Investigating the Use of Simulation Model for Teaching Engineering Design

Research on teaching engineering design skills at the K -12 level is in its early stages and there is a need to understand how to design technology enabled learning environments that support students' productive engagement with the engineering design disciplinary practices in formal classrooms. This paper presents a simulation model that was part of one such learning environment and was designed to identify students' tacit understanding of the system rules and scaffold engineering design thinking skills. Results indicate that sixth graders evidenced good understanding of the relationship between two and three system parameters. Students used their understanding of system rules while solving their design challenge. The simulation model helped elicit students' tacit understanding of system rules and primed them for future learning of engineering design practices.