Collaborative research: developing a cost-effective measurement instrument to identify stress ranges among undergraduate engineering learning communities

The National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education awarded the University of Idaho $318,523 on October 15, 2026, under the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) to develop a minimal-item measurement instrument identifying stress ranges among undergraduate engineering students in collaborative learning environments.

The project develops and validates a cost-effective stress assessment tool for use in engineering courses where collaborative learning predominates. The research applies a community-of-learners social systems approach to identify optimal stress levels that enhance learning and memory while recognizing that collaborative structures—such as pair work—can reduce individual cognitive load and stress. The project seeks to establish the relationship between student-perceived workload and learning outcomes within collaborative learning communities and to determine the minimum number of survey items needed to effectively measure student stress, thereby enabling instructors to proactively assess and leverage emerging properties of collaborative learning environments to benefit undergraduate engineering education.

The award period runs through September 30, 2028, with performance at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.

Abstract

This project aims to serve the national interest by developing a minimal-item measure of stress that can be used to identify stress levels for improving undergraduate learning in engineering courses. IT has been established that mild to moderate levels of stress can be beneficial to learning and memory. However, there is limited research demonstrating what constitutes ?mild to moderate? Stress in higher education. Student stress research has mainly focused on student-as-individual. In engineering courses where collaborative learning is becoming the norm, using a community of learners lens to view the students in the classroom and model the community of learners as a social system, which has emerging properties (e.g. working in pairs reduces stress and cognitive load) that can affect individual students, will yield better outcomes for both the educator and the students. Using a community of learners as a social system (class) approach, this level 1 engaged student learning project identifies the range of stress levels for effective learning in relation to workload and learning outcomes and seeks to develop a minimal-item measure of stress. Proactively assessing students? Stress and using the class approach will help identify and leverage the emerging properties to benefit undergraduates. This project is significant in enhancing instructional design in collaborative learning environments, augmenting research infrastructure through the creation and validation of a minimal-item measure of student stress and advancing the understanding of student stress in a collaborative learning setting. The research questions aim at finding the ranges of student stress levels in relation to student perceived workload that predicts student learning for a community of learners, and identifying the least number of items needed to consistently measure students? Learning stress using a self-reporting instrument. This research investigates conditions under which improved student learning occurs by: (1) examining stress from a community of learners perspective as this approach will provide a more representative assessment of students learning collaboratively and their learning environment; (2) examining the direct relationship between workload-stress-learning outcomes and the emerging behavior, which is distinct from existing studies that focus on two of the three variables with an implicit assumption of moderating effects of the other variable; (3) modeling emerging behaviors of a community of learners in the form of social interactions and the potential of stress being shared within a social setting. This study contributes to development and testing of an assessment instrument to measure student stress through the creation and validation of a minimal-item measure of stress for students. This stress measure will constitute a cost-effective alternative to existing stress measurement instruments such as wearable devices or use of cell-phone prompt for response. This project contributes to improving stem education and enhancing infrastructure for education and research through research tools and findings. The NSF iuse: EDU program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of stem education for all students. Through the engaged student learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.