Delayed Guidance: A Teaching-Learning Strategy to Develop Ill-Structured Problem Solving Skills in Engineering

Kothiyal, Aditi; Rajendran, Bipin; Murthy, Sahana

doi:10.1109/latice.2015.27

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Engineering problem solving belongs to the field of cognitive psychology. Kothiyal collected and coded students' answers to open-ended questions and used semi-structured interviews to explore students' thinking and approaches to solving problems [17]. Kim used a multifaceted evaluation approach, which drew from student learning activities and project performance, including tests, afterschool tasks, project planning reports and presentations, project progress, oral presentations of group projects, project interpretation, and peer evaluations [18].…”

Section: Investigation Of Stem Courses and Engineering Problem Solvingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A laser-cutting-centered STEM course for improving engineering problem-solving skills of high school students in China

Cai¹,

Chiang²

2021

STEME

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<p style='text-indent:20px;'>STEM (science, technology, engineer, mathematics) education and engineering education are receiving an increasing amount of interest worldwide, but related research on the influence of STEM courses on students' engineering problem solving in China is scarce. Considering the rapid prototyping function of laser-cutting tools, this study was conducted to develop a STEM course based on laser cutting and to explore how the course affected high school students' engineering problem-solving abilities. A 9-week curriculum was implemented in a science, technology, and fabricating club of a high school in Zhejiang, China. The data were collected by pretest and posttest questionnaires and presentations of group assignments. The results were as follows. First, when presented with an engineering problem, the students demonstrated problem-solving abilities because they followed principles of engineering design, such as sketching, modeling and modifying. Second, while completing the assignment, the students proposed solutions with comprehensive factors in many aspects. They showed high-level thinking, such as consideration of the background, limiting conditions, and multidisciplinary knowledge, and they used technological tools to complete the task. However, some students ignored the assessment and redesign of their solutions. Further research could use a larger sample from different grades and explore how a STEM course combined with technology tools could influence students' high-level thinking skills.</p>

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Section: Investigation Of Stem Courses and Engineering Problem Solvingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A laser-cutting-centered STEM course for improving engineering problem-solving skills of high school students in China

Cai¹,

Chiang²

2021

STEME

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Ill-structured problems have received an increasing amount of interest in the past two decades as it has been identified that real world problems that graduating engineering students will face when they begin to work in industry are more commonly ill-structured than well-structured. Research and journals regarding ill-structured problem solving (e.g., [2], [5], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12] [13], [14], [15], [16], [17]) have covered a range of topics, including problem definition and formulation, verbal protocol methods, and problem solving research studies.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the Gap Between Academia and Industry in Approaches for Solving Ill-Structured Problems: Problem Formulation and Protocol Development

Akinci-Ceylan¹,

Cetin²,

Fleming³

et al.

2018 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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One of the main skills of engineers is to be able to solve problems. It is generally recognized that real-world engineering problems are inherently ill-structured in that they are complex, defined by non-engineering constraints, are missing information, and contain conflicting information. Therefore, it is very important to prepare future engineering students to be able to anticipate the occurrence of such problems, and to be prepared to solve them. However, most courses are taught by academic professors and lecturers whose focus is on didactic teaching of fundamental principles and code-based design approaches leading to predetermined "right" answers. Most classroomtaught methods to solve well-structured problems and the methods needed to solve ill-structured problems are strikingly different. The focus of our current effort is to compare and contrast the problem solving approaches employed by students, academics and practicing professionals in an attempt to determine if students are developing the necessary skills to tackle ill-structured problems. To accomplish this, an ill-structured problem is developed, which will later be used to determine, based on analysis of oral and written responses of participants in semi-structured interviews, attributes of the gap between student, faculty, and professional approaches to illstructured problem solving. Based on the results of this analysis, we will identify what pedagogical approaches may limit and help students' abilities to develop fully-formed solutions to ill-structured problems.This project is currently ongoing. This work-in-progress paper will present the study and proposed methods. Based on feedback obtained at the conference from the broader research community, the studies will be refined. The current phase includes three parts, (1) problem formulation; (2) protocol development; and (3) pilot study. For (1), two different ill-structured problems were developed in the Civil Engineering domain. The problem difficulty assessment method was used to determine the appropriateness of each problem developed for this study. For (2), a protocol was developed in which participants will be asked to first solve a simple problem to become familiar with the interview format, then are given 30 minutes to solve the provided ill-structured problem, following a semi-structured interview format. Participants will be encouraged to speak out loud and also write down what they are thinking and their thought processes throughout the interview period. Both (1) and (2) will next be used for (3) the pilot study. The pilot study will include interviewing three students, three faculty members and three professional engineers. Each participant will complete both problems following the same protocol developed. Post-interview discussion will be held with the pilot study participants individually to inquire if there were any portions of the tasks that are unclearly worded or could be improved to clarify what was being asked. Based on these results the final problem will be chosen and refined.

