Promoting Problem Solving Proficiency in First Year Engineering: Comparison of Learning Resources

Promoting problem solving skill development is a major focus of our first year engineering courses as problem solving is a critical skill required by practicing engineers. Throughout the semester several different learning resources were utilized to help promote the development of successful problem solving skills, provide feedback on errors, and push students to complete problems in a timely manner. At the end of the term, students and instructors were surveyed about the effectiveness of seven learning resources used in the class. Student and instructor rating were extremely different, with instructors rating in-class learning resources as most effective and students rating on-line learning resources as most effective. Several questions remain, such as whether the delivery method is truly the factor responsible for controlling the students’ ability to improve problem solving skills, or if the data is masking an underlying factor.