Cognitive differences among first-year and senior engineering students when generating design solutions with and without additional dimensions of sustainability
Cognitive differences among first-year and senior engineering students when generating design solutions with and without additional dimensions of sustainability
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DOI：
10.1017/dsj.2021.3
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发表时间：
2021-02-08
期刊：
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Milovanovic, Julie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hu, Mo;Shealy, Tripp;Milovanovic, Julie
本文提出的研究探讨了工程专业学生如何认知管理概念生成，并衡量可持续性其他维度对设计认知的影响。 12 名工程一年级学生和 8 名高年级工程专业学生提出了 10 个设计问题的解决方案。一半的问题涉及可持续性的其他方面。学生开发的独特设计解决方案的数量以及他们的神经认知激活情况均被测量。在没有额外的可持续性要求的情况下，一年级学生比高年级工程学生提出了更多的解决方案。一年级学生的大脑区域皮质激活程度较高，通常与认知灵活性、发散思维和聚合思维相关。高年级工科学生的大脑区域通常与不确定性处理和自我反思相关，激活程度更高。当可持续性的其他维度出现时，一年级学生提出的解决方案就会减少。工程专业的高年级学生也得出了类似数量的解决方案。高年级工程专业学生需要较少的皮层激活来生成相似数量的解决方案。一年级和高年级工程专业学生之间不同的皮层激活模式和不同数量的解决方案开始凸显学生在设计过程中管理和检索大脑信息的认知差异。学生管理可持续性等复杂要求的能力可能会随着教育的提高而提高。
The research presented in this paper explores how engineering students cognitively manage concept generation and measures the effects of additional dimensions of sustainability on design cognition. Twelve first-year and eight senior engineering students generated solutions to 10 design problems. Half of the problems included additional dimensions of sustainability. The number of unique design solutions students developed and their neurocognitive activation were measured. Without additional requirements for sustainability, first-year students generated significantly more solutions than senior engineering students. First-year students recruited higher cortical activation in the brain region generally associated with cognitive flexibility, and divergent and convergent thinking. Senior engineering students recruited higher activation in the brain region generally associated with uncertainty processing and self-reflection. When additional dimensions of sustainability were present, first-year students produced fewer solutions. Senior engineering students generated a similar number of solutions. Senior engineering students required less cortical activation to generate a similar number of solutions. The varying patterns of cortical activation and different number of solutions between first-year and senior engineering students begin to highlight cognitive differences in how students manage and retrieve information in their brain during design. Students' ability to manage complex requirements like sustainability may improve with education.