Demographics- and Performance-Based Differences in STEM Students’ Entrepreneurial Mindsets

This article details the implementation of the Engineering Student Entrepreneurial Mindset Assessment (ESEMA) survey to assess the baseline entrepreneurial mindsets (EMs) of students enrolled in first-year General Chemistry II, pooling data from 2022 to 2023. We aim to clarify how EMs vary between students of different demographic backgrounds and which populations may best benefit from entrepreneurial-minded learning (EML) approaches. Additionally, we assess the efficacy of three EML-based learning modules in fostering changes in student EM. In this work, we identify four student demographic subpopulations with significantly different baseline EMs and demonstrate that course grade is inversely associated with overall EM and three individual ESEMA metrics. Additionally, matched student EM data across semesters suggests that nonwhite and female-identifying students tend to benefit most significantly from EML approaches. This work is in line with the greater body of literature supporting the importance of EML in STEM education and supports EML as a potential approach to engage minority student populations more significantly.