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“…They are not limited to classroom contexts, require integration of various fields, and have unknown elements unlike the majority of problems students are given in engineering classrooms. Several studies have examined how students solve ill-structured engineering problems [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], including how engineering students perceive workplace problem solving [13], [14], the similarities and differences between students and expert practitioners [15], [16], [17], the problem solving processes of practicing engineers [18], [19], and design processes of engineering faculty [20]. The results of these studies indicate differences between students and practicing engineers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With respect to differences between students and practicing engineers, Atman et al [16] found that practicing engineers spent more time solving the problem than the students did, particularly in the process of gathering information and problem definition. In another study, Kothiyal et al [11] found that when given delayed guidance (i.e. unguided student exploration of an ill-structured problem followed by problem solving instruction), students developed complex problem solving skills and showed a wider range of problem solving behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Analysis of How a Student, Faculty, and Practicing Engineer Approach an Ill-structured Engineering Problem

Akinci-Ceylan

Cetin

Ahn

et al.

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings

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Solving open-ended complex problems is an essential skill for part of being an engineer and a common activity in the one of the qualities needed in an engineering workplace. In order to help undergraduate engineering students develop such qualities and better prepare them for their future careers, this study is a preliminary effort to explore the problem solving approaches adopted by a student, faculty, and practicing engineer in civil engineering. As part of an ongoing NSF-funded study, this paper qualitatively investigates how three participants solve the following research question: What are the similarities and differences between a student, faculty, and practicing engineer in the approach to solve an ill-structured engineering problem? Verbal protocol analysis was used to answer this research question. Participants were asked to verbalize their response while they worked on the proposed problem. This paper includes a detailed analysis of the observed problem-solving processes of the participants. Our preliminary findings indicate some distinct differences between the student, professor, and practicing engineer in their problem-solving approaches. The student and practicing engineer used their prior knowledge to develop a solution, while the faculty did not make any connection to outside knowledge. It was also observed that the faculty and practicing engineer spent a great deal of time on feasibility and safety issues, whereas the student spent more time detailing the tool that would be used as their solution. Through additional data collection and analysis, we will better understand the similarities and differences between students, professionals, and faculty in terms of how they approach an ill-structured problem. This study will provide insights that will lead to the development of ways to better prepare engineering students to solve complex problems.

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Delayed Guidance: A Teaching-Learning Strategy to Develop Ill-Structured Problem Solving Skills in Engineering

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

A laser-cutting-centered STEM course for improving engineering problem-solving skills of high school students in China

A laser-cutting-centered STEM course for improving engineering problem-solving skills of high school students in China

Bridging the Gap Between Academia and Industry in Approaches for Solving Ill-Structured Problems: Problem Formulation and Protocol Development

A Qualitative Analysis of How a Student, Faculty, and Practicing Engineer Approach an Ill-structured Engineering Problem

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