First, students learn basic mathematics in grade school, algebra in high school, and then calculus. Next, in engineering school, they apply the learned calculus to problems described on paper. Explanations are on paper. Problems are posed on paper. Homework is on paper.
Tests are on paper.
The problems do increase in intellectual difficulty, with less information provided. However, students are rarely given a piece of hardware and told to engineer a fix for it, much less use analysis to explain the problem with the hardware. The root of the learning-cycle problem is that the concrete experiences provided to students follow no educational trajectory. We run students through the model-world learning cycle, and then toss them into design courses to use the material they have learned. And, for the first time, they are faced with the real physical artifact they have to understand and model.