Research: Understanding Ambiguity in Engineering Problem Solving

21世纪的重大挑战将很难解决。供水和负担得起的医疗保健等问题没有简单的解决方案。要解决这些问题，工程师们需要习惯于模棱两可的态度。令人惊讶的是，在工程问题解决领域，模糊性还没有被定义。缺乏定义使教学生如何解决模棱两可的问题变得更加困难。这个项目的目标是识别工程中不同类型的歧义。然后可以确定工程知识如何与不同的歧义类型相关。反过来，我们可以创造新的教育方法，让学生为解决未来的重大挑战做好准备。这个项目的目标是发展关于新手和专家解决问题的人如何经历模棱两可的知识。结果被用来创建一个模棱两可的分类法。这一分类将指导研究人员在未来如何教学生解决模棱两可的问题。这项研究的研究问题是：新手和专业土木工程师体验模棱两可的方式有哪些本质上的不同？该项目使用现象学与人工产物启发访谈相结合。土木工程新手(学生)和专家(执业工程师)的模棱两可的类别正在确定。结果描述了这两个群体在致力于解决工程问题时所经历的模棱两可的情况。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The grand challenges of the 21st century will be difficult to solve. Problems such as access to water and affordable healthcare have no simple solutions. Solving these problems will require engineers who are comfortable with ambiguity. Surprisingly, ambiguity has not been defined in the area of engineering problem solving. Lack of a definition makes it more difficult to teach students how to solve ambiguous problems. This project's goal is to identify different types of ambiguity in engineering. It will then be possible to determine how engineering knowledge relates to different ambiguity types. In turn, we can create new educational approaches that will prepare students to solve the grand challenges of the future.The goal of this project is to develop knowledge about how novice and expert problem solvers experience ambiguity. The results are being used to create a taxonomy of ambiguity. This taxonomy will guide researchers in future studies on how to teach students to solve ambiguous problems. The research question for this study is: What are the qualitatively different ways that novice and expert civil engineers experience ambiguity? The project uses phenomenography in combination with artifact elicitation interviews. Categories of ambiguity are being identified for novices (students) and experts (practicing engineers) in civil engineering. The result is a description of how ambiguity is experienced by these two groups when they have been engaged in solving engineering problems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.