Assessing the Impact of Engineering Problem Typology on Students' Initial Problem-solving Trajectory

Students often struggle in the initial phases of engineering problem solving as marked by difficulties in problem setting and developing a plan for problem solving. In this study, we explored the potential for an explicated 'engineering problem typology' (EPT) to serve as an instructional scaffold for engaging students in ill-structured problem. Toward understanding the impact of EPT training we conducted pre-/post-EPT problem solving sessions. Six student pairs were analyzed and evidenced change that we argue as positive. All pairs demonstrated a shift in their problem-solving discussion from pre to post as represented by EPT discourse patterns. This includes explicit identification of the problem type, specifically referencing process stages, and in most cases, discussions aligned with EPT frameworks. The observed change in discourse patterns coincided with change in written artifacts, including more frequently used EPT terms in organizing information and a statistically significant increase in the amount of information documented in the post artifacts as compared with pre. This suggests that students were better able to consider a variety of problem relevant information after exposure to engineering problem typology. Finally, the debrief discussions revealed that students considered more problem type stages and had improved metacognition with respect to their problem-solving approach from pre to post, as reflected in their awareness and reference to various strategies and stages appropriate for the problem type. Taken together these findings suggest that EPT can provide a grounded framework to help students in developing skills and facilitate practice with ill-structured problem solving. Additionally, we believe the findings suggest that a consistent instructional reference based on EPT may provide a foundation for developing pedagogical tools to assist faculty in developing and facilitating ill-structured problem solving and overcoming curricular integration challenges.