2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 414: Understanding and Scaffolding the Productive Beginnings of Engineering Judgment in Undergraduate Students

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

This work presents the first year of work on a project addressing the productive beginnings of engineering judgment in undergraduate engineering students. In particular, we discuss a new research question about how open-ended modeling problems (OEMPs), which engage students in engineering judgment, foster the growth of conceptual knowledge. Because OEMPs are open-ended with multiple answers, they are different from the typical well-defined “textbook” problems given in engineering science courses where students learn canonical mathematical models and apply relevant formulas to find a single correct answer. By looking at the conceptual gains that result from assigning an OEMP, we aim to convince other instructors to create and assign open-ended questions. More practice using engineering judgment will give students experience with engineering judgment before receiving their engineering degree. Ideally, this will increase the number of graduates prepared for real-world engineering application.

Authors
  1. Melissa Joan Caserto University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
  2. Dr. Jessica E S Swenson University at Buffalo, The State University of New York [biography]
  3. Dr. Aaron W. Johnson University of Michigan [biography]
Download paper (1.85 MB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.