2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Students are expected to integrate their knowledge and skills in the delivery of capstone design projects. However, such integration is often neither easy nor straightforward. One possible reason is related to the gap between design methods, which can be taught in classes, and design skills, which depend on individual experiences. Research in design cognition provides a descriptive account of the design process and can help us understand how students think during design activities. To leverage the insights of design cognition in education, we first develop the notion of design tasks as a cognitive platform that enables students to connect design goals and approaches with their skills and experiences. These design tasks are categorized into five types: background research, problem framing, idea generation, decision making, and scientific analysis. We argue that these design tasks are applicable across different design stages.

To further integrate the notion of design tasks within the traditional context of design theory and methodology, we propose two theoretical frameworks in this paper. The first is a multi-scale framework based on Activity Theory, incorporating three scales. In relation to design theory and methodology, the macro scale corresponds to design stages, focusing on design goals, while the micro scale describes design actions in delivering projects such as applying design methods. Situated between these, the meso scale uses design tasks mediate between macro-scale design stages and micro-scale design methods. The second framework adopts a dialectical perspective to address the tension between design methodology (normative) and design cognition (descriptive). Here, design tasks serve as a developmental platform, where design methodology provides desirable directions, and design cognition offers insights into students’ limitations. Directions for future work in design education practice and research are also discussed.