Special issue on: Modeling and Simulation Practices in Engineering Education

Modern engineering workplaces are more frequently using modeling and simulation practices, aiding the analysis and design of systems [1,2]. As a result, these practices have started to pervade across many science and engineering programs as analytic and predictive tools that support the study of phenomena and the suitability of new designs. In tandem, academy and industry experts have emphasized the need for a new and modern approach to educating and training the next generation of engineering professionals to effectively complement experimental and theoretical approaches to discovery and innovation processes [3–5]. Similarly, the engineering education community and policymakers such as ASEE, ABET, and the Washington Accord, among others, have recognized the importance of these skills and has recommended their incorporation into the undergraduate engineering curriculum. To successfully integrate these practices into the undergraduate engineering education, a crucial step is to identify effective pedagogies, learning strategies, learning environments, assessment tools and research methods in acquiring these skills successfully. Thus, educational research at the intersection of the learning sciences and engineering education is needed to identify a suitable learning objectives, curriculum, and abilities that can equip future workforce professionals with practice-ready modeling and simulation skills.