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.
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.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9156-7616
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
[biography]
Courtney Faber, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Education at the University at Buffalo (UB). Prior to joining UB in August of 2023, she was a Research Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Engineering Fundamentals at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She was also the Director of the Fundamentals of Engineering and Computing Teaching in Higher Education Certificate Program. Her research focuses on empowering engineering education scholars to be more effective at impacting transformational change in engineering and developing educational experiences that consider epistemic thinking. She develops and uses innovative research methods that allow for deep investigations of constructs such as epistemic thinking, identity, and agency. Dr. Faber has a B.S. in Bioengineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education from Clemson University and a M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University. Among other awards for her research, she was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2022 to study epistemic negotiations on interdisciplinary engineering education research teams.
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.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5163-7675
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
[biography]
Rachel McCord Ellestad is the DIrector of Engineering Fundamentals and a Senior 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 interest
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