Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.18260/1-2--60823

Publication Title

2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Pages

10 pp.

Conference Name

2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 21-24, 2026, Charlotte, North Carolina

Abstract

This work-in-progress paper examines a semester-long project-based learning initiative begun in an introductory engineering course during the Fall 2025 semester. The project aims to enhance students' hands-on experience by integrating information literacy, the engineering design process (EDP), and an entrepreneurial mindset (EM) [1]. The objective is to boost student confidence in teamwork, technical problem-solving, and application of skills, preparing them for future courses in their discipline. Students in this introduction to engineering course received an Arduino Uno R3 Controller board kit and additional sensors. They were tasked to develop a device addressing engineering in the medicine challenge of their choosing. Teams are formed using Gruepr [2] software, and subsequently a team policy agreement was created with members of each group. Research questions were formulated by each team that were geared toward exploring topics related to engineering in medicine. These research questions were evaluated using literature to identify gaps and to assess the relevance of their research topic to real-world issues. This educational intervention led students to further improve their research skills, in the first half of the project, and in the second half, they further explored their making skills through the use of a makerspace to construct a prototype. They were simultaneously introduced to Arduino hardware and software through tutorials and online resources. The course culminates in technical reports and presentations demonstrating their application of the EDP and EM. This paper evaluates the feasibility and design of this course, with future plans to conduct a formal human subject's study, pending IRB approval, to assess student self-efficacy through survey responses.

Rights

© 2026 American Society for Engineering Education.

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2026 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. 

Original Publication Citation

Holland, N. Q., & Jovanovic, V. M. (2026). WIP: Arduino-based PBL to foster entrepreneurial mindset [Conference paper]. 2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Charlotte, North Carolina. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--60823

ORCID

0000-0003-2526-200X (Holland), 0000-0002-8626-903X (Jovanovic)

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