Board 133: "This Seems Reasonable": Using Epistemic Cognition and Metacognition to Justify the Reasonableness of Solutions in Senior Design
- Conference
- Location
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Tampa, Florida
- Publication Date
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June 15, 2019
- Start Date
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June 15, 2019
- End Date
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June 19, 2019
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Student
- Page Count
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12
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--32239
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/32239
- Download Count
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1291
Paper Authors
Lauren Jennings University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Lauren Jennings is an undergraduate student studying Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has experience as an undergraduate research assistant and as an engineering intern in the field of medical devices and biologics. Her research interests include epistemic and metacognition of engineering students during problem solving, as well as cell and tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. She is pursuing a degree within the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenge Scholars Program and is a member of Tau Beta Pi.
Courtney June Faber University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Courtney is a Research Assistant Professor and Lecturer in the Cook Grand Challenge Engineering Honors Program at the University of Tennessee. She completed her Ph.D. in Engineering & Science Education at Clemson University. Prior to her Ph.D. work, she received her B.S. in Bioengineering at Clemson University and her M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University. Courtney’s research interests include epistemic cognition in the context of problem solving, and researcher identity.
Kayla Arnsdorff University of Tennessee
Kayla Arnsdorff is an undergraduate student studying Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has experience as an undergraduate research assistant and as an engineering co-op in the field of lean manufacturing. Her research interests include epistemic and metacognition of engineering students during problem solving, and she is a member of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers both locally and nationally.
Rachel McCord Ellestad
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
orcid.org/0000-0001-5163-7675
Rachel McCord is a a Lecturer and Research Assistant Professor in the Engineering Fundamentals Division at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech. Her research interests include the impact of metacognitive and self-regulated learning development on engineering student success, particularly in the first year.
Abstract
This work in progress paper focuses on a study to investigate how senior capstone design students use metacognition and epistemic cognition to determine the reasonableness of solutions presented by their teams. There is significant research that points to the importance of understanding how epistemic cognition and metacognition play a role in problem solving. More recent research has begun to point to the need to study epistemic cognition and metacognition together, as metacognition and epistemic cognition may develop in a similar developmental progression. Specifically, metacognition may lead to skill development in well-structured problem solving and epistemic cognition may lead to skill development in ill-structured problem solving. As undergraduate engineering curricula are built upon both well-structured and ill-structured problem solving, it is critical that the field of engineering education begin to study in-depth the impact that both metacognition and epistemic cognition have on the development of the engineering mindset. Senior capstone design is a primary opportunity where engineering students begin to translate the skills they have developed in courses that focus on well-structured problems to situations with ill-structured problems.
This research study focuses on understanding how students use metacognition and epistemic cognition to justify the reasonableness of their solutions in senior design, both internally (to other team members) as well as externally (to advisors, industry representatives, and customers). Participants of the study include civil engineering students enrolled in a senior capstone design course at a large, public, R1 institution in the southeast.
This work in progress will discuss the early stages of development of this research study, which includes the design of an ethnographically informed research methodology using participant observations, ethnographic interviews, and stimulated recall interviews. These methodological selections will be justified based on the challenges associated with studying metacognition and epistemic cognition in a situated context. The paper will conclude with a summary of data collected for the pilot study as well as next steps for the full study.
Jennings, L., & Faber, C. J., & Arnsdorff, K., & Ellestad, R. M. (2019, June), Board 133: "This Seems Reasonable": Using Epistemic Cognition and Metacognition to Justify the Reasonableness of Solutions in Senior Design Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32239
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