Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for engineering design are promising for their stress management, cognition and well-being benefits. Prior work concluded that engineering design is stressful and that each engineering design stage has unique stressors. This non-randomized study investigated the effect of an MBI on students’ cognitive stress and final design creativity during a multistage, hands-on design assessment. Data were collected using surveys, project deliverables and follow-up interviews. While no significant increase was found in students’ measured state mindfulness due to the intervention, students in the MBI condition were more likely to perceive the intervention positively compared to students in the control condition (alternative use tasks). Students in both conditions were found to have similar levels of state stress, which indicates that the MBI had no observable effect on students’ measured stress during design. Although students in the MBI condition were found to produce higher-quality final designs, there were no differences in design creativity or novelty. When data were clustered to identify types of student experiences, state mindfulness was found to meaningfully contribute, but state stress was not. Future research should continue to investigate MBIs in engineering design as a potential approach to improve design education and outcomes.

Engineering design induces mental stress for students and the sources of stress for each stage of design are unique. Therefore, strategies are needed to manage the stress of engineering design that are applicable across the design process. This study investigated the effect of a brief mindfulness-based intervention on first-year students’ cognitive stress during concept generation, concept selection and physical modelling. It was found that the mindfulness-based intervention did increase one aspect of students’ state mindfulness (though the effect was small). While prior work indicates that increased mindfulness can lower perceived stress, the increase in students’ state mindfulness during this study was not found to have an observable impact on students’ stress experience. However, students were receptive to completing a mindfulness-based activity in-class and perceived multiple benefits. Physical modelling was the most stressful of the design tasks while concept generation and concept selection produced similar levels of stress. Students used five reoccurring mechanisms for coping with the stress of design including focusing on the task, minimising the importance of their performance, breathing, taking a break and avoidance/distraction. More research should be conducted with longer duration mindfulness-based interventions to understand their potential as a stress management strategy for engineering design.

The engineering design process can produce stress that endures even after it has been completed. This may be particularly true for students who engage with the process as novices. However, it is not known how individual components of the design process induce stress in designers. This study explored the cognitive experience of introductory engineering design students during concept generation, concept selection and physical modelling to identify stress signatures for these three design activities. Data were collected for the design activities using pre- and post-task surveys. Each design activity produced distinct markers of cognitive experience and a unique stress signature that was stable across design activity themes. Rankings of perceived sources of stress also differed for each design activity. Students, however, did not perceive any physiological changes due to the stress of design for any of the design activities. Findings indicate that physical modelling was the most stressful for students, followed by concept generation and then concept selection. Additionally, recommendations for instructors of introductory engineering design courses were provided to help them apply the results of this study. Better understanding of the cognitive experience of students during design can support instructors as they learn to better teach design.