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Stories of self-doubt are common among engineering students. That was a key finding of a study conducted recently at Boise State University by a team of researchers.

Students surveyed questioned their abilities. They were sure everyone else understood the material. They said they didn't fit in. They wondered whether they should quit engineering and find a different major.

Many students who possess the aptitude to become engineers choose not to persist in their major because of the stories they tell themselves—about not belonging, about not being the "type" of person who can become an engineer. This is not just a problem for students and engineering or STEM culture. Because of the need to fill a growing number of STEM-related jobs, it affects society at large.

We—an interdisciplinary team of researchers with backgrounds in materials science, engineering education, educational technology and consumer psychology—are conducting research on a new approach to support students who question whether they fit in engineering.

With the aid of National Science Foundation funding, we are two years into testing a simple idea. We started with the assumption that the stories students tell themselves about whether they belong in engineering are related to their negative beliefs about their abilities. And then we asked educators at Boise State University to try a novel approach to changing those stories. While our research is still under review, preliminary findings suggest storytelling could be a game changer.

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