Big Problems, Real Problems: Fostering Heterogeneous Engineering Practices Through Whole-Class Design Problems

• In Event: Facilitating Learning Across Diverse Contexts

Abstract

While we have methods for supporting students to learn through relatively simple engineering design tasks, supporting students to address complex problems that they find and frame remains poorly understood. Studying this type of work in making spaces provides opportunities to understand how heterogenous engineering design challenges emerge from students’ experiences, how they are negotiated and reframed, and the kinds of learning such experiences support. We report a cross-case analysis of cases from (1) a design-based research study in a school-based makerspace and (2) an extended participant observation in a design-build school. Using interaction analysis, we identify ways students negotiated technical, social, and material considerations authentically and how this lead to learning. Our findings suggest opportunities for classroom-based learning experiences.

Authors

• Brian E. Gravel, Tufts University

• Vanessa Svihla, University of New Mexico