A Study of Critical Thinking and Cross-Disciplinary Teamwork in Engineering Education

Abstract

AbstractPreparing engineer students for a career in engineering reaches beyond typical coursework, memorizing equations and solving end of the chapter problems. Students must learn to work and solve problems in a cross-disciplinary environment. As engineering curriculum needs to be reassessed to focus more on skills, capabilities, and techniques as well as cultivating ethical values and attitudes, more research is needed to understand what contributes to critical thinking skills, and overall higher academic achievement. The study of critical thinking skill in engineering education and cross-disciplinary collaboration of engineers are to be further explored. An underlying theme is that critical thinking is not taught, rather it is developed through experiential learning and systematic approaches to problem solving. This chapter describes the critical thinking performance of engineering students in association with their thinking styles and in relation to cross-disciplinary team setting.