifelong learning skills and behaviors, and non-cognitive factors that lead to student success.

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James M. Widmann California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Jim Widmann is a professor and chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He received his Ph.D. in 1994 from Stanford University and has served as a Fulbright Scholar at Kathmandu University

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Brian P. Self California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Brian Self obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech, and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Utah. He worked in the Air Force Research Laboratories before teaching at the U.S. Air Force Academy for sev

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Abstract

When students struggle in their engineering studies, they tend to seek out means to improve their cognitive performance. Such assistance includes attending office hours for extra help, joining a study group or seeking out tutoring. Universities similarly focus on helping students through cognitive means, such as encouraging faculty to improve teaching methods, upgrading or improving technology resources or developing tutoring for specific courses. What is often not supported are students’ non-cognitive competencies, which have been shown in previous studies to be related to academic performance. Such non-cognitive and affective (NCA) competencies include, for example, mindset, motivation, self-control, study strategies and environment, and stress. Other NCA factors are less obvious than these and include meaning and purpose in life, gratitude, mindfulness, engineering identity, sense of belonging and perceptions of faculty caring. In this work-in-progress paper, we describe our ongoing work studying the impacts of a large set of NCA factors on student performance and student thriving. Our results to date, based on a large sample of undergraduate engineering students from across the U.S., show that most students can be grouped into one of four clusters, with each cluster having a similar NCA profile or set of factor scores. These cluster assignments have a strong and lasting influence on student performance as measured by the grade point average (GPA). In addition, through a longitudinal study of a subset of this sample, we find that five NCA factors change significantly over time, with these changes occurring between the students’ first and second years of study. These factors are sense of belonging, engineering identity-interest, expectancy, stress due to changes and reactions to stressors. Unfortunately, these factors all change in the direction that prior studies have shown to lead to poorer performance. These adverse changes notwithstanding, these students’ GPAs are still quite strong, indicating that, if universities can help students improve their NCA competencies, students can begin to experience thriving rather than surviving.

Citation
Format

Chen, J., & Widmann, J. M., & Self, B. P. (2023, June), Intelligence Is Overrated: The Influence of Noncognitive and Affective Factors on Student Performance Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43814

TY - CPAPER
AB - When students struggle in their engineering studies, they tend to seek out means to improve their cognitive performance. Such assistance includes attending office hours for extra help, joining a study group or seeking out tutoring. Universities similarly focus on helping students through cognitive means, such as encouraging faculty to improve teaching methods, upgrading or improving technology resources or developing tutoring for specific courses. What is often not supported are students’ non-cognitive competencies, which have been shown in previous studies to be related to academic performance. Such non-cognitive and affective (NCA) competencies include, for example, mindset, motivation, self-control, study strategies and environment, and stress. Other NCA factors are less obvious than these and include meaning and purpose in life, gratitude, mindfulness, engineering identity, sense of belonging and perceptions of faculty caring. In this work-in-progress paper, we describe our ongoing work studying the impacts of a large set of NCA factors on student performance and student thriving. Our results to date, based on a large sample of undergraduate engineering students from across the U.S., show that most students can be grouped into one of four clusters, with each cluster having a similar NCA profile or set of factor scores. These cluster assignments have a strong and lasting influence on student performance as measured by the grade point average (GPA). In addition, through a longitudinal study of a subset of this sample, we find that five NCA factors change significantly over time, with these changes occurring between the students’ first and second years of study. These factors are sense of belonging, engineering identity-interest, expectancy, stress due to changes and reactions to stressors. Unfortunately, these factors all change in the direction that prior studies have shown to lead to poorer performance. These adverse changes notwithstanding, these students’ GPAs are still quite strong, indicating that, if universities can help students improve their NCA competencies, students can begin to experience thriving rather than surviving.
AU - John Chen
AU - James M. Widmann
AU - Brian P. Self
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Intelligence Is Overrated: The Influence of Noncognitive and Affective Factors on Student Performance
UR - https://peer.asee.org/43814
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43814
ER -