College - Author 1
College of Engineering
Department - Author 1
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department
Advisor
Amanda Emberly, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department
Funding Source
Cal Poly’s Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC)
Date
10-2025
Abstract/Summary
Learning from failure is an essential component of both learning and practicing engineering. However, failure is often stigmatized and avoided in engineering education. This project aims to better understand how to support students throughout their engineering education to help them learn from their failures, rather than become frustrated or discouraged by them. The project will build on prior research in students’ responses to failure experiences to specifically analyze students who respond to failure in different ways and build on these experiences to help students in similar situations. During the SURP project, the student will use qualitative methods to analyze interview data from students at Cal Poly who have experienced failure and persisted in engineering. The interview questions focus on students’ experiences both in and out of the classroom that have supported them through learning from failure and we will use qualitative data analysis methods to analyze students’ experiences. The aim is to compile the results of the analysis to present to students and instructors at Cal Poly, as well as prepare a conference paper to report the findings to a larger audience. These results have the potential to support students to persist through failure experiences and to develop ways for instructors and institutions to support learning from failure.
October 1, 2025.
Included in
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/ceng_surp/95