Work in progress - Robust engineering problems for the study of problem solving strategies

Our research group is examining how first year engineering students develop problem-solving skills. It is important to select and design problems such that they promote self-efficacy and build effective problem solving skills. However, it is a challenge for engineering educators to determine the appropriate difficulty or rigor of assignments or assessments that will accomplish this, especially in introductory courses in which students have a range of academic preparedness. We are reporting here on methodologies developed for studying characteristics of engineering problems, perceived difficulty of the problems from students’ perspective, and different problem solving strategies that first year engineering students typically use. Index Terms – Problem-solving; first year engineering.