Freshman engineers' performance when solving design problems

Mullins, Carie; Atman, Cynthia J.; Shuman, Larry J.

doi:10.1109/13.804533

Cited by 47 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…and 'Did the subject consider more than one way to model the problem?' An example of this type of work is provided by Mullins et al (1999), who developed a numerical score of process quality for freshman engineers solving design problems. Of more ultimate interest would be assessments of the quality of the models produced.…”

Section: Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We then compared the transition matrices of experts and novices. Mullins et al (1999) used transition counts as a measure of process quality when freshmen worked engineering design problems, reasoning that more frequent transitions indicated a better, more iterative design process. Atman et al (1999) associated more frequent transitions with better designs by undergraduate engineering students.…”

Section: Coded Transcriptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Doucet and Jehn (1997) used keyword counts to study hostile conflict. Mullins et al (1999) used the count of total words in a verbal protocol to measure solution effort.…”

Section: Keyword Usagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…They found that seniors produced better designs, using a superior process that gathered more information, considered more alternatives, and transitioned more often between design steps. Mullins et al (1999) conducted a pre-post evaluation of a freshman engineering design course. They presented three problems and recorded both verbal protocols and written solutions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How novices formulate models. Part II: a quantitative description of behaviour

Willemain

Powell

2007

Journal of the Operational Research Society

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Since the creation and use of operations research (OR) models is no longer the province of experts, attention must be given to educating novice modellers so that they can be more effective practitioners. This paper provides a quantitative description of the behaviour of novice modellers working ill-structured problems of the type they are likely to face in their careers. Our results suggest that when compared to experts, novices focus attention on different modelling topics, switch attention among topics differently, and concentrate on different concepts. The paper also reports an experimental assessment of the impact of a course designed to improve novices' ability to make and use models. The experiment produced indications that the course helped novices act more like experts.

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Section: Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Coded Transcriptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Doucet and Jehn (1997) used keyword counts to study hostile conflict. Mullins et al (1999) used the count of total words in a verbal protocol to measure solution effort.…”

Section: Keyword Usagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

How novices formulate models. Part II: a quantitative description of behaviour

Willemain

Powell

2007

Journal of the Operational Research Society

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“…Research on design process has demonstrated that although quality of process correlates with quality of product [2], excellent process does not ensure excellent product and v. v. [3]- [6]. Thus, excellent designers must have both design and design process expertise.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

A Simulation Task to Assess Students’ Design Process Skill

Sims‐Knight

Upchurch

Fortier

Proceedings Frontiers in Education 35th Annual Conference

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Research has shown that the quality of one's design process is an important ingredient in expertise. Assessing design process skill typically requires a performance assessment in which students are observed (either directly or by videotape) completing a design and assessed using an objective scoring system. This is impractical in course-based assessment. As an alternative, we developed a computer-based simulation task, in which the student respondent "watches" a team develop a design (in this instance a software design) and makes recommendations as to how they should proceed. The specific issues assessed by the simulation were drawn from the research literature. For each issue the student is asked to describe, in words, what the team should do next and then asked to choose among alternatives that the "team" has generated. Thus, the task can be scored qualitatively and quantitatively. The paper describes the task and its uses in course-based assessment.

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Verbal Protocol Analysis as a Method to Document Engineering Student Design Processes

Atman¹,

Bursic²

1998

J of Engineering Edu

148

126

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Undergraduate engineering programs have faced numerous challenges in recent years. One of these challenges is to improve the way open‐ended design is taught. Although changes are underway in schools throughout the United States, not enough evaluation has been done to determine the impact of these changes. In this paper we describe a research tool that can also be used to assess student learning: verbal protocol analysis. In particular, this tool can be used to document the processes that engineering students use to solve open‐ended engineering design problems. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the use of verbal protocol analysis as a method to assess student design processes. We also discuss the research questions that can be addressed by verbal protocol analysis and the opportunity to include this type of study as part of an engineering program evaluation.

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Freshman engineers' performance when solving design problems

Cited by 47 publications

References 10 publications

How novices formulate models. Part II: a quantitative description of behaviour

How novices formulate models. Part II: a quantitative description of behaviour

A Simulation Task to Assess Students’ Design Process Skill

Verbal Protocol Analysis as a Method to Document Engineering Student Design Processes

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Freshman engineers' performance when solving design problems

Cited by 47 publications

References 10 publications

How novices formulate models. Part II: a quantitative description of behaviour

How novices formulate models. Part II: a quantitative description of behaviour

A Simulation Task to Assess Students&#8217; Design Process Skill

Verbal Protocol Analysis as a Method to Document Engineering Student Design Processes

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Product

Resources

About

A Simulation Task to Assess Students’ Design Process Skill