Thinking Like an Engineer: Implications for the education system.

This report, commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering, offers fresh insights into the ways engineers think. It goes on to suggest ways in which the education system might be redesigned to develop engineers more effectively. The report also makes suggestions as to how the wider public might become engaged with these issues. Engineers make ‘things’ that work or make ‘things’ work better. But they do this in quite particular ways. The report identifies six engineering habits of mind (EHoM) which, taken together, describe the ways engineers think and act:

[1]  Reed Stevens,et al.  Multiple Perspectives on Engaging Future Engineers , 2011 .

[2]  Johannes Strobel,et al.  When is PBL More Effective? A Meta-synthesis of Meta-analyses Comparing PBL to Conventional Classrooms , 2009 .

[3]  L. Katehi,et al.  Engineering in K-12 Education: Understanding the Status and Improving the Prospects. , 2009 .

[4]  L. Shulman.  Signature pedagogies in the professions , 2005, Daedalus.

[5]  Guy Claxton,et al.  PROGRESSION IN STUDENT CREATIVITY IN SCHOOL: FIRST STEPS TOWARDS NEW FORMS OF FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS , 2013 .

[6]  J. Bowden.  Capabilities-driven curriculum design , 2004 .

[7]  Colin Gauld,et al.  The Scientific Attitude and Science Education: A Critical Reappraisal. , 1982 .

[8]  Edward F. Crawley,et al.  Making projects work: a review of transferable best practice approaches to engineering project-based learning in the UK , 2010 .

[9]  Laura Bennett,et al.  The next steps. , 2003, BMJ.

[10]  Iain MacLeod.  The education of innovative engineers , 2010 .

[11]  Jane Schmidt-Wilk.  Signature Pedagogy: A Framework for Thinking about Management Education , 2010 .

[12]  Spencer P. Magleby,et al.  A Review of Literature on Teaching Engineering Design Through Project‐Oriented Capstone Courses , 1997 .

[13]  Philip Johnson,et al.  What do Practising Applied Scientists do and What are the Implications for Science Education , 1999 .

[14]  Marshall Gordon,et al.  Mathematical habits of mind: Promoting students’ thoughtful considerations , 2011 .

[15]  Robert M. Pirsig.  Man and Machine. (Book Reviews: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. An Inquiry into Values) , 1974 .

[16]  Ann F. McKenna,et al.  Educating Engineers: Designing for the Future of the Field , 2010 .

[17]  David N. Perkins,et al.  Making Learning Whole: How Seven Principles of Teaching Can Transform Education , 2008 .

[18]  A. Onwuegbuzie,et al.  Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come , 2004 .

[19]  Muammer Çalik,et al.  Investigating Socioscientific Issues via Scientific Habits of Mind: Development and validation of the Scientific Habits of Mind Survey , 2012 .

[20]  Richard Gott,et al.  What sort of science education do we really need? , 2002 .

[21]  Matthew Harrison,et al.  Enhancing engineering higher education: outputs of the National HE STEM Programme , 2012 .

[22]  Erik Anders Nelson.  What Makes an Engineer an Engineer , 2012 .

[23]  Peter Goodhew.  Teaching Engineering , 2010 .

[24]  Bena Kallick,et al.  Discovering & exploring habits of mind , 2000 .

[25]  Gustavo Stubrich.  The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization , 1993 .

[26]  L. Unwin,et al.  Towards expansive apprenticeships : a commentary by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme , 2008 .

[27]  B. Wilson.  Constructivist Learning Environments: Case Studies in Instructional Design , 1995 .

[28]  Ronald A. Heifetz,et al.  Leadership Without Easy Answers , 1996 .

[29]  David E. Goldberg,et al.  The Missing Basics and Other Philosophical Reflections for the Transformation of Engineering Education , 2010 .

[30]  John Steers,et al.  Design and Technology in the National Curriculum. , 1990 .

[31]  Sharon Beder,et al.  Beyond technicalities: Expanding engineering thinking , 1999 .

[32]  E. Goldenberg,et al.  Habits of mind: An organizing principle for mathematics curricula , 1996 .

[33]  Domenico Grasso,et al.  Holistic Engineering Education , 2010 .

[34]  Bruce Archer,et al.  The nature of research into Design and Technology education , 1992 .

[35]  Thomas M. Duffy,et al.  Problem Based Learning: An instructional model and its constructivist framework , 1995 .

[36]  Matthew Franchetti,et al.  Framework for Implementing Engineering Senior Design Capstone Courses and Design Clinics , 2012 .

[37]  E. Crawley,et al.  Achieving excellence in engineering education: the ingredients of successful change , 2012 .

[38]  Robin Clark,et al.  'Catching them young': Inspiring future engineers, an exploratory study , 2010 .

[39]  Matthew Harrison.  Jobs and growth: the importance of engineering skills to the UK economy , 2012 .

[40]  Mark Warschauer,et al.  Civil Engineering Education in a Visualization Environment: Experiences with VizClass , 2006 .

[41]  H. Fisher.  Department for Business, Innovation & Skills , 2010 .

[42]  Gordon Hayward,et al.  Engineering the Future: Embedding Engineering Permanently Across the School–University Interface , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Education.

[43]  Roger Hadgraft,et al.  Engineering Education and the Development of Expertise , 2011 .

[44]  Robin Clark,et al.  Researching primary engineering education: UK perspectives, an exploratory study , 2010 .

[45]  Hallie Preskill,et al.  Reframing Evaluation Through Appreciative Inquiry , 2006 .

[46]  Ron Berger.  An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students , 2003 .

[47]  Sagar Kamarthi,et al.  New approach to effective teaching of STEM courses in high schools , 2013 .

[48]  P. Senge.  THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE , 1997 .

[49]  Barry J. Wadsworth.  Piaget's theory of cognitive development , 1971 .

[50]  Constance Steinkuehler,et al.  Fostering Scientific Habits of Mind in the Context of Online Play , 2006, ICLS.

[51]  D. Perkins,et al.  Teaching for Transfer. , 1988 .