Logo image
Back
Empirical foundations for improved engineering education: Differences between engineering students and professional expert engineers while designing
Conference proceeding

Empirical foundations for improved engineering education: Differences between engineering students and professional expert engineers while designing

John S. Gero, Kurt Henry Becker, Yuzhen Luo, Lilian Maria de Souza Almeida and Wai Tak Jeff Kan
2019 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, ASEE 2019
15 Jun 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--32325

Abstract

This project aims to measure and compare the design thinking of teams of engineering students and teams of expert engineers through a study of their cognitive processes while designing. Tools and processes developed in previously funded NSF projects provide a uniform basis for comparing students and experts that is independent of the educational and experiential background of the participants and provide a robust empirical evidence-based grounding for its conclusions. Understanding the difference between developing learners and an expert target performance is essential to the identification of appropriate learning experiences to move learners along the trajectory to becoming experts. This project addresses the gap in knowledge and provides statistically significant evidence using a controlled study. Teams of students with different disciplines and diversity profiles and teams of engineering design experts were recruited to protocol studies. To quantitatively measure their respective cognition while designing, the protocol analysis method; where videos are transcribed, segmented, coded, and analyzed to produce the base data, is utilized. The basis for coding and analysis is a recognized model in design research known as the Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) Ontology. The coded protocols provide a very rich data source from which the design cognition can be determined and understood. The analytical techniques are drawn from design theory, cognitive science and statistical modeling. Analysis of the data consist of standard statistics, Problem-Solution (P-S) Index, and Correspondence Analysis. As this project approaches the final phase, a complete set of data will be available to be presented during ASEE 2019. The additional results will be combined with previous findings from preliminary results. This coalescence will paint a holistic and complete picture of the design processes and cognitive behaviors between experts and students. The results will inform leaders in engineering education, developers of instructional materials and curricula, as well as teachers and designers of classroom strategy planning, of initiatives in formal engineering education. As such, a workshop of engineering design educators will be developed to explore educational strategies to bridge the gap between engineering experts and engineering students’ design skills. Furthermore, comparison of design cognition among students; freshmen and seniors, reveal learning trajectories across engineering curricular. Understanding the gap in design cognition between these two cohorts will be an invaluable insight to help education leaders make informed decisions to improve engineering education earlier in the programs of study.

Metrics

1 Record Views

Details

Logo image