Developing and Assessing Authentic Problem-Solving Skills in High School Pre-Engineering Students

Susheela Shanta

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Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Best Practices in Research & Assessment Tools for Pre-College Engineering Education
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education
Page Count: 17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--32637
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/32637
Download Count: 588

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biography

Susheela Shanta Governor's STEM Academy @ the Burton Center for Arts and Technology - Center for Engineering

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Susheela Shanta earned her bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from India, a Master of Urban Planning degree from the SUNY at Buffalo, NY and more recently, a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction: I-STEM Ed from Virginia Tech. With ten years of experience in municipal planning in Philadelphia, PA, and Harrisburg, PA, and ten years in community development, planning, financing and redeveloping inner-city neighborhoods, urban main streets, creating housing for seniors and families in low-income communities, Susheela decided to pursue teaching and learning. Since 2009, she has been teaching math and engineering courses and directing the engineering program in the Governor's STEM Academy in Roanoke County, VA. Her doctoral research focused on teaching and learning real-world (authentic) problem-solving and critical thinking skills through engineering design-based learning within an integrative STEM education environment. Susheela continues her interest in researching and practicing ways of teaching and learning to better prepare students for the 21st Century challenges.

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Abstract

Critical thinking and problem solving (CT and PS) skills involved in solving authentic (real-world) problems are desirable for engineering students and practitioners. CT and PS go hand-in-hand, where achieving the end-goal or solving the problem requires decision-making about disciplinary content to be used, discarding irrelevant information, devising a strategy and evaluating progress (P21, 2015). Among other reasons for students’ failure to persist in college STEM programs, Haag, Hubele, Garcia & McBeath (2007) note that students’ lack the depth of knowledge, skills, and habits in problem-solving within science and mathematics topics as contributing factors (p. 932).

These skills are not assessed in traditional science and mathematics standardized testing or in technology education (Tech-ED) classrooms in K-12 grades. Assessments in traditional K-12 science and math classrooms focus on the extent of the correctness of the end result, and rarely, if ever, on the reasoning or procedures leading to the result. Furthermore, the content knowledge tested is directly related to what has been recently taught in the classroom. Solvers are therefore not required to demonstrate the metacognitive processes involved in recognizing, recalling, and selecting discipline-specific content knowledge related to the problem. Within Tech-ED classrooms, students are assessed using competencies defined in the Career and Technical Education curriculum framework which typically do not focus on assessing students in solving authentic problems. Without the associated assessments, and educational objectives that outline CT and PS skills required in the practice of engineering, instruction in K-12 grades rarely focus on these skills.

Integrative STEM education (I-STEM ED) as defined by Wells and Ernst (2012/2015) is the application of technological/engineering design based pedagogical (T/E DBL) approaches to intentionally teach content and practices of science and mathematics education through the content and practices of technology/engineering education. Engineering, through its characteristic design-based pedagogical approach, offers a platform in K-12 grades for integration of content and practices in the STEM fields and provides opportunities for higher order learning. This is because of higher cognitive demands in critical thinking when engaged in design-based problem-solving experiences (NAE and NRC, 2014; Katehi, Pearson & Feder, 2009; Sheppard, Colby, Macatangay and Sullivan, 2006; Wells, 2016).

In this paper, we describe the design, methods, analysis of data and results of a research study to evaluate the performance of I-STEM ED pre-engineering students in solving an authentic engineering design-based problem outside the classroom. The curriculum that supports the integrative approach will be described in light of the positive results of the study in a specific pre-college engineering program. We expect that the program design and the methods of assessment may benefit other educators develop high school pre-engineering programs and instructional objectives to support students in developing authentic problem-solving skills. The result will better prepare students to orient themselves for post-secondary engineering education and careers.

Citation
Format

Shanta, S. (2019, June), Developing and Assessing Authentic Problem-Solving Skills in High School Pre-Engineering Students Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32637

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Critical thinking and problem solving (CT and PS) skills involved in solving authentic (real-world) problems are desirable for engineering students and practitioners. CT and PS go hand-in-hand, where achieving the end-goal or solving the problem requires decision-making about disciplinary content to be used, discarding irrelevant information, devising a strategy and evaluating progress (P21, 2015). Among other reasons for students’ failure to persist in college STEM programs, Haag, Hubele, Garcia &amp; McBeath (2007) note that students’ lack the depth of knowledge, skills, and habits in problem-solving within science and mathematics topics as contributing factors (p. 932). 

These skills are not assessed in traditional science and mathematics standardized testing or in technology education (Tech-ED) classrooms in K-12 grades. Assessments in traditional K-12 science and math classrooms focus on the extent of the correctness of the end result, and rarely, if ever, on the reasoning or procedures leading to the result. Furthermore, the content knowledge tested is directly related to what has been recently taught in the classroom.  Solvers are therefore not required to demonstrate the metacognitive processes involved in recognizing, recalling, and selecting discipline-specific content knowledge related to the problem. Within Tech-ED classrooms, students are assessed using competencies defined in the Career and Technical Education curriculum framework which typically do not focus on assessing students in solving authentic problems. Without the associated assessments, and educational objectives that outline CT and PS skills required in the practice of engineering, instruction in K-12 grades rarely focus on these skills.

Integrative STEM education (I-STEM ED) as defined by Wells and Ernst (2012/2015) is the application of technological/engineering design based pedagogical (T/E DBL) approaches to intentionally teach content and practices of science and mathematics education through the content and practices of technology/engineering education. Engineering, through its characteristic design-based pedagogical approach, offers a platform in K-12 grades for integration of content and practices in the STEM fields and provides opportunities for higher order learning.  This is because of higher cognitive demands in critical thinking when engaged in design-based problem-solving experiences (NAE and NRC, 2014; Katehi, Pearson &amp; Feder, 2009; Sheppard, Colby, Macatangay and Sullivan, 2006; Wells, 2016).

In this paper, we describe the design, methods, analysis of data and results of a research study to evaluate the performance of I-STEM ED pre-engineering students in solving an authentic engineering design-based problem outside the classroom. The curriculum that supports the integrative approach will be described in light of the positive results of the study in a specific pre-college engineering program. We expect that the program design and the methods of assessment may benefit other educators develop high school pre-engineering programs and instructional objectives to support students in developing authentic problem-solving skills. The result will better prepare students to orient themselves for post-secondary engineering education and careers.





AU  - Susheela Shanta
CY  - Tampa, Florida
DA  - 2019/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Developing and Assessing Authentic Problem-Solving Skills in High School Pre-Engineering Students
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/32637
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--32637
ER  -