The Effect of Assignment Scaffolding on Engineering Judgement

This full research-to-practice paper examines the interaction between scaffolding and student thinking on an open-ended problem. The well-defined textbook problems typically assigned as engineering homework are very different from the ill-defined problems professional engineers solve in the workplace. These open-ended, ill-structured problems require professional engineers to employ engineering judgement. Our research team has been investigating how undergraduate engineering students make these judgements when given the opportunity through open-ended problems during their engineering science courses. This study examines how the problem scaffolding, or the design and structure of the homework problem, influences how students engage in engineering judgement while solving ill-defined and open-ended problems. Our results detail how scaffolding supported predictable behaviors, but also resulted in unpredictable engagement in engineering judgement. This unpredictable engagement can then be more explicitly scaffolded in the future to ensure that all students gain this experience.