Transforming Text to Diagram: Investigating and Helping Students Develop Key Cognitive Strategies for Solving Engineering Pproblems

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This exploratory project investigates a complex problem of why many engineering students have difficulty mastering the problem solving approaches regularly conducted by expert engineers. The study will particularly focus on the transformation of a textual or linguistic account of a problem into a diagrammatic or schematic representation one. This transformation seems particular problematic when solving problems addressing conservation of mass and energy balance. The investigators will explore differences between novice and expert engineers by videotaping problem solving sessions with the two populations followed by retrospective questioning with the subjects viewing the videos. Then they will code and classify the steps taken by the experts to solve the problem and compare these with those of learners. Generalizations will be made about what practices appear to be particularly useful for instruction. In later steps, the team will design classroom interventions and conduct a comparative study of a control group (no intervention) and an experimental group (the intervention will be based on phase I findings). This project is intended to determine whether further exploration of this complex problem is worthy of future study. Eventually study results of expert development would be used to improve the teaching of engineering problem-solving approaches for introductory engineering students. The investigators do not begin the observations with a clear hypothesis of stages but their observational research methods will result in improved hypothetical explanations for the process of becoming an expert in complex engineering topics through the use of diagrams and verbal explanations. The in depth exploration of a small number of cases will enable the two researchers to modify their expectations, develop intervention strategies, and try out some of their observations at a reasonable expense.