2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Motivation and Learning Goals

This GIFTS submission aims to enhance students' understanding of
engineering modeling using ideas from entrepreneurial
thinking. Engineers use mathematical models (e.g., structural models,
wing models, circuit models) to inform design decisions. However,
traditional curricula present these quantitative tools as "laws", and
instructors often expect students to learn modeling without explicit
instruction (Gainsburg 2015). Consequently, some engineers enter the
workforce without any awarness that models have limitations that must
be accountted for in design (Gainsburg 2013).

Entrepreneurial thinking, beyond pecuniary aims, includes a mindset
beneficial to engineering modeling. Namely, the entrepreneurial 3C's
framework includes Connections (awareness of one's own limitations)
and Curiosity (willingness to challenge accepted solutions) (London et
al. 2018). We developed an activity to activate and develop these
elements of the entrepreneurial mindset among engineering students
when considering mathematical models.

Activity

Drawing on our prior phenomenological work on mathematical modeling
(REDACTED), we designed a single-class, group-based, hands-on activity
to prime students to think critically about mathematical models. This
activity serves as an introduction for students to tenchi diagrams: a
drawing technique grounded in phenomenological philosophy designed to
emphasize the assumptions and limitations of engineering models. This
activity unfolds in two phases: 1. To promote understanding of a given
model, then 2. To encourage students to challenge the model.

The activity is designed to be accessible to first-year, first
semester students by considering a tangible referent for modeling: the
predator-prey dynamics between rabibits and foxes. Phase 1 presents
students with the standard Lotka-Volterra model in graphical form, and
has students arrange paper materials to represent the natural world in
a way that matches the given model. Phase 2 has students challenge and
update the model by first proposing a different referent in the
natural world, then modify the model to match.

Assessment

Given its introductory nature, this activity is designed primarily for
formative (not summative) assessment. Both the design (i.e., diagram
drawing) and implementation (i.e., working at whiteboards) of the
activity are designed to make student thinking visible to the
instructor, affording quick visual inspection of student work. We
provide examples of student work patterns to anticipate for Phase 1,
and suggestions on coaching students successfully in challenging the
model for Phase 2. We also present student work samples from later in
the course to illustrate how an instructor can give formative
feedback, and examples of how students do (or do not) challenge
accepted models.

References

Gainsburg, Julie. "Learning to model in engineering." Mathematical Thinking and
Learning 15.4 (2013): 259-290.

Gainsburg, Julie. "Engineering students' epistemological views on mathematical
methods in engineering." Journal of Engineering Education 104.2 (2015): 139-166.

London, Jeremi S., et al. "A Framework for Entrepreneurial Mindsets
and Behaviors in Undergraduate Engineering Students: Operationalizing
the Kern Family Foundation's" 3Cs"." Advances in engineering education
7.1 (2018):