2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This Work in Progress paper investigates how first-year engineering students internalize and apply design process knowledge, a critical skill for success in upper-level design projects and professional practice. This study specifically explores how students’ design knowledge evolves during their first year in a two-semester Engineering Foundations course sequence and evaluates the influence of prior high school engineering design experiences on their learning. The findings will inform curricular improvements and contribute to broader discussions on how to effectively teach design thinking at the secondary and postsecondary levels.

Engineering design has long been a central component of ABET-accredited engineering programs, with some programs emphasizing the design process early in the undergraduate experience. However, the extent to which students grasp and retain this knowledge, and how this knowledge progresses throughout their undergraduate studies, remains underexplored. Furthermore, the growing integration of engineering into secondary education has opened new avenues for students to develop foundational design skills before entering college [1], [2]. Yet, the impact of these experiences on first-year college engineering students’ learning has not been comprehensively studied.

At our institution, first-year engineering students with a range of prior high school experiences in engineering take a two-semester Engineering Foundations (EF) sequence. In EF1 (Fall semester), student teams engage in project-based learning through sustainability-related design projects. In EF2 (Spring semester), students participate in client-based projects, working with real stakeholders to develop solutions to authentic engineering problems. These experiences provide students with multiple opportunities to practice their design process knowledge.

This research addresses two key questions: (1) To what extent does repeated practice of the design process through project-based learning in EF enhance students’ mastery of design process knowledge? (2) How, if at all, do prior engineering design experiences in high school relate to students’ learning of the design process in EF?

This study employs a longitudinal approach, collecting data from first-year students in EF at three timepoints: (1) at the start of EF1, (2) at the end of EF1, and (3) at the conclusion of EF2. The primary assessment tool is the Design Process Knowledge (DPK) assessment [3], which prompts students to critique a proposed design process. Students are asked to identify strengths and weaknesses in the design process and propose improvements. The DPK critiques are scored using a rubric that evaluates key elements of the design process, including problem definition, conceptual design, decision making, prototyping and testing, iteration, time allocation, and documentation.

At the start of EF1, students report on their prior engineering design experiences in high school, including participation in engineering courses and internships. This baseline data on students’ pre-college design experiences enables a comparison of students with and without high school design education.

Preliminary analyses of the first round of DPK critiques have provided valuable insights into first-year students’ initial understanding of the design process. Relatively few students emphasized the importance of problem definition, with a small percentage recognizing the need to consider client and user needs, conduct literature reviews, and clearly define objectives and constraints, indicating that students may not yet fully grasp the foundational role of problem definition in successful design.

However, most students did recognize the importance of idea generation, iteration, and documentation, suggesting that these aspects of the design process may be more accessible to early learners. Design decision making was less well articulated, with few students mentioning the importance of basing decisions on user needs and design criteria. Time allocation was another area where students showed relative proficiency, with most offering reasonable suggestions for how to manage time throughout the design process. As the study progresses, future analyses will explore the differences between students with prior high school design experience and those without, providing deeper insights into how these experiences shape first-year design learning.

This research will help identify areas where students may have strengths or weaknesses, enabling instructors to tailor their teaching approaches. The study will also contribute to the broader body of knowledge in engineering education by offering new insights into how students develop design process knowledge over time and how prior experiences impact this learning. Additionally, this research will help secondary educators understand the long-term benefits of incorporating engineering design into high school curricula.