Understanding Cognitive and Metacognitive Processes in Construction Management: The System Dynamics Perspective

The fragmented and de-contextualized nature of the construction management (CM) curriculum does not adequately prepare students for the industry. In order to create a more appropriate CM curriculum, we feel it is imperative to examine the nature of learning in the CM domain. How do novice construction managers learn? How do they build expertise through experience? Most importantly, what tools do we have that will allow us to educate novice construction managers and provide instructors with guidance in answering these questions? We have argued that the CM domain can be modeled using system dynamics. Based on our observation of the students interacting with the Virtual Coach, a situational simulation environment, we have concluded that students in CM learn by developing a better understanding of the inter-relationships of the sub-components of the CM system (cost, schedule, and resource availability) and its evolution over time. We also contend that tools like the Virtual Coach can be very useful in helping us better educate construction managers.