Engineering judgment: undergraduate epistemologies

Engineering judgment is a crucial competency present in ABET’s outcomes. However, a consensus-driven definition for it was only recently published in the education literature, with limited formal instruction and assessment to date. Therefore, the present study used this definition to analyze undergraduate epistemologies of engineering judgment using a mixed methods design, including student views on the relevance of concepts of engineering judgment from the literature, personal definitions for it, and beliefs about learning it. Students in two courses rated the concepts decision making, application of knowledge/experience, and recognition of mistakes/errors among the most relevant to engineering judgment. Per a deductive content analysis, students consistently discussed decision making, ethical factors, and use of explicit knowledge in their personal definitions. Although students viewed our lecture on engineering judgment as useful, others believed experiential learning was more impactful for engineering judgment knowhow. This study can inform education on engineering judgment for engineer formation.