Collaborative Research: Tackling the 'right' problem: Investigating cognitive strategies used in understanding engineering problems

工程师如何找到要解决的“正确”设计问题，而不是最初提出的问题？这个项目将确定工程师理解设计问题的认知策略，称为问题探索启发式。该项目通过实验室实验和实地考察相结合的方式，调查专业设计环境和工程课堂中的问题探索。包括了在不同环境中工作的不同专业水平的工程师(从专业到本科生)，以提高研究结果的概括性。该项目包括三个阶段：1)与工程从业者进行深入的访谈、观察和协议研究；2)对工程和设计专业的学生进行课堂研究，了解他们对提出的问题的看法，以及他们作为个人和团队探索问题的方式；以及3)将调查结果综合为可教学的启发式方法，以支持STEM教育。该项目的智力价值包括在背景下识别这些认知策略的性质(包括何时使用它们，以及它们如何影响结果)，并将为创建教学材料提供信息，以促进问题探索的创新。这项工作的更广泛的影响包括通过使用问题探索启发式在设计的多样性、新颖性和质量方面的改进。项目调查结果直接支持更好的设计实践，以解决21世纪的核心工程问题。除了IUSE计划的支持外，这项工作还得到了EHR核心研究(ECR)计划的支持。ECR计划强调基础STEM教育研究，以产生该领域的基础知识。在基本、广泛和持久的关键领域进行投资：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM的参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。

How do engineers find the 'right' design problem to solve, rather than the one first presented? This project will identify engineers' cognitive strategies for understanding design problems, called Problem Exploration Heuristics. The project is investigating problem exploration in professional design settings and in engineering classrooms through a combination of laboratory experiments and field studies. Engineers at multiple levels of expertise (professional to undergraduate students) working in differing settings are included to improve the generalizability of the findings. The project includes three phases: 1) in-depth interviews, observations, and protocol studies with engineering practitioners; 2) classroom studies of engineering and design students' perceptions of presented problems, and the ways in which they explore problems as individuals and teams; and, 3) synthesis of the findings into teachable heuristics to support STEM education. The intellectual merit of the project includes identification of the nature of these cognitive strategies as they occur in context (including when they are employed, and how they impact outcomes), and will inform the creation of instructional materials to promote innovation in problem exploration. The broader impact of this work includes improvement in the variety, novelty, and quality of designs through the use of problem exploration heuristics. The project findings directly support better design practices to address the core engineering problems of the 21st Century. In addition to support from the IUSE program, this work is also supported by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.