Using Engineering Design Notebooks to Evaluate Student Understanding of Physics Concepts in a Design Challenge

Abstract

This study focused on the application of engineering notebooks to support student learning of engineering design practices as well as content learning of math and science concepts applied during an engineering design challenge. A case study approach was used to analyze student teams in four high school physics classes tasked with designing Rube Goldberg Machines following a physics unit on forces, motion and energy. Teams were required to document their design and construction processes in an electronic engineering notebook. The notebooks were examined for evidence of student understanding and communication of the engineering design process, reflective learning, and kinematic principles as well as the level of participation of each individual in the team. Integrating engineering into math and science courses is new to many inservice teachers and research has documented that science teacher efforts focus more on engineering practices such as teamwork and communication rather than the application of the math and science concepts that are important to engineering problem solving. The research objective was to identify tools and practices which would aid K12 teachers in effectively incorporating engineering into curricula in an integrated manner.

Outcomes and Lessons From Deploying Digital Notebooks Across a Multi-Section Engineering Design Course

“…Not surprisingly, other papers (e.g. [14]) have shown design notebooks are a valuable tool in evaluating student knowledge application, and thus their practical understanding, of the design process in a PBL context. Collective findings suggest notebooks, if properly maintained, capture the process steps students execute and the order they are taken in, along with all related analyses and resulting design decisions.…”

Board 127: A Project-Based Approach to Develop Engineering Design Process Skills Among High School Students (Work in Progress)

“…In practice, educators have successfully implemented EDP in the teaching of science, mathematics, engineering and technical courses in middle and high schools [3][4][5][6][7]. To evaluate student understanding of the EDP, an engineering design rubric can be used as an assessment instrument to monitor the students' understanding of the design process in both shortand long-term projects [8][9][10].…”