Publication Date

2-1-2023

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

IEEE Transactions on Education

Volume

66

Issue

1

DOI

10.1109/TE.2022.3175678

First Page

38

Last Page

44

Abstract

Contribution: This study assesses more than 800 students' awareness of engineering model types before and after taking two first-year engineering courses across two semesters and evaluates the effect of each course. Background: All engineers must be able to apply and create models to be effective problem solvers, critical thinkers, and innovative designers. To help them develop these skills, as a first step, it is essential to assess how to increase students' awareness of engineering models. According to Bloom's taxonomy, the lower remember and understand levels, which encompass awareness, are necessary for achieving the higher levels, such as apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Research Questions: To what extent did student awareness of model types change after taking introductory engineering courses? To what extent did student awareness of model types differ by course or semester? Methodology: In this study, a survey was designed and administered at the beginning and end of the semester in two first-year engineering courses during two semesters in a mid-sized private school. The survey asked students questions about their definition of engineering modeling and different types of models. Findings: Overall, student awareness of model types increased from the beginning of the semester toward the end of the semester, across both semesters and courses. There were some differences between course sections, however, the students' awareness of the models at the end of the academic year was similar for both groups.

Keywords

First-year curriculum, modeling, models and modeling perspective, survey

Comments

This is the Version of Record and can also be read online here.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

General Engineering

Download

Share

COinS