In this article, we draw on sociocultural perspectives on literacy to explore the ways in which pre-engineering students took up and made sense of engineering notebooks implemented as part of a robotics project in a first-semester university study course at a large, public Hispanic-Serving Institution. Through ethnographic methods, we uncovered…

This study explores the effects of a computer algebra system on students' mathematical thinking. Mathematical thinking is identified with mathematical thinking powers and structures. We define mathematical thinking as students' capacity to specialize and generalize their previous knowledge to solve new mathematical problems. The study was…

Background: Metacognitive processes have been linked to the development of conceptual knowledge in STEM courses, but previous work has centered on the regulatory aspects of metacognition. Purpose: We interrogated the relationship between epistemic metacognition and conceptual knowledge in engineering statics courses across six universities by…

Universities employ numerous approaches to integrate ethics into programs of study that can range from faculty-led case studies integrated into course curricula (distributed model) to standalone ethics courses (consolidated model). The approach described here enhanced a distributed model in which several courses are assigned responsibility to…

Insights on students' own authentic design practices--nascent design practices without much adult guidance--are crucial to informing responsive facilitation of engineering design tasks. This study unpacks how elementary students interpret teacher given information about a design task, and interact with each other and given resources, to traverse a…

Contribution: This article explored problem scoping in an industry sponsored engineering design capstone course before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It employs reflection-in-action and quantitative action research, to demonstrate how the pandemic offered an opportunity for (1) students to develop their problem scoping skills and (2) for the…

Engineering design-based learning entered the discourse of science education with the release of the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013). Since that time there has been a focused effort to embed engineering design and engineering-based thinking in elementary school experiences. As thinking like an engineer is…

Research relating to the nature and purpose of 'design' activity across education sectors has accelerated in recent years as governments and policy makers throughout the world highlight the importance of skills such as creative problem-solving and innovation. Within secondary schools, responsibility for teaching and learning through design is…

This study explores engineering design students' perceptions of their agency for sustainability in a Danish problem- and project-based learning (PBL) context. A conceptual framework is proposed with three dimensions: personal, action, and contextual. Q methodology was adopted to investigate the subjective views of 24 first-year undergraduate…

Background: In professional contexts, engineers use engineering judgment to create mathematical models. Despite the importance of judgment in professional practice, the development and enactment of engineering judgment by engineering students are understudied. To better prepare students for engineering careers, there is a need to recognize and…

This paper presents the results of a 2-year longitudinal study aimed at characterizing and comparing the design cognition of high school students with and without formal engineering design experiences. The students--working as dyads--engaged in design-only sessions generating solutions in response to the same engineering design challenges. The…

A practical for students to experience a process plant is presented, based on operating a solvent absorption plant for carbon dioxide capture. The student must operate the plant in assigned roles that closely identify with a chemical plant environment, to achieve specific performance targets. Students must overcome technical challenges that…

Mastery of mathematical literacy is essential for developing life skills in the 21st century. Mathematical literacy is even more critical in elementary schools as it forms the basis for mastery at the junior and senior high school levels. Elementary school students differ in their characteristics from students at the higher education level. They,…

Differential equations are an important mathematical concept used to model processes in many disciplines. However, the literature shows that students experience many difficulties when studying this topic. We investigate the effect of using context while teaching differential equations on engineering students' ability to construct and interpret…

Contribution: This study uses a qualitative research method to analyze interviews where participants simplified an electric circuit while explaining their thought process. Background: Rearranging circuit diagrams is a fundamental skill in electrical and electronic engineering, yet students can struggle with unfamiliar configurations. Current…