Abstract
Engineering design is a key facet of engineering practice and engineering education. Our goal in improving engineering education is to understand what contributes to design knowing and learning. Our study focuses on changes in student design processes over time and explores this issue through a within-subject experimental design. Eighteen engineering students solved three engineering problems as freshmen and later as seniors; the students provided a verbal protocol while doing so. We present case studies of four students who represent four distinct patterns of change in design process based on our analysis of these 18 verbal protocols. This work contributes to design research community efforts to understand the nature of design cognition and design expertise.
Citation
Turns, J., C. J., C., Cardella, M., and Adams, R. (2002) Do we see within-subject change? Four cases of engineering student design processes, in Durling, D. and Shackleton, J. (eds.), Common Ground - DRS International Conference 2002, 5-7 September, London, United Kingdom. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2002/researchpapers/83
Do we see within-subject change? Four cases of engineering student design processes
Engineering design is a key facet of engineering practice and engineering education. Our goal in improving engineering education is to understand what contributes to design knowing and learning. Our study focuses on changes in student design processes over time and explores this issue through a within-subject experimental design. Eighteen engineering students solved three engineering problems as freshmen and later as seniors; the students provided a verbal protocol while doing so. We present case studies of four students who represent four distinct patterns of change in design process based on our analysis of these 18 verbal protocols. This work contributes to design research community efforts to understand the nature of design cognition and design expertise.