2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This is a research paper. This research project's focus is to better understand how students are conceptualizing engineering design over their multiple design projects. We focus on a mechanical engineering program at a single institution that has course based design experiences during each of the four years of the degree program. Data was collected through a survey given to 73 engineering students. The questions in this survey targeted student’s conceptualization and relationship with design, as well as their demographics and course history. Open-ended questions focused on student responses about how they defined engineering design and what aspects of design they considered to be challenging or straightforward. Closed-ended questions focused on how often they have had opportunities to practice aspects of design, including working directly with a client and considering sustainability in their solutions. The open-ended questions were organized using a thematic coding system which were then compared to the demographics and course history information. Themes among the responses indicate students’ thought processes behind engineering design and their relationships with different aspects of design. For example, we found that students in the third year level design course, which is mostly focused on technical details of design, are more likely to describe specific technical aspects of design as the most challenging parts of design, whereas students in the sophomore and senior level design courses are more likely to describe teamwork and communication as challenging parts of design. Additionally, we identified several areas where students have limited exposure to areas of design, including working directly with a client and considering the ethical implications of their solutions. These correlations point to areas where students may need additional help in design thinking.