The Productive Beginnings of Engineering Judgment

Professional engineers solve ill-defined, complex problems that involve making assumptions, judgments, and decisions. Engineering students are given little experience in solving these types of problems, especially in engineering science courses or courses that utilize mathematical models to predict or analyze the behavior of physical systems. Currently, most engineering science courses assign well-defined problems from textbooks in which systems have been simplified and there are few decisions to be made. Our research team, comprised of engineering education researchers, engineering professors, and engineering teaching professors, believe these courses are an underutilized opportunity to build modeling skills and develop engineering judgment.

This work examines how freshmen and sophomore engineering students exhibit the productive beginnings of engineering judgment while solving Open-Ended Modeling Problems (OEMPs). We examined 33 retrospective interviews where students recalled their process of solving an assigned OEMP in a statics or mechanics of materials course. Using a grounded theory approach, we identified 785 instances of students using judgment in 14 different ways. Our theory presents these 14 kinds of judgment in four broad categories: making assumptions, assessing reasonableness, using technology tools, and overriding calculated results.

Our results also include statistics from student surveys and strategies for including more open-ended problems in engineering science courses.

Dr. Jessica Swenson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education 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. She has been fundamental in building the doctoral program and teaching certificate programs in the Department of Engineering Education at the University at Buffalo. Her current research involves improving student learning and experiences in undergraduate engineering science courses through developing and studying different types of homework problems, understanding the formation of future faculty, and examining the interaction between affect and identity.