Proceedings of the 2005 ASEE/AaeE 4th Global Colloquium on Engineering Education Copyright © 2005, Australasian Association for Engineering Education Promoting Problem Solving through Explicit Teaching and Assessment

Abstract: The engineering profession in Australia has taken a leading role in promoting generic capabilities of engineering graduates [1]. Since that time, Australia’s three peak employer organisations have urged all education systems to enhance these skills through their programs [2, 3]. Past efforts to promote generic skills [4] have foundered partly because no viable mechanism was established to link the development of these capabilities to the content and processes of teaching within disciplines. In this paper, we describe an approach to promoting problem solving in two topics in the first year of an engineering course. We describe the use of an assessment tool and some support materials for students and a process that used self-assessment followed by lecturer validation to grade student achievement in problem solving. We present the results of analyses of data gathered using the assessment tool. Engineering students at Flinders University undertake two topics in their first year, Circuits and Devices 1 and Digital Logic Design (one quarter of their studies), that start their technical education in electrical and electronic circuit theory. These topics provide both theoretical and practical skills in the analysis, use and design of electrical circuits, both analogue and digital