2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This Work-in-Progress study examines how project scaffolding influences student learning and engagement in an undergraduate Industrial Engineering optimization course. The semester-long project was divided into structured milestones—proposal, update, and final submission—to support student progress. A thematic review of the reflections revealed four major themes: (1) Methods of Skill Development through consistent practice, independent discovery, and understanding foundational concepts; (2) Navigating Technical Challenges such as cleaning data, debugging code, and designing a graphical user interface; (3) Discovering Real-World Relevance of coding and data analysis in professional and societal contexts; and (4) Collaboration, where students reported benefits like skill development and idea exchange, but also interpersonal challenges. Overall, students reported that scaffolding strengthened their problem-solving skills, technical proficiency, and gave them a clearer sense of how coursework connects to real life applications. The findings suggest that instructors may use structured scaffolding in complex, collaborative projects to treat engineering education as a developmental process, where concepts and technical skills evolve into professional independence.