The Relationships between Students' Conceptions of Learning Engineering and their Preferences for Classroom and Laboratory Learning Environments

This study developed a survey entitled Conceptions of Learning Engineering (CLE), to elicit undergraduate engineering students' conceptions of learning engineering. The reliability and validity of the CLE survey were confirmed through a factor analysis of 321 responses of undergraduate students majoring in electrical engineering. A series of ANOVA analyses revealed that students who preferred a classroom setting tended to conceptualize learning engineering as “testing” and “calculating and practicing,” whereas students who preferred a laboratory setting expressed conceptions of learning engineering as “increasing one's knowledge,” “applying,” “understanding,” and “seeing in a new way.” A further analysis of student essays suggested that learning environments which are student‐centered, peer‐interactive, and teacher‐facilitated help engineering students develop more fruitful conceptions of learning engineering.