This engineering education research project seeks to better understand the connection between students' metacognition, or their own strategies for learning, and how they develop their abilities in engineering design. Design is a critical skill for engineers, but since it requires thinking about problems when they are ambiguous, it requires that students are able to make judgments about their own knowledge. The study will use the framework of self-regulated learning and engage undergraduate students from multiple engineering disciplines.
The broader significance and importance of this project will be to inform engineering and other STEM disciplines how to develop student expertise in regulating their own learning in design and other technical activities. Since metacognition is critical to future success, the project can inform workforce development efforts in STEM fields. This project overlaps with NSF's strategic goals of transforming the frontiers through preparation of an engineering workforce with new capabilities and expertise. Additionally NSF's goal of innovating for society is enabled by creating results and research that are useful for society by informing educational policy and practices.
