An Autoethnography of the Student Experience Solving an Open-Ended Statics Problem

Authors: Katelyn Churakos, Jessica Swenson

SUNY Campus: SUNY Buffalo

Presentation Type: Poster

Location: Old Union Hall

Presentation #: 14

Timeslot: Session B 10:15-11:15 AM

Abstract: This research paper examines the student perception and experience of solving open-ended modeling problems (OEMPs) through an autoethnographic account of the student-authors’ personal reflections about an OEMP completed during an introductory statics course. Currently, the student perspective is not represented in literature about engineering problem solving. This is significant as the student perspective is integral to understanding how students learn and develop an engineering mindset. By incorporating the student voice through autoethnographic techniques, this study can begin to fill this gap and provide insights into the student experience and perceived benefits surrounding an OEMP. Autoethnography is an approach to research and writing that incorporates the researcher’s personal experience in conjunction with traditional methods. The authors believe this is an underutilized research method within engineering education research that could provide additional insights to shift teaching and learning within engineering classrooms. The student-authors reflected on their personal experience solving an OEMP by retroactively responding to written prompts. We analyzed our responses to determine possible patterns and emerging themes about the student perception of OEMPs. While instructors make choices about course learning objectives, many times these are primarily based on what instructors believe students need to know. Rarely are students given a platform to voice the meaningful knowledge they constructed after course completion. Implications for this work include providing information to instructors