INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION, cilt.39, sa.3, ss.685-702, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
To survive and thrive in today’s fast-changing workplace, engineers will need to become adaptive experts. Undergraduate
education can play a critical role in improving engineering students’ adaptive skills that are important for their future
productivity. This education must integrate practice and mastery of Adaptive Expertise (AE) dimensions in the
engineering curriculum. In this study we investigated the role of various factors on the undergraduate engineering
students’ manifestation of AE through contextual Computer-Aided Design (CAD) exercises. A total of 390 students from
two universities were asked to model either a stylized or familiar component that they brought from home as a contextual
exercise. In both cases, we conducted pre and post interviews with the students to capture how they approached their tasks
and overcame any challenges. Effects of the contextualized activity on students’ AE characteristics were investigated. In
addition, utilizing the Adaptive Expertise Survey (AES), we collected data from over 600 participants spanning students
over three years from two institutions as well as industry professionals. We found that the overall manifestation of AE
during CAD exercises was significantly correlated with overall total AES scores. Participants’ increased experience and
education were shown to be associated with their increased AE captured through both the survey administrations and
interview sessions. Contextual CAD modeling exercises had an effect on AE manifestations. Our findings provide insights
into the research conducted to enhance CAD instruction. We report that multiple perspectives, goals and beliefs, and
metacognitive skills are indicators of developing AE and that educators should consider promoting those skills in CAD
education.