Chapter 1: Introduction

The central part of engineering work is the problem solving and students in engineering

courses and programs are expected to become problem solvers after they graduate (American

Society for Engineering Education, 2014). It was specified by ABET (2013) that one important

criterion for accrediting engineering programs is the ability to identify, formulate, and solve

engineering problems. That’s why engineering education focuses on the development of

engineers’ ability to solve problems (Beder, 1999; Roth, 2007). This ability increases the

opportunity for wider pathway for engineers and was identified as one of the unique aspect of

engineering education (Harlim, 2012).

Having the ability to solve problems and design solutions to those problems are engineers

known to have (Rousseau, et.al, n.d.). Engineers think of their selves as problem solver who is

concerned in creating something new and something which is currently not in existence (Sharp,

1991). In today’s engineers, skills of problem solving and creativity are highly looked for

(Romanowski, 2016). That’s why students in engineering courses and programs were expected to

graduate with good problem solving skills (Woods, et.al, 1997). Unfortunately, there are a lot of

students in undergraduate engineering programs are lacking this skill (Kimmel, et.al, 2003).

In an online questionnaires made by the group of Jonathan Adams( Head of

Engineering), it was found that 99% of the respondents believed that problem solving skills were

vital for engineers. Further, thru the years, many strategies were created for teaching and

developing problem solving skills that can be now found in numerous publications (Woods,

1977). In a classroom, teaching problem solving process can be taught in many ways (Adams,

et.al, 2006). One example is thinking aloud in pairs problem solving (TAPPS). This method
develops the problem solving process skills by interaction of the problem solver and a listener

(Lockhead, 1979; Stice, 2007). Another one is the problem based learning (PBL) exercises that

drive the whole learning of the student due to handling of a problem (Palmer, 2002).

Engineering problem solving enables the engineers to cope with complex problem that

requires knowledge that are outside of their own field (Harlim, 2012). A problem solving skills

can be recognize as effective if it is more than a simply being able to solve familiar problems but

if it could recognize strategies and processes (Adams, et.al, 2006).