Developing more robust problem solvers through diversity of course experiences

There is little argument that problem-solving is the crux of engineering. As engineering educators, we pride ourselves not only in developing technical experts, but in developing diverse thinkers and innovators ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. Arguably, the most critical point in problem-solving at this level is the ability to interact with a wide variety of information. It allows for understanding goals, identifying scope, and setting assumptions. Thus, we believe that a greater exposure to different avenues of working with information can lead to more robust problem-solving skills, and should be considered in our coursework development. It is essential that our students leave our programs with not only high degrees of content knowledge, but also the comfort and ability to engage with information. We give great credence to the diversity and difficulty of unforeseen future societal challenges, yet our curricula does not fully represent this. Realistic problems are often open-ended, ambiguous, and/or have multiple solutions, making them difficult to incorporate into 15-week courses. However, there may be other ways to promote diversity of problem-solving skills through avenues better suited for our current academic system. We have developed a method of categorizing problems based on learning style biases—learning styles exploited in the problem solution or presentation—that allows instructors to check how they are asking students to engage with information to solve problems. Our previous work suggests that most instructors favor highly homogeneous problem types, and that certain styles are neglected in course experiences. While learning styles remain a controversial topic in education, we believe this application is a perfect example of their potential use for positive impact in engineering education. Learning styles define how individuals interact with information—how they receive, perceive, process, and understand information. This makes learning styles a well-suited tool for evaluating and improving upon our current practices and the extent to which we task our students with solving diverse problems. We have developed a set of criteria, based on the Felder-Silverman model of learning styles, which allows instructors to quickly evaluate presentation and solution biases in their coursework (problems, projects, etc.) and easily assess whether they are providing students diverse opportunities to engage with information. We believe that the more learning styles students are exposed to through problem presentation and solution, the more robust their problem-solving skills will be, as they will readily be able to receive, perceive, process, and understand information presented or utilized in a variety of ways. This methodology is less concerned with students' own preferences, but rather, focuses on creating a “balanced” course experience with respect to learning styles (irrespective of student preferences). The criteria can be used both for assessment of existing problems, and development of new problems. We believe that adoption of methods such as these to assess and reevaluate our curricula can further propel us along the path of developing the engineers of the future.