Work in Progress: A Framework for an Improv Intervention to Increase Psychological Safety and Sense of Belonging on Student Engineering Design Teams

Teamwork has been increasingly used in engineering education, and teams have the potential to impact sense of belonging for engineering students. However, there is limited research on how to cultivate team dynamics that build belongingness or inclusion in engineering education. Psychological safety has been shown to build inclusion on teams in the workplace, thus positively impacting team dynamics and potentially increasing sense of belonging. However, psychological safety is often overlooked in engineering education, perhaps because there is limited research on how to increase psychological safety. This paper develops a framework for a 30-minute improv intervention to increase psychological safety and sense of belonging on student engineering design teams. We use Experiential Learning Theory and Social Cognitive Career Theory to assess the proposed intervention. We predict that the improv intervention will increase psychological safety and sense of belonging on the team and in engineering, which in turn will impact student expectations of success in the engineering and intent to remain in the field; this may lead to increased persistence in the field of engineering. This work has implications for creating positive engineering team dynamics, building more effective engineering teams, and increasing persistence in engineering, especially among groups traditionally underrepresented in the field.