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An Emerging Methodological Toolkit to Support Design of Problem-Based Learning Environments: Connecting Problem Characteristics and Knowledge Types

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Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

July 12, 2024

Conference Session

Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Technical Session 15

Tagged Division

Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/46549

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Paper Authors

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Dave Mawer University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

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Andrew Olewnik University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

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Andrew Olewnik is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at the University at Buffalo. His research includes undergraduate engineering education with focus on engineering design, problem-based learning, co-curricular involvement and its impact on professional formation, and the role of reflection practices in supporting engineering undergraduates as they transition from student to professional.

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Lisa Retzlaff North Carolina State University

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Laine Schrewe Otterbein University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-2316-6065

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Dr. Laine Schrewe is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering, Computer Science, and Physics at Otterbein University. Before transitioning to this role, Laine designed engines for Honda Research and Development for 9 years and then transitioned to education to develop a high school engineering program that she taught for 8 years. She is passionate about improving the educational experience of diverse populations in engineering programs and about utilizing instructional strategies that better connect engineering coursework to practice.

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Scott Ferguson North Carolina State University

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Abstract

The design of problem-based learning (PBL) environments is difficult and there is a seeming lack of methodological tools to support faculty in design, facilitation, and assessment in PBL. In this theory/methods paper we put forth a “methodological toolkit” that is emerging from our exploratory design-based research in a PBL setting. The toolkit is represented in reflective activities that have potential to support the PBL design process, including problem development and facilitation. The primary items that make up this toolkit include concept maps and learning hierarchy analysis, intersected with ideas of knowledge types, and dimensions of problem structuredness and complexity. These methods have been deployed to support systematic and reflective interrogation of problem design and facilitation practices of faculty (i.e., problem designer and facilitator) perspective, as well as connection building between problem characteristics of complexity and structuredness and the types of knowledge required/developed to resolve those characteristics. Two examples of faculty use of the methodological toolkit are presented and used as a basis for discussion. Examples are drawn from a sophomore-level introductory aerospace engineering course, and a third-year machine design course. The potential for this emerging methodological toolkit to support faculty in development of PBL(-like) experiences and to further a PBL community of practice is described.

Mawer, D., & Olewnik, A., & Retzlaff, L., & Schrewe, L., & Ferguson, S. (2024, June), An Emerging Methodological Toolkit to Support Design of Problem-Based Learning Environments: Connecting Problem Characteristics and Knowledge Types Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46549

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