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  • What Distinguishes Students’ Engineering Design Performance: Design Behaviors, Design Iterations, and Application of Science Concepts

This content will become publicly available on April 1, 2026

Title: What Distinguishes Students’ Engineering Design Performance: Design Behaviors, Design Iterations, and Application of Science Concepts
Engineering design that requires mathematical analysis, scientific understanding, and technology is critical for preparing students for solving engineering problems. In simulated design environments, students are expected to learn about science and engineering through their design. However, there is a lack of understanding concerning linking science concepts with design problems to design artifacts. This study investigated how 99 high school students applied science concepts to solarize their school using a computer-aided engineering design software, aiming to explore the interaction between students’ science concepts and engineering design behaviors. Students were assigned to three groups based on their design performance: the achieving group, proficient group, and emerging group. By mining log activities, we explored the interactions among students’ application of science concepts, engineering design behaviors, design iterations, and their design performance. We found that the achieving group has a statistically higher number of design iterations than the other two performance groups. We also identified distinctive transition patterns in students’ applying science concepts and exercising design behaviors among three groups. The implications of this study are then discussed.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2131097 2105695 2301164
PAR ID:
10633551
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Springer Nature
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Science Education and Technology
Volume:
34
Issue:
2
ISSN:
1059-0145
Page Range / eLocation ID:
314 to 326
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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