Researchers want to know how engineers think
53 engineering educators will come together on December 13 to participate in the upcoming National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Education program. The goal of the symposium is to focus on ways to ensure that students are learning the necessary fundamental engineering skills to become an effective engineer or engineering researcher. Shane Brown, an assistant professor from Washington State University, will be in attendance with innovative ideas to bring to the table. His most recent project, supported by a $400,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, is to develop a model of how practicing civil engineers learn engineering concepts.
Brown and some of his fellow colleagues have been working on examining the ways in which engineers learn and what misconceptions engineers might have been taught in the classroom. His hope is to find answers from questions like: What do engineers picture in their mind when working on a design? How do they use concepts to develop innovative and efficient designs? Do they understand concepts any differently than from what might be taught in a classroom? More specifically, he believes it is important to look at engineering curricula and concepts that have been designed by professors who may or may not have applicable experience.
In order to get results, Brown has decided to conduct in-depth interviews with 100 engineers and distribute 1,000 surveys. He will be collecting this data with the idea in mind that generally engineering practice is good and that fundamental concepts are being understood by engineering students.
“But if I am wrong, and practicing engineers still have misconceptions, we should have the evidence to improve it,” Brown claims in a WSU Today article.
It is hopeful that over the ensuing years Brown will reach an understanding of a significant link between engineering education and engineering practice.
“I think we’re getting right to the heart of it - we’re finding out what engineers know and how to get that into the curriculum,” Brown said.
Rich B commented:
Deprecation of Civil Engineers is not useful, but it surprises me that this study would be restricted to just Civil Eng. My guess is that similar thought processes will be found among Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Materials, Chemical & all other Engineers. Any Eng worth his/her salt will read the internet and other sources before jumping in ... and measure plans/responses against common sense
Professor D commented:
As an electrical engineer, I'm fairly certain that the things I visualize in my mind when I'm designing a power factor measurement circuit, or digital filter are quite different from the mental images envisioned by a civil engineer thinking about a bridge or highway off ramp. Not making any judgements one way or the other, but the there are big differences, depending upon what sort of problems are being studied.
PW commented:
C'mon guys! Civil Engineers are what make our government so efficient...
ahmadbd commented:
Great! So, 400k to study how we think, but nobody cares what we say about where the money really should go..... I love it.
Charlie commented:
A manager, when presented with a problem, will say, "I need to find the resources, documentation, skills, space, and everything required to solve this problem." Here comes a new bureaucracy.
An engineer will simply start solving the problem. It is a much more direct view of what needs doing. I'm not sure that too many doses of philosophy will help in this process.
G Jorgensen commented:
What's the difference between Civil and Electrical Engineers?
Electrical Engineers often design weapons systems.
Civil Engineers mostly design.. "targets"..
J. Williams commented:
The same way all of us learned civil engineering. Playing with Tonkas in the sandbox.
keithw commented:
Great idea - yet Fatally Flawed as they chose CIVIL ENGINEERS for a thinking study???
wtf? Do you know how many civil engineers it takes to find a pound of brains? :)
