An Examination of the Effects of Contextual Computer-Aided Design Exercises on Student Modeling Performance

Many in the academe and industry have long found computer-aided design (CAD) education lacking. These critics have decried the lack of strategic skills and the focus on declarative knowledge associated with specific CAD packages. This work will discuss the most recent findings of a three year iterative investigation examining the role of contextual exercises on CAD modeling procedure and the manifestation of adaptive expertise. The effects of a varying number of contextual exercises incorporated in regular instruction throughout a semester will be examined. Contextual exercises consist of students modeling a component that they have a personal connection to, as opposed to a stylized example from the textbook. Modeling performance on a standard assessment is compared for the various groups as is performance on an end of the semester exercise. This work compares the results of student performance on the standard assessment based on whether students received no, one, or four contextual exercises prior to the assessment. Student performance on an end of the semester exercise that is either stylized or contextual in nature is also examined. Student interviews and coding are used to examine the manifestation of adaptive expertise among those various groups. Statistical analyses are used to evaluate differences among the groups. Interview data showed that there was a slightly greater manifestation of behaviors associated with adaptive expertise in the single contextual self-guided exercise group as compared to those students that used a stylized self-guided exercise. However these differences were of limited statistical significance. The implementation of four contextual exercises showed no increase in the manifestation of adaptive expertise behaviors. In both cases, the implementation of contextual exercises did not result in improved performance on the standard assessment. Limitations of the work and possible causes for some of the unexpected results are detailed. Introduction There has been discussion in the product development community about the model-based enterprise (MBE). The MBE could provide significant opportunities for efficiency and effectiveness in product development . At the core of the MBE are computer-aided design (CAD) models that allow for the more efficient completion of tasks associated with product development. These include computer-aided engineering simulations, computer-aided manufacturing processes and other manipulations of the digital artifacts. CAD models combined with product lifecycle management (PLM) systems have long been proposed as providing great benefits . However, these benefits are predicated on the ability of CAD models to be easily reused and understood by the various actors across the commercialization process. This requires a well-educated technical workforce that can create these models and adapt to an environment with changing tools and thus may require new or adapted skills. The current paradigms in CAD education are not well aligned with the skills that students will need to be valuable actors in the MBE. There have been complaints about both the lack of adequate CAD education 3 as well as complaints from CAD instructors about the inability of professionals to model well in CAD . Current CAD instruction is focused on declarative knowledge that is only valuable for performing certain tasks with specific CAD programs 3, . Ideally, CAD education would provide more strategic knowledge of the sort that is associated with expertise . This type of strategic knowledge has been shown to be transferable to new or other CAD programs . Ideally, CAD education would promote this type of adaptive expertise. Expertise is generally categorized as either routine or adaptive . The key differentiating factor between routine and adaptive expertise is that adaptive experts are innovative and efficient, whereas their routine counterparts are only efficient in the domain of their expertise . These adaptive experts are open to inquiry, use their metacognitive and self-regulation skills, and hold more advanced personal epistemologies; this allows adaptive experts to be more flexible, innovative, and creative in novel situations . These are exactly the type of skills that would be valuable in an innovative and dynamic MBE. Fisher and Peterson propose four main dimensions of adaptive expertise: multiple perspective, metacognition, goals and beliefs, and epistemology . There has been a call to introduce more educational exercises that promote both efficiency and innovation; namely, the type of exercises that would promote adaptive expertise. Contextual exercises have been shown to have a positive impact on students’ cognitive and affective domains . Students learn more effectively when they engage in activities that have personal meaning; with respect to CAD education, this may mean modeling objects connected to daily life or personal interest. There is currently a paucity of activities in the curriculum that promote adaptive expertise . There is also a documented lack of opportunity for self-learning in most engineering curricula . This work is part of a larger collaborative research project that examines the role of contextual exercises on development of adaptive expertise. This particular study aims to examine the effects of the introduction of a series of contextual exercises on students’ performance in a CAD modeling assessment as well as manifestation of adaptive expertise in an additional modeling exercise. The role of contextual exercise on CAD modeling procedure is also examined. The paper is organized as follows. The methods are introduced in the next section. This is followed by the results from the first two semesters of study. Finally, conclusions, limitations, and future work are detailed. Methods To assess the role of contextual exercises on the manifestation of adaptive expertise and CAD modeling procedures, a series of exercises was introduced into a junior level product design course that uses the laboratory portion of the course for CAD instruction. PTC’s Creo Parametric program is used for this purpose. The first step was to establish a baseline level of adaptive expertise through the use of an adaptive expertise survey (AES) instrument. The instrument used in this work was developed by Fisher and Peterson 10 and uses a 42 question, 6-point Likert-scale to assess adaptive expertise based on four main dimensions: multiple perspective, metacognition, goals and beliefs, and epistemology. This instrument was distributed to the students in the class approximately midway through the semester. A subset of the Fisher and Peterson questions were used to determine dimensional scores through the use of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. These analyses used a combination of almost 300 respondents to the survey and included practicing engineers and students at Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M Universities. A previous iteration of these analyses is detailed in Ozturk et al. 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