Results from a verbal protocol study of the design process

Summary form only given. The long-term goal of this research is to develop recommendations for teaching the design process to engineering students. The number of schools that include integration, synthesis and design skills as a part of the undergraduate engineering curriculum continues to increase. However, with the advent of these changes, there has not been a careful analysis of how students learn to design. The authors' work documents and assesses the problem-solving approach that novice engineers (students) take when presented with open-ended engineering design problems.