Comparing design cognition of undergraduate engineering students and high school pre-engineering students

This paper presents the results of design cognition studies of two groups of students: high school juniors and seniors who have taken pre-engineering courses and sophomore university students in a mechanical engineering department. Both groups carried out design sessions designing for the same design challenge. Data were collected using the protocol analysis technique through video and audio recordings of design sessions. The students' design cognition was measured by segmenting and coding the transcribed videos using the Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) ontologically-based design issues and design processes coding scheme that provides a uniform basis for analyzing design protocols. Differences in design cognition were found and tentative explanations provided to account for them.

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

[2]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data , 1984 .

[3]  Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver,et al.  Comparing expert and novice understanding of a complex system from the perspective of structures, behaviors, and functions , 2004, Cogn. Sci..

[4]  B. Shwom,et al.  Enriching Freshman Design Through Collaboration With Professional Designers , 2002 .

[5]  Janet L. Kolodner,et al.  Designing to Learn About Complex Systems , 2000 .

[6]  Reed Stevens,et al.  Studying the engineering student experience: Design of a longitudinal study , 2004 .

[7]  John S. Gero,et al.  The structure of concurrent cognitive actions: a case study on novice and expert designers , 2002 .

[8]  John R. Hayes,et al.  The complete problem solver, 2nd ed. , 1989 .

[9]  David H. Jonassen,et al.  Toward a design theory of problem solving , 2000 .

[10]  Sachiko Komagata.  Comparing expert and novice understanding of a complex system from the perspective of structures, behaviors, and functions. , 2004 .

[11]  Nigel Cross,et al.  Expertise in Design: an overview , 2004 .

[12]  John R. Hayes,et al.  The Complete Problem Solver , 1981 .

[13]  Nigel Cross,et al.  Creativity in the design process: co-evolution of problem–solution , 2001 .

[14]  Jeff W T Kan,et al.  Using the FBS Ontology to Capture Semantic Design Information in Design Protocol Studies , 2007 .

[15]  Cynthia J. Atman,et al.  Educating effective engineering designers: the role of reflective practice , 2003 .

[16]  Ann F. McKenna,et al.  Characterizing Design Learning: A Mixed‐Methods Study of Engineering Designers' Use of Language , 2008 .

[17]  Brent Mawson,et al.  Beyond `The Design Process': An Alternative Pedagogy for Technology Education , 2003 .

[18]  Karen M. Bursic,et al.  Verbal Protocol Analysis as a Method to Document Engineering Student Design Processes , 1998 .