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Nathan Mentzer

Engineering · Purdue University West Lafayette

OpenAlex ORCID
Established · publishing since 1999
Engineering Education and Curriculum DevelopmentDesign Education and PracticeEngineering Education and PedagogyProblem and Project Based LearningBiomedical and Engineering Education

Publications

115

Citations

1,027

Est. group size

~9

Recurring co-author estimate

Active years

28

Publishing since 1999

Research summary
AI-generated

Nathan Mentzer studies how engineering and technology are taught in K-12 and early college settings, with particular focus on design thinking, robotics, and integrated STEM curricula. His work looks at how these teaching approaches affect students' self-efficacy (confidence in their own abilities), motivation, engagement, and diversity in engineering fields. Much of the research involves designing and evaluating classroom curricula, including newer projects on collaborative and soft robotics for high school students.

Engineering and technology educationDesign thinking and design-based learningRobotics curricula for K-12 studentsStudent motivation and self-efficacySTEM diversity and inclusion

Publication output has fluctuated over the last decade with peaks in 2018, 2020, and 2024, and a recent moderate but variable pace averaging about 6 papers per year over the last five years.

Generated by claude-sonnet-5 from public bibliographic data · Jul 20, 2026

Publication cadence
Publications per year over the last 10 years — averaging 6.2/year recently
2017: 3 publications172018: 15 publications15182019: 4 publications192020: 13 publications202021: 9 publications212022: 4 publications222023: 2 publications232024: 15 publications15242025: 8 publications252026: 2 publications26
Recent publications
Publishes in
  • International Journal of Technology and Design Education×12
  • Journal of Technology Education×7
  • Technology and Engineering Teacher×4
  • Journal of STEM Teacher Education×2
  • 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings×2
Similar researchers
By research-topic overlap

This profile was generated automatically from public scholarly data (OpenAlex). Group size and activity levels are estimates derived from co-authorship patterns.

Last updated Jul 20, 2026.

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