Characterizing students' design strategies during simulation-based engineering of sustainable buildings

Abstract

This is a research paper. Investigating the use of design strategies is one of the most important approaches in understanding the design thinking processes of students in engineering design. Understanding students' use of design strategies-specifically, generating ideas, conducting experiments, revising and iterating, and troubleshooting-allows educators to better help students improve in their design thinking processes. In this study, we aimed to investigate and characterize students' use of four design strategies while they were designing with an educational CAD tool. Using students' captured videos and think-aloud transcripts, we have identified and characterized patterns of students' four design strategies. In this study, we have classified students into five categories based on their design patterns and descriptively identified the least and most prominent patterns students implemented.