Abstract
<strong>Background:</strong> Because of prior experience solving well-structured problems that have single, correct answers, students often struggle to direct their own design work and may not understand the need to frame ill-structured design problems. <strong>Purpose: </strong>Framing agency—defined as making decisions that are consequential to framing design problems and learning through this process—sheds light on students’ treatment of design problems; by framing, we mean the various actions designers take to understand, define, and bound the problem. Using the construct framing agency, we sought to characterize design team discourse to detect whether students treated design problems as ill- or well-structured and examine the consequences of this treatment. <strong>Method: </strong>Data were collected through extended participant observation of a capstone design course in a biomedical engineering program at a large research university. Data included audio and video records of design team meetings over the course of framing and solving industry-sponsored problems. For this paper, we analyzed three cases using sociolinguistic content analysis to characterize framing agency and compared the cases to illuminate the nuances of framing agency. <strong>Results: </strong>All teams faced impasses; one team navigated the impasse by framing the problem, whereas the others treated the problem as given. We identified markers of agency in students’ discourse, including tentative language, personal pronouns, and sharing ownership. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Framing agency clarifies the kinds of learning experiences students need in order to overcome past experiences dominated by solving archetypical well-structured problems with predetermined solutions.
Highlights
Introduction and Research PurposeNumerous studies have investigated teaching and learning engineering design, yet instructors continue to face challenges supporting students both to understand the need to frame problems and to learn how to direct their framing of problems
One way to understand this issue is through the notion of opportunity structure—the possible and perceived decision space that is shaped by a range of factors, including prior experiences, norms, cultures, and policies
We offer framing agency as taking opportunities to make decisions that are consequential to how a problem is framed, and what learning is undertaken to work toward a solution
Summary
Introduction and Research PurposeNumerous studies have investigated teaching and learning engineering design, yet instructors continue to face challenges supporting students both to understand the need to frame problems and to learn how to direct their framing of problems. Most coursework foregrounds technical aspects of problem solving (Russell & Orbey, 1993), reinforcing the notion that problems have correct solutions These experiences shape students’ expectations, resulting in beliefs their careers will entail the use of a linear sequence of steps to deterministically arrive at correct answers (Kirn & Benson, 2018). One way to understand this issue is through the notion of opportunity structure—the possible and perceived decision space that is shaped by a range of factors, including prior experiences, norms, cultures, and policies We use this to consider why— even as design experiences are being introduced earlier in degree programs—students may not perceive opportunities. Because of prior experience solving well-structured problems that have single, correct answers, students often struggle to direct their own design work and may not understand the need to frame ill-structured design problems. Conclusions: Framing agency clarifies the kinds of learning experiences students need in order to overcome past experiences dominated by solving archetypical well-structured problems with predetermined solutions
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