Innovation and the Zone of Proximal Development in Engineering Education

Recent scholarship has emphasized incorporating innovation experiences into engineering curricula. These experiences are often positive, especially when students have the opportunity to solve novel but challenging problems, navigate their own processes, critically reflect on their experiences, and receive appropriate levels of support and scaffolding. This study further explores the role of scaffolding on innovation and non-innovative projects through the lens of Vygotsky’s theory of proximal development. Ten engineering seniors participated in semistructured interviews focusing on their experiences with innovative and non-innovative projects and their general perspectives related to innovation. We utilized a qualitative content analysis approach to identify students’ experiences within and outside of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development during innovation projects to which students felt they did and did not substantially contribute and non-innovative projects. Analysis revealed distinct characterizations aligned with experiences preceding, within, beyond their zones of proximal development on the three project types. These findings have key implications for those learning to become innovative and the way educators utilize innovation projects in the context of engineering education. In particular, they demonstrate strong connections between tasks in the zone of proximal development, how students develop technical and professional competencies during innovation projects, and how instructors may structure their projects to improve learning and innovation outcomes by establishing support practices from a variety of individuals.