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Developing an Understanding of Civil Engineering Practitioner Problem-solving Rationale Using Multiple Contextual Representations

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Conference

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Salt Lake City, Utah

Publication Date

June 23, 2018

Start Date

June 23, 2018

End Date

July 27, 2018

Conference Session

Fostering Business and Professional Skills in the Engineering Classroom

Tagged Division

Civil Engineering

Page Count

16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--30301

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/30301

Download Count

536

Paper Authors

biography

Sean Lyle Gestson Oregon State University

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Sean Gestson is a recent graduate from the University of Portland where he studied Civil Engineering with a focus in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering. He is currently conducting Engineering Education research while pursuing a doctoral degree in Civil Engineering at Oregon State University. His research interests include situated cognition, problem-solving research, and engineering curriculum development.

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Benjamin David Lutz Oregon State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-2637-0942

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Ben Lutz is a Postdoctoral Scholar in Engineering Education at Oregon State University. His research interests include innovative pedagogies in engineering design, conceptual change and development, school-to-work transitions for new engineers, and efforts for inclusion and diversity within engineering. His current work explores how students describe their own learning in engineering design and how that learning supports transfer of learning from school into professional practice as well as exploring students' conceptions of diversity and its importance within engineering fields.

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Shane A. Brown P.E. Oregon State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3669-8407

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Shane Brown is an associate professor and Associate School Head in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University. His research interests include conceptual change and situated cognition. He received the NSF CAREER award in 2010 and is working on a study to characterize practicing engineers’ understandings of core engineering concepts. He is a Senior Associate Editor for the Journal of Engineering Education.

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Matthew Stephen Barner Oregon State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-8581-6708

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Ph.D. student at Oregon State University working under Dr. Shane Brown.

Research interests include: engineering education, diffusions of innovation, concerns-based adoption model, conceptual change theory, workplace learning and earthquake engineering.

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David S. Hurwitz Oregon State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8450-6516

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Dr. David Hurwitz is an Associate Professor of Transportation Engineering in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University and is the Director of the OSU Driving and Bicycling Simulator Laboratory. Dr. Hurwitz conducts research in transportation engineering, in the areas of traffic operations and safety, and in engineering education, in the areas of conceptual assessment and curriculum adoption.

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Masoud Ghodrat Abadi Oregon State University

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Masoud Ghodrat Abadi is a PhD candidate and a graduate research assistant in school of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University. He received his MSc degree in Transportation Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Iran in 2012 and his BSc degree in Civil Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran in 2010. He is a member of standing committee on Education and Training in Transportation Research Board (TRB).

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Abstract

This paper presents the preliminary findings of a larger study on the problem-solving rationale associated with the use of multiple contextual representations. Four engineering practitioners solved a problem associated with headloss in pipe flow while their visual attention was tracked using eye tracking technology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted following the problem-solving interview and the rationale associated with their decisions to use a particular contextual representation emerged. The results of this study show how the rationale can influence the problem-solving process of the four engineering pracitioners. Engineering practitioners used various contextual representaions and provided multiple rationale for their decisions. Eye tracking techniques and semi-structured interviews created a robust picture of the problem-solving process that supplements previous problem-solving research.

Gestson, S. L., & Lutz, B. D., & Brown, S. A., & Barner, M. S., & Hurwitz, D. S., & Ghodrat Abadi, M. (2018, June), Developing an Understanding of Civil Engineering Practitioner Problem-solving Rationale Using Multiple Contextual Representations Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30301

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