Board 204: Barriers and Supports to Divergent Thinking in Engineering Problem-Solving: An Engineering Student Project Experience

Abstract Engineering is a field of innovation for solving complex challenges. Creative solutions, however, require divergent thinking to consider alternatives rather than converging on a single correct solution. Few studies have focused on the impact of engineering education, structures, resources, and environments on students' abilities to explore and divergent options. While often considered during design concept generation, divergent thinking can be pursued throughout engineering projects when building an understanding of a problem, gathering information and considering stakeholders, choosing problem solving strategies, evaluating possible solutions, and foreseeing implications of decisions. In order to understand how divergent thinking occurs within engineering problem solving, we investigated engineering students' reported project experiences. Data were collected from 20 mechanical engineering students using a flexible, semi-structured interview protocol and analyzed based on themes regarding structures and environments surrounding projects. This analysis examines one student's description of their experiences through narrative storytelling to identify divergent thinking (or barriers to it) as they encountered it. The narrative describes this participant's experiences and illustrates the ways in which the factors surrounding their project influenced their consideration of multiple perspectives and options. We identify varied influences on the occurrence of, or barriers to, divergence during engineering processes. These include mentor influence, knowledge and skills of the participant, access to others' views, which support or inhibit considering alternatives. Specifics from project and course structures, requirements to explicitly encourage exploration, and research and material resources available, such as documentation, databases, and equipment and facilities, directly affect engagement in divergent thinking. This suggests attention to structural support for divergence may be effective in encouraging divergent practices. The narrative serves as a tool for educators, students, and practitioners to consider and understand the importance of exposure to varied viewpoints and structuring projects to tangibly support engineers in exploring alternatives as critical in promoting divergent thinking practices in engineering for more creative and impactful outcomes.