2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Organizations such as ABET, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) emphasize the importance of developing “T-shaped” engineers—professionals who possess deep technical expertise (the vertical bar of the “T”) along with the ability to apply that knowledge across diverse contexts (the horizontal bar). The capacity to transfer knowledge between courses and into professional practice is therefore a critical skill to cultivate within engineering curricula.

In this study, students were asked to solve a rigid body equilibrium problem typical of an introductory engineering statics course - one that requires transferring mathematical knowledge to an engineering context. After completing the task, students reflected on their problem-solving process and, if unsuccessful in solving the problem, described possible reasons for their difficulties in doing so. The post-activity survey included both constructed-response and multiple-choice questions developed from prior research, along with demographic questions. A total of n=111 students consented to have their data analyzed as part of this study.

The collected data will be examined for patterns and themes in student responses and disaggregated by demographic variables. Statistical analyses will be used to better understand the challenges different student groups face when transferring knowledge to solve engineering problems.

The goal of this work is to better understand the challenges faced by students when tasked with transferring knowledge to enable the development of teaching practices to overcome these challenges, and to develop the T-shaped graduates industry requires.