Supporting psychological safety in teamwork – in which ways do engineering students feel safe doing creativity–focused interventions in a PBL environment?
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study examined first-year engineering students’ perceptions of psychological safety during a five-month course designed to ease their transition into a systemic problem-based learning (PBL) environment. The course included creativity-focused teamwork exercises. Q-factor analysis of 27 students revealed four distinct perspectives: (1) individual efforts within teamwork, (2) individual efficacy in teamwork, (3) team management and performance, and (4) teamwork for idea generation. Although students found the creativity exercises beneficial for enhancing collaboration, most did not feel these activities contributed to their sense of psychological safety. The results illustrate a complex overview of the aspects that first-year engineering students find meaningful regarding their sense of safety through their experience with creativity-focused interventions in a PBL environment. The study offers recommendations for revising the intervention to better support student learning and psychological safety. Practical implications include strategies to improve the experience of first-year engineering students as they adjust to PBL environments.
Institution: Aalborg University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4411607264