2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In this paper, we seek to investigate the ways and circumstances in which undergraduate engineering students engage in computational thinking (CT). As technology advances, we move towards a new industrial landscape where engineers face increasingly complex problems. For engineering students of the 21st century to thrive in their future careers, it is crucial for interdisciplinary education to equip them with the necessary tools and support required to solve problems effectively and think more comprehensively. CT and the engineering way of thinking enhance conceptualization and critical thinking skills, and their processes complement each other. Thus, promoting CT in engineering education is essential. However, research on the interpretation and development of CT is conducted to a limited extent at the undergraduate level. A semi-structured interview protocol was developed to gather insights on the five main pillars of computational thinking practices (i.e., abstraction, algorithms, problem decomposition, pattern recognition, and troubleshooting/debugging) from eight undergraduate students (four female and four male). The participants were evenly distributed across four disciplines, including computer science, electrical and electronic engineering, civil engineering, and computer engineering, in a Southeast Asian research-focused institution. The students discussed their perceptions of CT within their respective disciplines and provided examples of when they thought CT might be helpful. Using thematic analysis, the results are used to understand how CT competencies organically arise in students’ problem-solving processes. Student responses suggested that incorporating more use cases in the structuring of coursework may facilitate the integration of CT into the engineering curriculum by improving the recognition of CT concepts.