Does an open-ended design project increase creativity in engineering students?

Many schools are incorporating project-based interdisciplinary exercises into their engineering curriculum in order to develop the qualitative and quantitative skills simultaneously. It has been shown that introducing design in a freshman engineering course has a positive impact on retention, stimulates interest in engineering and enhances communication, teaming and time management skills. But can design also improve creativity? Or, to be more specific, would an open-ended design project improve creativity in engineering students? In the fall of 2015, an innovative design project was used in a first-year engineering course at Michigan Technological University. Students were given the task to develop a prototype of a new product or an improvement on an existing product. While some of the tasks were defined throughout the semester, the product they created was completely up to the team. It was thought that the open-ended nature of the project and the product itself being new or innovative would help improve their creativity. Students completing this project were given a 55 question pre- and post-assessment. This assessment included several measures of general creativity and entrepreneurial intentions: Oreg's Resistance to Change Scale (RTC), the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory (CEI), and the Zampetakis & Moustakis Scale (Z & M Scale). This paper focuses on the development and evaluation of this open-ended design project for first-year engineering students and the results of the various measures of creativity.