TY - GEN
T1 - Dealing with ambiguity in open-ended engineering problems
AU - Douglas, Elliot P.
AU - McNeill, Nathan
AU - Koro-Ljungberg, Mirka
AU - Therriault, David J.
PY - 2011/12/1
Y1 - 2011/12/1
N2 - Thirty materials engineering students solved four problems which varied in level of complexity as well as closed- and open-endedness. Students scored lower on more complex problems, but scored higher on open-ended problems. However, students who solved the problems in a think aloud setting expressed greater discomfort with the open-ended problems because of the lack of constraints provided by these problems. Students dealt with the ambiguity of the open-ended problems in a variety of ways. Some students provided ambiguous answers while others added their own constraints to the problems. The manner in which problems were scored may have contributed to the unexpected finding that students scored higher on open-ended problems.
AB - Thirty materials engineering students solved four problems which varied in level of complexity as well as closed- and open-endedness. Students scored lower on more complex problems, but scored higher on open-ended problems. However, students who solved the problems in a think aloud setting expressed greater discomfort with the open-ended problems because of the lack of constraints provided by these problems. Students dealt with the ambiguity of the open-ended problems in a variety of ways. Some students provided ambiguous answers while others added their own constraints to the problems. The manner in which problems were scored may have contributed to the unexpected finding that students scored higher on open-ended problems.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84883095864
SN - 9781627481847
T3 - Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011, REES 2011
SP - 850
EP - 858
BT - Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011, REES 2011
T2 - 2011 Research in Engineering Education Symposium, REES 2011
Y2 - 4 October 2011 through 7 October 2011
ER -