Paper Info
Title
How does academic preparation influence how engineering students solve problems?
Abstract
In first year engineering courses, students possess a wide range of academic preparation such as their exposure to various mathematics courses and pre-engineering programs. Additionally, students bring perceptions about their abilities, and have already begun practicing preferred methods of analysis and documentation. Understanding how students with different backgrounds develop problem solving skills in first year engineering programs is of critical importance in order to close achievement gaps between diverse populations. This study examines how students solve engineering problems and identifies variations based on student factors of gender, ethnicity, mathematics preparation and achievement, and prior engineering experience. Solutions for three problems from 27 students were analyzed (n = 68 solutions). Students worked out problems using custom-designed software that digitally records ink strokes and allows researchers to associate codes to the problem solution at any point, even in portions of the problem solution that would not have been available without the use of this technology, such as in erased work. Differences in how students solve problems were assessed based on the prevalence (or absence) of elements and errors in the problem solving process, which were evaluated using task analysis. Results indicated that pre-engineering experience did not have a significant impact on successfully solving problems; however, having completed a calculus course was significantly related to successful problem solving. Future research will expand the study population to a larger sample of first year engineering students across multiple semesters, identifying key strategies that are absent for students with low mathematics preparation, and to investigate relationships between prior academic preparation and indicators of metacognition.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.1109/FIE.2012.6462445
FIE
Keywords
Field
DocType
educational courses,engineering education,mathematics,academic preparation,custom-designed software,digitally records ink strokes,engineering courses,engineering problems,engineering students,ethnicity,gender factors,mathematics courses,mathematics preparation,metacognition,preengineering experience,preengineering programs,first year engineering,problem solving
Task analysis,Computer science,Engineering education,First year engineering,Metacognition,Mathematics education,Documentation,Perception
Conference
ISSN
ISBN
Citations 
0190-5848 E-ISBN : 978-1-4673-1351-3
978-1-4673-1351-3
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Grigg, S.J.100.34
Lisa C. Benson286.48