Teaching ill-defined problems in engineering

© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature.Ill-defined problems are found in many real-world situations and involve both technical and societal issues. Thus, engineering education must prepare students to address such problems. This paper presents a methodology that combines a metacognitive model with question-prompts to guide students in defining and solving ill-defined engineering problems. The proposed methodology is based on the concept of Weltanschauung, a term that pertains to the view through which the world is perceived, i.e., the "worldview." Three case studies illustrate the methodology. The first case study focuses on an engineering economics problem; the second focuses on a business reengineering problem, and the third focuses on product design. In all three cases, the participating students were able to define the problem with little or no instructor help. The findings suggested that the students could more easily connect the problem domain with other learning. Also, results showed that the approach led to an increased engagement level, ignited student curiosity, and enabled them to acquire new skills or knowledge, expanding their creativity and innovation.

Teaching ill-defined problems in engineering Academic Article in Scopus