Identifying pertinent elements of critical thinking and mathematical thinking used in civil engineering practice in relation to engineering education

Abstract

Engaging critical thinking and mathematical thinking in solving engineering problems is a way of approaching the engineering criteria of Engineering Accreditation Council, Board of Engineers Malaysia. Thus, it is timely and crucial to inculcate the critical thinking and mathematical thinking into the current engineering education. Unfortunately, information about these two modes of thinking in real-world engineering practice is found lacking in the literature. Therefore, this paper focuses on explaining an analytic process in identifying pertinent elements of critical thinking and mathematical thinking used in real-world civil engineering practice. The analytic process, namely open coding is a part of coding process in modified grounded theory analysis. Data consist of semi-structured interviews with eight practicing civil engineers from two different consultancy firms. A total of fifty three pertinent elements emerged during the analytic process. The selection of these pertinent elements was based on the predominant pattern and frequency of the informants and open codes. The pertinent elements were eventually integrated to develop a substantive theory. The substantive theory provides useful information for the engineering education.