Keeping Calm and Staying Balanced: Exploring the Academic Pressures Faced by Engineering Students to Attain High Grades and Their Impact on Mental Health

Eleazar Marquez; Samuel Garcia

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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: Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH) Technical Session 3: Student Success
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43908
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/43908
Download Count: 135

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Paper Authors

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Eleazar Marquez The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

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Dr. Marquez is a Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His research efforts focus on dynamics and vibrations of mechanical systems under various loads. The mathematical models developed include deterministic and stochastic differential equations that incorporate finite element methods. Additionally, Dr. Marquez research efforts focus on developing and implementing pedagogical methods in engineering education.

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Samuel Garcia Texas State University

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Dr. Samuel García Jr. serves as an Educator Professional Development Specialist at Kennedy Space Center. Prior to his position at Kennedy Space Center, Dr. García worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. As an education specialist, Dr. García is deeply committed to developing STEM educational mindsets, tools, and resources and facilitate educational experiences for educators and students. Prior to working as an education specialist, Dr. García served as secondary school educator in Rio Grande Valley in Texas for seven years. Dr. García, a first-generation college student, earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas Río Grande Valley, formerly University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He also holds a doctorate degree in School Improvement from Texas State University.

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Abstract

Studies reveal that grades have a short-term impact on students’ self-efficacy, motivation, and decision making. Earning high grades has become a focal point for engineering students to secure three types of opportunities: internships, post-graduation employment, and graduate school acceptance. Nonetheless, the desire to attain a competitive grade-point-average may lead to negative psychosocial effects such as increased mental exertion, physical exhaustion, anxiety, and overall lack of work-life balance. In this paper, the authors extend their prior study on the impact of grades in engineering education. The first study was conducted in the spring of 2019 at a tier one, small private research university in Texas with the intention of understanding the mindset on grades before, during, and at the end of the semester. The study extended herein aims to explore the emotional and academic impact grades have on engineering undergraduate students in a minority-serving institution, and further understand the issues plaguing engineering disciplines such as retention, completion, and overall well-being. In this regard, a self-developed, open-ended survey was conducted with a cohort of 60 students enrolled in Rigid Body Dynamics and Engineering Analysis to understand their perspective on grades before, during, and at the end of the semester. The Beck Anxiety Inventory was implemented to determine anxiety levels of the participants. Preliminary results reveal every student presented some sort of common symptoms of anxiety such as the inability to relax, fear of worst happening, nervousness, feeling scared, fear of losing control, hot/cold sweats, and indigestion at the beginning of the semester. Twenty-five students responded feeling mildly nervous but were not bothered much, eleven students felt moderately nervous which was not pleasant at time, while ten students were severely nervous about grades and were extremely bothered at the beginning of the semester. During the semester, students expressed being uncomfortable and disappointment when grades were not as expected. 51% of the participants indicated the need to study more, 25.4% needed to pay more attention during class, while 10% stopped caring for the class.

Citation
Format

Marquez, E., & Garcia, S. (2023, June), Keeping Calm and Staying Balanced: Exploring the Academic Pressures Faced by Engineering Students to Attain High Grades and Their Impact on Mental Health Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43908

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Studies reveal that grades have a short-term impact on students’ self-efficacy, motivation, and decision making. Earning high grades has become a focal point for engineering students to secure three types of opportunities: internships, post-graduation employment, and graduate school acceptance. Nonetheless, the desire to attain a competitive grade-point-average may lead to negative psychosocial effects such as increased mental exertion, physical exhaustion, anxiety, and overall lack of work-life balance. In this paper, the authors extend their prior study on the impact of grades in engineering education. The first study was conducted in the spring of 2019 at a tier one, small private research university in Texas with the intention of understanding the mindset on grades before, during, and at the end of the semester. The study extended herein aims to explore the emotional and academic impact grades have on engineering undergraduate students in a minority-serving institution, and further understand the issues plaguing engineering disciplines such as retention, completion, and overall well-being. In this regard, a self-developed, open-ended survey was conducted with a cohort of 60 students enrolled in Rigid Body Dynamics and Engineering Analysis to understand their perspective on grades before, during, and at the end of the semester. The Beck Anxiety Inventory was implemented to determine anxiety levels of the participants. Preliminary results reveal every student presented some sort of common symptoms of anxiety such as the inability to relax, fear of worst happening, nervousness, feeling scared, fear of losing control, hot/cold sweats, and indigestion at the beginning of the semester. Twenty-five students responded feeling mildly nervous but were not bothered much, eleven students felt moderately nervous which was not pleasant at time, while ten students were severely nervous about grades and were extremely bothered at the beginning of the semester. During the semester, students expressed being uncomfortable and disappointment when grades were not as expected. 51% of the participants indicated the need to study more, 25.4% needed to pay more attention during class, while 10% stopped caring for the class. 
AU  - Eleazar Marquez
AU  - Samuel Garcia
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Keeping Calm and Staying Balanced: Exploring the Academic Pressures Faced by Engineering Students to Attain High Grades and Their Impact on Mental Health 
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/43908
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43908
ER  -