2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Results from Understanding and Scaffolding the Productive Beginnings of Engineering Judgment in Undergraduate Students (RFE)

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session II

As engineers design new solutions to problems or create mathematical models of physical phenomena, they have to make numerous decisions about the importance or relevance of different criteria, how to model particular forces and elements, and if their calculations or model are a good representation of the real world. These decisions are made with engineering judgment. Students, as novice engineers, need to practice making judgments in order to develop this expertise.

This design-based research project posits that practice with engineering judgment should begin in students’ first engineering science course through solving an open-ended, ill-defined problem (called OEMPs). Examining 34 interviews conducted with statics and mechanics of materials students, we found four major categories of the productive beginnings of judgment: making assumptions, assessing reasonableness, overriding a calculated answer, and using technology tools. Currently, we are attempting to develop a survey to quantitatively measure students’ engineering judgement. We are also examining interviews with five instructors who have assigned OEMPs to characterize the ways they elicit, notice, and respond to their students’ engineering judgment.

An implication of this work includes aiding instructors in being able to recognize the productive beginnings of engineering judgment in their students’ thinking. Our work also provides guidelines for designing, scaffolding, assigning, and facilitating OEMPs in engineering science courses.

Authors

Dr. Aaron W. Johnson University of Michigan [biography]

Aaron W. Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department and a Core Faculty member of the Engineering Education Research Program at the University of Michigan. His design-based research focuses on how to re-contextualize engineering science engineering courses to better reflect and prepare students for the reality of ill-defined, sociotechnical engineering practice. Current projects include studying and designing classroom interventions around macroethical issues in aerospace engineering and the productive beginnings of engineering judgment as students create and use mathematical models. Aaron holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Michigan and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to re-joining Michigan, he was an instructor in Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Ms. Oluwakemi Johnson University of Michigan [biography]

Oluwakemi (Oh-LOO-wah-keh-me) Johnson is a second-year PhD student in the Engineering Education Research Program at the University of Michigan. She is advised by Dr. Aaron Johnson and works as a research assistant on projects focusing on engineering judgment and open-ended modeling problems.
Dr. Jessica Swenson University at Buffalo, The State University of New York [biography]

Jessica Swenson is an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo. She was awarded her doctorate and masters from Tufts University in mechanical engineering and STEM education respectively, and completed postdoctoral work at the University of Michigan. Her research examines emotions within engineering problem solving and the student experience, engineering judgment, and elementary school teachers learning to teach engineering.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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