(3hv) Creating an Assessment of Expert Problem-Solving in Chemical Engineering Design

Research Interests: We tell undergraduate students that chemical engineers can do anything because we teach them to be good problem-solvers and prepare them for future learning. Indeed, our students go into all sectors from finance, to academia, to pharmaceuticals and beyond. No curriculum could be expected to train students in all of these areas, so how do we equip students to transfer the skills they learn to solve novel problems in drastically different domains? More fundamentally: what does transferable expertise in problem-solving even look like, and how would we even begin to measure it? Using scientific methods to answer such questions is at the core of the emerging field of chemical engineering education research. To begin to answer these questions, we first identified a set of decisions made by expert scientists and engineers as they solve authentic problems. We then developed an assessment to measure how well students are able to make decisions and reason like experts in the context of chemical engineering design. Pilot-testing of this assessment has revealed key expert/student differences that we are using to design instructional interventions aimed at teaching problem-solving more effectively. In designing these interventions, we also draw on our studies of demographic performance gaps (which, in reality, are gaps in students’ preparation) in large introductory STEM courses to ensure that we are teaching these skills equitably and preparing all students to succeed in their future careers.

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