Understanding the Formation of Sociotechnical Thinking in Engineering Education

This research examines the processes by which students acquire sociotechnical thinking in mechanical and electrical engineering courses and the impacts of sociotechnical integration on their engineering habits of mind.

Often in undergraduate engineering students have a misconception that engineering prioritizes technical work over all else. Our goal is to bridge the gap between industry and undergraduate engineering education.

Our main points of focus are: 

1) To increase understanding of the processes by which students form their abilities to engineer sociotechnically,
2) To understand how sociotechnical thinking impacts students’ engineering habits of mind, and
3) To increase the transferabilitiy of sociotechnical integration methods between courses.

Our research involves analyzing student responses to pre- and post-course instruments measuring sociotechnical understanding. We also design and evaluate assignments to promote the students’ abilities to demonstrate sociotechnical thinking. Lastly, we conduct and analyze focus groups to understand students’ values, skills, and identities as engineers vis-a-vis sociotechnical thinking.

Our primary focus is at two public Colorado universities: the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Colorado Boulder. We are studying a first year engineering class at CU Boulder, a third year electrical engineering class at Mines, and a second year mechanical engineering class at Mines. Our research team is based at Mines, CU Boulder, Texas Tech, Western State, and San Francisco State University.