Olewnik, A., & Yerrick, R., & Madabhushi, M., & Ramaswamy, R. R. (2021, July), Assessing the Impact of Engineering Problem Typology on Students’ Initial Problem-solving Trajectory  Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--36717

\bibitem{asee_peer_36717}
  Olewnik, A., \& Yerrick, R., \& Madabhushi, M., \& Ramaswamy, R. R. (2021, July), \emph{Assessing the Impact of Engineering Problem Typology on Students’ Initial Problem-solving Trajectory}
  Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference.
  10.18260/1-2--36717

Andrew Olewnik, Randy Yerrick, Manoj Madabhushi, and Rachith Ramanathapura Ramaswamy.  "Assessing the Impact of Engineering Problem Typology on Students’ Initial Problem-solving Trajectory".  2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference, 2021, July.  ASEE Conferences, 2021.  https://strategy.asee.org/36717 Internet.  08 May, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_36717}
  Andrew Olewnik, Randy Yerrick, Manoj Madabhushi, and Rachith Ramanathapura Ramaswamy.
  "Assessing the Impact of Engineering Problem Typology on Students’ Initial Problem-solving Trajectory".
  \emph{2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference, 2021, July}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2021.
  https://strategy.asee.org/36717 Internet.  08 May, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_36717
author = "Andrew Olewnik, Randy Yerrick, Manoj Madabhushi, and Rachith Ramanathapura Ramaswamy"
title = "Assessing the Impact of Engineering Problem Typology on Students’ Initial Problem-solving Trajectory"
booktitle = "2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access"
year = "2021"
month = "July"
address = "Virtual Conference"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://strategy.asee.org/36717}
number = {10.18260/1-2--36717}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Introduction: Students often struggle in the initial phases of engineering problem solving as marked by difficulties in problem setting and developing a plan for problem solving. These difficulties can lead to students pursuing unproductive problem-solving trajectories that lead to frustration and reinforce behaviors of just “getting through” a problem rather than learning in ways that transfers to other contexts. As problems becomes increasingly ill-structured, these difficulties are exacerbated, creating a tension between instructors and students that can deter faculty from engaging in problem solving experiences that better prepare students for engineering practice.

Focus: In this study, we explored the potential for an explicated ‘engineering problem typology’ (EPT) to serve as a framework for engaging students in ill-structured problem. Students were introduced to EPT through three seminar style sessions as a form of training. This training was provided while students worked on a co-curricular group project. The EPT training and co-curricular project serve as an educational intervention.
Methods: Toward understanding the impact of EPT training we conducted pre-/post-EPT problem solving sessions. Student pairs were asked to collaborate on two ill-structured problems – a design problem and an engineering case analysis problem – for 10-15 minutes while their discussion was recorded. We applied a mixed-methods analysis of: 1) the problem-solving discussions, 2) the written artifacts generated during the discussions, and 3) debrief discussions with students regarding their approach to solving and thinking about the problem.

Results: Six student pairs were analyzed and evidenced change that we argue as positive change. All pairs demonstrated a shift in the nature of their problem-solving discussion from pre to post as represented by EPT discourse patterns. This includes explicit identification of the problem type, specifically referencing process stages, and in most cases, discussions aligned with EPT frameworks.

This change in discourse patterns coincided with change in written artifacts. We found that written artifacts more frequently used EPT terms in organizing information in post compared to pre. In addition, we found a statistically significant increase in the amount of information documented in the post artifacts as compared with pre. This suggests that students were better able to consider a variety of problem relevant information after exposure to engineering problem typology.

The debrief discussions revealed that students had improved metacognition with respect to their problem-solving approach from pre to post, as reflected in their awareness and reference to various strategies and stages appropriate for the problem type.

Implications: Taken together these results suggest that EPT can provide a grounded framework to help students in developing skills and practice with ill-structured problem solving, including support of their metacognition with respect to solving such problems. Additionally, EPT may provide a foundation for developing pedagogical tools to assist faculty in developing ill-structured problems and facilitating solution of those problems.
AU  - Andrew Olewnik
AU  - Randy Yerrick
AU  - Manoj Madabhushi
AU  - Rachith Ramanathapura Ramaswamy
CY  - Virtual Conference
DA  - 2021/07/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Assessing the Impact of Engineering Problem Typology on Students’ Initial Problem-solving Trajectory
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/36717
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--36717
ER  -