A funds of knowledge approach to developing engineering students' design problem framing skills

Abstract

Background: Engineering programs have increasingly incorporated design challenges into courses. These design challenges vary in the degree to which they present complex, ill-structured, and relevant problems, and therefore may vary in the degree to which they support students to learn to frame design problems.Purpose/Hypothesis: We characterized how first-year engineering students with little formal design training approach problem framing. We developed design challenges informed by funds of knowledge. We compared the development of problem framing skills in first-year students who completed these challenges to students who completed more traditional challenges and to students in capstone design.Design/Method: Students completed a pre/post performance-based assessment of problem framing skills. We analyzed student responses in terms of design requirements, design practices, and design styles. We used descriptive statistics and correlations to characterize how students initially approached problem framing and repeated-measures ANOVA to compare groups of students. Results: First-year students approached framing a design problem in one of four primary ways. Compared to students in the original course, they showed growth in attending to an underlying need, considering contexts of use, and depicting design function. Compared to capstone students, they also showed growth in considering stakeholder roles and planning the next steps. Conclusions: Funds of knowledge can provide a means to evaluate possible design challenges as authentic yet accessible for first-year students, in turn, providing opportunities to support the development of the design problem framing ability.

First‐generation college students' funds of knowledge support the development of an engineering role identity

“…Efforts to help first‐generation college students develop their identification as an engineer in the classroom have been limited, except for Svihla et al's (2022) recent effort. There is evidence that these students apply their funds of knowledge without the support of instructors (Smith & Lucena, 2016), and there are opportunities to celebrate and connect students' funds of knowledge to their engineering studies at the edges of the engineering curriculum, such as through makerspace clubs, design projects, and reflective writing in humanities and social science classes.…”

Addressing Equity Asymmetries in General Chemistry Outcomes Through an Asset-Based Supplemental Course

“…In addition, most studies followed qualitative research methodologies: in the 33 studies examined in the review, two used quantitative methods, six used mixed methods, and 25 used qualitative methods of analysis. Nonetheless, there is also a need for more quantitative studies in order to gauge the broader value of asset-based interventions, especially in STEM disciplines in higher education. , Empirical studies related to the Community Cultural Wealth model often use counternarratives of individuals as a mechanism to amplify the voices of students who do not look like the people who comprise norms that are often taught as the pioneers of STEM and examples to emulate. Counternarratives (noun) are a methodological tool in qualitative research for understanding students’ experiences from their perspectives by including contextual aspects from the students’ viewpoints on their educational and broader experiences .…”

Asset-Based Frameworks for Engineering Student Professional Skill Development

“…Through this study, they define funds of knowledge as "these historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual function and well-being" (p. 133). Examples of funds of knowledge included skills related to construction, water management and agriculture, household management, and first aid skills (Denton & Borrego, 2021b;Moje et al, 2004;Smith & Lucena, 2016a;Svihla et al, 2022).…”

“…They briefly identified funds of knowledge as potentially more action oriented than CCW and other frameworks (Denton & Borrego, 2021b). Building upon that potential, several empirical studies have connected funds of knowledge to student design framing outcomes (Gomez & Svihla, 2018;Svihla et al, 2022).…”