Developing first-year students' perceptions of the engineering profession through realistic, client-driven problems

The integration of engineering contexts and advanced engineering topics into a first-year foundational engineering course are realized by the use of realistic, client-driven problems called Model-Eliciting Activities (MEAs). Model-Eliciting Activities incorporate advanced engineering content, yet are suitable for undergraduate engineering students. These problems are being used as a mechanism to help first-year students understand the nature of the engineering profession and the broad range of skills required to solve open-ended problems. The question is whether the students perceive the interconnectedness of the MEA contexts, the engineering disciplines typically involved in solving similar real-world problems, and the skills necessary to produce quality solutions. Following an in-class implementation of one MEA, students completed a MEA reflection survey. The goal of this paper is to analyze this survey in order to investigate students' perception of: (1) the skills required to solve the Model-Eliciting Activity, (2) how this MEA relates to engineering studies and practice, and (3) their own learning