2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Employers commonly cite that engineering graduates struggle with two key problem-solving principles: (a) drawing abstractions from applications and (b) identifying the application of an abstraction. For both cases, knowledge must be recontextualized to fit the objective at hand. Gaining an appreciation for how students integrate various forms of knowledge may provide useful pedagogical insights, such as the appropriate level of theory to be covered in lecture, or the development of courses targeted at unveiling the topology of effective paths of thinking. In considering how to better prepare graduates for the work force, a longitudinal study is being conducted to understand the knowledge mobilization processes of mechanical engineering students. This NSF-funded RIEF project consists of three main experiences – (1) a junior design course, (2) an internship, and (3) a capstone project. One-on-one interviews are conducted with subjects to facilitate data collection across all three phases of the study. Twenty-four students have been recruited and have participated in the junior design course phase of the study. Ten students from the original group have completed, at least partially, the internship phase of the project. So far, this has resulted in a total of 149 one-hour-long interviews centered around the experiences and problem-solving approaches implemented by mechanical engineering students. Journal entries, syllabi, presentation recordings, group discussions, as well as copies of submitted homework assignments were collected for triangulation purposes. Redacted interview transcripts have been analyzed under the lens of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), a multi-dimensional framework which allows for the structure of socially constructed practices to be examined independent of the student’s level of understanding. Specifically, the Autonomy dimension of LCT has been employed to reveal that problem-solving approaches void of theoretical considerations are generally unsuccessful in reaching student-defined objectives. An analysis of the knowledge contents and purposes utilized by students in their problem-solving process revealed a tendency to value certain forms of knowledge. The data suggests the existence of at least three categories of preferential knowledge partitioned into the following groups: (i) personal experience, (ii) theoretical knowledge, and (iii) internship experience. Findings reveal that students apply different combinations of these knowledge categories for various purposes in a sequential manner. The constituents, and sequence in which these constituents are applied, appear to play a role in student mastery of Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs). Such insights reveal areas of improvement around the different types of problem-solving strategies utilized by mechanical engineering students and how such approaches could be scaffolded through pedagogical means.