Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Environment to Develop Expansionist-Reductionist (ER) Thinking Skills through Software Design Problem Solving

Abstract

Expansionist-Reductionist(ER) thinking skills are important in solving ill-structured problems. Expansionist thinking is the process of exploring all possibilities, and reductionist thinking is systematically choosing from the repertoire of options. Research shows that lack of ER skills may lead to narrow problem definition or weak solution design. Problem solving is one of the important competencies that an engineer should acquire to sustain in industry. Thus, it is worth training undergraduate engineering students in ER thinking skills. Our research focus is to teach undergraduate computer engineering students in learning ER thinking skills in the context of solving software design problems. In this paper, the design of the TEL environment for ER thinking skills is discussed. The study was done with second year undergraduate engineering students to investigate the effectiveness of the TEL in learning ER skills. The results showed significant improvement in ER skills in students after the training.