SEEdS:
How Do We Teach Adaptability? Insights from Engineering Practice and Research

Seminar Description

Engineering educators widely agree that adaptability is essential for preparing students to thrive in a rapidly changing profession, and yet we still lack clear ways to define, teach, and measure it. This seminar presents findings from the NSF CAREER project, Ready for Change: Fostering Adaptability along the Engineering Pathway, which investigates what adaptability looks like in engineering practice and how it can be more intentionally developed in education. Drawing on interviews with early-career engineers and managers, the project identifies specific adaptive mindsets and behaviors critical to professional success. It also introduces new research-based tools, including a scenario-based classroom intervention and the Engineering Adaptability Survey (E-ADAPTS), to help educators assess and strengthen students’ adaptability.

This presentation was part of the Fulton Schools of Engineering Education Seminar (SEEdS) series, a monthly virtual speaker series that engages community members in discussions on engineering education. Learn more about SEEdS here.

From the discussion

While the discussion portions of SEEdS are not included in the recordings, here are a few key takeaways:

When adaptation breaks down, it often indicates a course-design issue

Students’ difficulty adapting is often shaped by learning conditions, not just individual effort. When feedback is delayed, checkpoints are unclear, team norms are weak, or revision time is limited, students are more likely to continue with ineffective approaches. Framing these moments as design signals helps faculty strengthen adaptive learning without reducing expectations.

💡Where could your course add clearer checkpoints or faster feedback to support timely course correction?

Adaptability can be taught across course types, including rapidly changing technical courses

In fields where tools change quickly (for example, programming and AI-course content), a practical approach is to combine tool-specific instruction with stable cognitive practices: troubleshooting, evidence-based decision-making, and reflective analysis of trade-offs. This supports both current relevance and long-term transfer.

💡Which learning outcomes in your course should remain stable even as tools and platforms evolve?

Scenario-based activities can make adaptive reasoning more visible

Short scenarios and situational judgment tasks help reveal how students respond to uncertainty. Their instructional value is diagnostic: they help faculty and students examine reasoning pathways, compare alternatives, and discuss trade-offs rather than focus only on one “correct” answer. This can support earlier, more targeted coaching before high-stakes assignments.

💡How might a short scenario early in your semester help students practice adaptive reasoning before major assessments?

Guest Speaker

Dr. Samantha Brunhaver is an Associate Professor in The Polytechnic School of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. Her research examines engineering career pathways, student decision-making and persistence, professional engineering practice, and faculty mentorship, with a focus on understanding and improving engineering education systems. She is a mixed-methods researcher and serves on the editorial boards of Engineering Studies and the Journal of Engineering Education.

Dr. Brunhaver earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University and her M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. She is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on fostering workplace adaptability among engineering students and early-career professionals, as well as multiple ASEE best paper awards. Prior to joining ASU in 2014, she worked as a professional engineer in industry, and she currently teaches in both ASU’s undergraduate engineering program and the Engineering Education Systems and Design Ph.D. program.

Missed a session? Access recordings of past SEEdS topics on our YouTube channel or those in the ASU community can explore our SEEdS resource folder.