WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

1. High School Student Engineering Design Thinking and Performance Kurt Becker, PhD Department of Engineering Education College of Engineering Utah State University, USA& Nathan Mentzer, Purdue University, USA WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

2. Our vision is to improve the STEM learning and teaching environment for high school students through their understanding of engineering design. Design is recognized as the critical element of engineering thinking which differentiates engineering from other problem solving approaches. As students learn the engineering design process, they gradually internalize a methodic manner of thinking, integrating mathematics and science, which informs the central practice of engineering. (Sheppard, Macatangay, Colby, & Sullivan, 2009) High School Student Engineering Design Thinking and Performance WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

3. High School Student Engineering Design Thinking and Performance The purpose of this research was to clarify engineering design as a construct and perform empirical preparatory research on engineering design as a STEM learning experience for high school students. The research builds on the work at the University of Washington, Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching. One conceptual theme of this work is that design performance can be positioned on a continuum from novice to expert. Expert performance represents a target for novice development. One goal of education is to improve novice performance such that it resembles expert design thinking more closely. (Atman, C., J.R. Chimka, K.M. Bursic, and H.L. Nachtmann, 1999) WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

4. This research tests the reasonableness of comparing high school students with that of experts by focusing on two research questions. • How does high school student engineering design thinking compare to that of experts in terms of engineering design performance and knowledge? • 2. Does student participation in a multiyear sequence of courses focused on engineering correlate with changes in engineering design performance and knowledge? High School Student Engineering Design Thinking and Performance WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

5. Consistent with triangulation mixed methods research strategies, quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed, concurrently, providing multiple lenses from which to understand engineering design thinking among high school students. Data Collection

6. 59 high school student participants: • engaged in a sequence of engineering design activities which they prioritized by order of importance. • were given a design challenge in which they face a familiar, open-ended and complex design problem where they were asked to think as engineers to design a playground. • engaged in a reflective interview. High School Student Engineering Design Thinking and Performance WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

7. Data Collection & Analysis WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

8. Analysis (Reliability)(Time and Transition) WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

9. Coding WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

10. Results WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

11. Results WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

12. Results WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

13. Results WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

14. • Students spent less time in the problem scoping stage than did experts. • Students spent less than half the amount of time in the Information Gathering phase compared to experts. • Students spend less than 3 minutes engaged in brainstorming as compared to experts’ average of 6.6 minutes. • Students and experts spend a good deal of time modeling. Findings WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

15. Students spent very little time determining the feasibility and evaluating alternative designs. • Students spent very little time in the decision making process. • Students spent more time than did experts in communication. • Female students spent a considerable amount of time generating ideas as compared to other groups. • Females spent more time communicating and little time making decisions. Findings WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

16. • Students should be encouraged to brainstorm alternative solutions and compare them to make an informed decision. • Students should make a greater effort to understand the problem. • Students should develop models to explain their design thinking and differentiate modeling activities from communication activities. Implications WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

17. Problem definition is a critical step in design thinking. Future research is to develop, test and disseminate learning experiences to support student and teacher learning of engineering design processes. • Investigate the type of analysis and modeling students are performing since it is lacking in common curriculum yet students are engaging in modeling practice (Katehi et al., 2009) • Investigate more female design thinking. Next Step WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012

18. Thank you This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-0918621. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. WEEF 2012 Buenos Aires, Argentina October 18, 2012