Work in progress — Robust engineering problems for the study of problem solving strategies

Our research group is examining how first year engineering students develop problem-solving skills. It is important to select and design problems such that they promote self-efficacy and build effective problem solving skills. However, it is a challenge for engineering educators to determine the appropriate difficulty or rigor of assignments or assessments that will accomplish this, especially in introductory courses in which students have a range of academic preparedness. We are reporting here on methodologies developed for studying characteristics of engineering problems, perceived difficulty of the problems from students´ perspective, and different problem solving strategies that first year engineering students typically use.