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Engineering inquiry pattern: student-generated starter questions sorted into engineering design-goal challenges

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 design), q1 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

In this inquiry pattern, learners first explore phenomena during Starters and write observations and questions on sentence strips, as in science inquiry. Facilitators then sort those questions into engineering challenge categories that serve as design goals, and student teams choose one challenge to pursue in a focused investigation. The authors present this as an adaptation of the Light and Shadows inquiry format, arguing that "our modification of the use of questions generated during the starters is an authentic adjustment for an engineering inquiry." In this implementation the questions were sorted into four challenges (balanced bridge, linear regime, thermometer, unknown resistance).

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Starters that expose students to the target circuit or phenomenon and elicit written questions and observations
  • Facilitator time during a break to sort student questions into challenge categories before teams choose a design goal

Constraints

  • The article presents this pattern as an adjustment for engineering inquiry, where engineering is "more the application of scientific principles"; it does not claim the pattern was tested against alternatives.

Target Learners

  • first-year community college students majoring in Electrical Engineering Technology

Target Goals

  • engineering process skills such as circuit assembly and problem solving
  • content understanding of voltage dividers, Kirchhoff's voltage law, and resistive network analysis

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Morzinski, K., Azucena, O., Downs, C., Favaloro, T., Park, J., & U, V. (2010). Circuit Design: An inquiry lab activity at Maui Community College. ASP Conference Series. https://arxiv.org/abs/1009.3296 doi:10.48550/arxiv.1009.3296
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id starter-questions-sorted-into-engineering-challenges
title Engineering inquiry pattern: student-generated starter questions sorted into engineering design-goal challenges
description In this inquiry pattern, learners first explore phenomena during Starters and write observations and questions on sentence strips, as in science inquiry.
status review
generated by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-09-26
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — morzinski-2010

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