How do students do design? A data-driven approach for understanding students’ engineering design behaviors

Abstract

Engineering design is a complex but essential component of STEM+C education, as students integrate science and computing through engaging learning experiences. However, K-12 students face challenges applying problem-solving and critical thinking skills to find “optimal" design solutions. In this paper, we investigate students’ engineering design behaviors by analyzing the sequences of their design solutions. We collected data from sixth-grade students (N=88) working in pairs in an NGSS-aligned earth sciences curriculum. Using Markov Models, we visualized students’ solution progressions and identified instances where they became stuck in sub-optimal states. Our results show that (1) students’ scores improved significantly from pre-test to post-test, (2) students engaged in two distinct problem-solving behaviors (design-space-explorers and conservative-designers), and (3) students’ problem-solving behaviors influenced the quality of their final designs. Additionally, our findings underscore the importance of supporting design space exploration as a key aspect to scaffolding engineering design activities.