Looking Beyond Content: Skill development for engineers

TL;DR

This paper discusses a theoretical framework for engineering education reform focused on developing adaptive skills, especially mathematical modeling, based on insights from neural, cognitive, and behavioral sciences.

Contribution

It introduces a phenomenological guideline for instruction rooted in an emerging theory of thinking and learning, guiding skill development in engineering students.

Findings

Framework links neural, cognitive, and behavioral science to engineering education.

Provides theoretical basis for instructional methods in mathematical modeling.

Suggests directions for future research in skill development.

Abstract

Current concerns over reforming engineering education have focused attention on helping students develop skills and an adaptive expertise. Phenomenological guidelines for instruction along these lines can be understood as arising out of an emerging theory of thinking and learning built on results in the neural, cognitive, and behavioral sciences. We outline this framework and consider some of its implications for one example: developing a more detailed understanding of the specific skill of using mathematics in modeling physical situations. This approach provides theoretical underpinnings for some best-practice instructional methods designed to help students develop this skill and providesguidance for further research in the area.