Engineers are tasked with designing, developing, and building solutions to complex problems. By nature, their decisions can have critical consequences, such as in the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the Boeing 737 Max 8 faulty sensor incident. In both of these events, the vehicle was cleared to fly by an engineer. Avoiding such engineering mistakes requires not only technical knowledge but also the ability to rapidly assess whether a solution is feasible and appropriate. The skill of engineering intuition (often referred to as a "gut feeling") becomes increasingly important as engineers become further removed from the problem-solving process. Today's engineers rely on sophisticated software tools where the assumptions and computations leading to a solution are hidden from the user. They must be able to evaluate whether a computer output is reasonable or ridiculous. This intuition is thought to be developed through professional experience but could also be acquired in the classroom as part of the formal development of engineering expertise. No clear definition of intuition or methods for identifying an individual's level of intuition exist despite the well-documented importance of intuition in developing expertise. The gap in knowledge and resources around engineering intuition limits educators as there is no clear path on how to develop engineering intuition in the classroom. A definition and means of measuring engineering intuition is needed to equip engineering educators with the tools to create classroom activities that promote intuition development as currently engineers must rely on variable experiences and opportunities to gain intuition. Furthermore, building intuition has the potential to foster student confidence, which disproportionately affects the persistence and resilience of underrepresented minorities in engineering majors and careers. The link between intuition, experience, and access to opportunity can empower students to persist in engineering careers and narrow the existing opportunity gaps in engineering.

This project initially defines engineering intuition as the ability to assess solution feasibility and predict outcomes or options within an engineering scenario. The project will begin by interviewing practicing expert engineers to determine the alignment of their definition of intuition with ours and identify the constructs that encompass engineering intuition. This study will use a mixed-methods approach to provide qualitative insights into expert engineering intuition that can be leveraged to create a quantitative instrument with acceptable validity and reliability evidence to support further use by engineering scholars and educators. Grounded in frameworks for expertise development such as the Dreyfus model and Fuzz-Trace Theory, the project aims to answer the following research questions: (1) What are practicing professional engineers' perceptions of discipline-specific intuition and its use in the workplace?; (2) Where does intuition manifest in expert engineering decision-making and problem-solving processes?; (3) How does the motivation and identity of practicing professional engineers relate to discipline-specific intuition?; and (4) What would an instrument designed to validly and reliably measure engineering intuition look like? The proposed research bridges the theory-to-practice gap to develop engineering intuition by defining intuition and its relationship to other constructs (e.g., motivation) and developing a procedure for measuring and identifying how discipline-specific intuition is developed.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Engineering Education and Centers (EEC)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
1927149
Program Officer
Jumoke Ladeji-Osias
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2019-10-01
Budget End
2021-09-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
$62,334
Indirect Cost
Name
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Daytona Beach
State
FL
Country
United States
Zip Code
32114