Engineering Students' Epistemological Views on Mathematical Methods in Engineering

Gainsburg, Julie

doi:10.1002/jee.20073

Cited by 60 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…For example, undergraduate students believe in the certainty of knowledge and its acquisition from authority figures, while graduate students focus on the disorder and uncertainty of knowledge (Jehng, Johnson, & Anderson, ). While some authors describe development of epistemic beliefs as occurring through a series of developmental stages, a view of these beliefs as depending on the domain or even stage of problem solving has recently been described (for a review, see Gainsburg, ). Nevertheless, it has been shown that as students progress through their education, they can develop more sophisticated ideas about engineering problem solving (Choi et al, ; Douglas et al, ; Marra & Palmer, ; Mena, Zappe, & Litzinger, ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate Students' Beliefs about Engineering Problem Solving

McNeill

Douglas

Koro‐Ljungberg

et al. 2016

J of Engineering Edu

101

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Background Problem solving is considered to be a central activity of engineering practice. While some studies have shown how various beliefs affect students' abilities to solve problems, studies are needed that explicitly examine the beliefs and assumptions students bring to the problem‐solving process. Purpose/Hypothesis The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe students' engineering problem‐solving processes and develop a conceptual model that illustrates students' beliefs about problem solving. Our research question was, What beliefs do students have about engineering problem solving? Design/Method We analyzed data from retrospective semistructured interviews carried out after a problem‐solving session. We interviewed nine engineering students about the processes they used to solve the problems and the assumptions and beliefs that guided their problem solving. We then used grounded theory to identify and analyze statements from the interviews and to develop a conceptual model of student beliefs. Results The resulting model has five major categories: the problem‐solving process itself, the role of classroom problems, the role of workplace problems, personal characteristics that affect problem solving, and resources that assist problem solving. Students identify a sharp distinction between classroom problems and workplace problems. Conclusions Our conceptual model provides an initial framework for understanding how students' beliefs affect their approaches to engineering problems. In contrast to stage models, our model shows that students' epistemic beliefs about problem solving are contextual. Future work is needed to understand the limits and extend the applicability of our model.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate Students' Beliefs about Engineering Problem Solving

McNeill

Douglas

Koro‐Ljungberg

et al. 2016

J of Engineering Edu

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This would speak for a need of mathematical knowledge oriented towards the conceptual as well as generic skills such as analytical thinking and problem solving often expected to be implicit in mathematical work (cf. Gainsburg, 2015). This is also reflected in more recent policy documents on engineering curricula (Alpers, 2013a(Alpers, , 2013b.…”

Section: Contribution Of This Paper To the Literaturementioning

confidence: 86%

“…However, after being exposed to more applied and practice oriented subjects and projects later in their studies, a more engineering oriented view on the way mathematical concepts and methods enter into these activities may develop (cf. Gainsburg, 2015;Kashefi et al, 2013). The result that in both countries performance of the conceptually oriented mathematics is higher for the senior students than for the junior students (Table 2), as well as the appreciation of its role outside the mathematics studies (Figure 4) and for engineering studies in general (Figure 5), is an indication of such development.…”

Section: Observed Patterns In the Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual and Procedural Approaches to Mathematics in the Engineering Curriculum – Comparing Views of Junior and Senior Engineering Students in Two Countries

Bergsten

Engelbrecht

Kågesten

2016

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

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One challenge for an optimal design of the mathematical components in engineering education curricula is to understand how the procedural and conceptual dimensions of mathematical work can be matched with different demands and contexts from the education and practice of engineers. The focus in this paper is on how engineering students respond to the conceptual-procedural distinction, comparing performance and confidence between second and fourth year groups of students in their answers to a questionnaire comprising conceptually and procedurally focused mathematics problems. We also compare these students' conceptions on the role of conceptual and procedural mathematics problems within and outside their mathematics studies. Our data suggest that when mathematical knowledge is being recontextualised to engineering subjects or engineering design, a conceptual approach to mathematics is more essential than a procedural approach; working within the mathematical domain, however, the procedural aspects of mathematics are as essential as the conceptual aspects.

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“…They conducted a study comparing the design process activity of engineering students and expert engineers in which the participants designed a solution to a design problem in a laboratory-based setting [22,23]. This kind of problem is an ill-structured problem because there is no single correct solution, only solutions that better meet the constraints and preferences of the problem statement.…”

Section: Well-structured Versus Ill-structured Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, Atman et al stated that engineering students and expert engineers have to iterate through different stages rather than following a linear process to handle the ill-structured nature of design problems. Many other researchers have also conducted studies in engineering design identifying design problems as ill-structured that require judgements about the solution and high metacognitive skills [23,24,25]. In general, engineering problems are frequently identified as analytical problems (well-structured) or design problems (ill-structured), with the former being highly structured and amenable to algorithmic solutions and the latter requiring nonlinear and iterative solutions [26,27,28].…”

Section: Well-structured Versus Ill-structured Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abstraction Thresholds in Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Curricula

Pérez¹,

Rivera-Reyes²

2016 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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He has experience in the telecommunication industry where he worked as a Project Manager developing solutions of high-speed transmission systems for internet services providers and mobile service companies. He has trained engineers and technicians through formal courses, on-the-job training, and supervising on field. His research interest includes self-regulated learning, abstraction in problem solving, and troubleshooting problem solving in laboratory environments. His long-term goals include improving laboratory hands-on activities based on how students improve their metacognitive skills.c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Abstraction Thresholds in Undergraduate Electrical Engineering CurriculaAbstract A great deal of work has been done to study the types of problems posed to students in various disciplines and to examine the approaches used by students and experts to solve these problems. This paper describes a knowledge representation framework developed by Hahn and Chater [41] for analyzing a person's episode of reasoning while solving a problem and presents some preliminary results of the application of this framework to students taking a course in signal and systems. This course occurs in the junior year of an electrical engineering undergraduate curriculum at a larger public university. The preliminary results demonstrate that the framework can be successfully used to distinguish between different types of reasoning that students use when solving problems in this course. This study is part of a larger effort that is trying to determine if there is a specific point in a typical undergraduate electrical engineering curriculum at which the cognitive demand of the problems being posed exceeds the cognitive supply being brought to the problem by a typical student. The Hahn and Chater framework is being used to assess cognitive supply.

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Engineering Students' Epistemological Views on Mathematical Methods in Engineering

Abstract: Background This study was motivated by the ubiquity and apparent usefulness of general

Cited by 60 publications

References 31 publications

Undergraduate Students' Beliefs about Engineering Problem Solving

Undergraduate Students' Beliefs about Engineering Problem Solving

Conceptual and Procedural Approaches to Mathematics in the Engineering Curriculum – Comparing Views of Junior and Senior Engineering Students in Two Countries

Abstraction Thresholds in Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Curricula

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