Facilitating Student Learning in Engineering

April 24, 2010

A new paper by Gina Svarovsky presents an ethnographic study of an engineering practicum. The study followed a student design team consisting of four undergraduates as they worked with an actual client to design a biomedical device. The paper examines how two activities—meeting regularly with a design advisor to discuss progress and maintaining a design notebook throughout the project—contributed to the students’ development of engineering skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking. Understanding how these activities facilitate student learning can influence the design of future capstone experiences as well as other, more general engineering learning contexts. Read the Working Paper here.