WIP: Teaching engineering students how the brain works to encourage positive learning dispositions and behaviors

In this work-in-progress paper, we report preliminary results from a study of student outcomes in a course called “Engineering the Mind.” We offered the course in Fall 2017 at large, public research university in the Midwest. We used design-based research and the Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change to develop and assess the course. We collected quantitative, pre-post survey data on students’ mindsets, goal orientations, and self-regulation. Furthermore, we collected students’ course assignments as qualitative data to understand what helped them change their learning dispositions and behaviors. We found that the median mindset score increased from pre-survey to post-survey. Qualitative results were omitted for space reasons. If this course is effective, it can adopted by other institutions to help students succeed.