Engineering educators are being challenged to create learning environments that not only teach technical skills, but also foster higher-order thinking skills and instill professional attributes. Problem-based learning has been proposed as an effective method to prepare our future engineers. However, pedagogical innovations, like PBL, disrupt…

This chapter examines the various cognitive tools embedded in a multimedia-enriched PBL environment for middle school science known as "Alien Rescue" and shares the research findings of the use of these cognitive tools in assisting young learners' problem solving. The goal of this chapter is to illustrate strategies for designing…