Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVCU Scholars Compass

Undergraduate Research Posters Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

2013

Boxed In: The Lack of Creative Thinking inEngineering StudentsRachel WilburVirginia Commonwealth University

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The Lack of Creative Thinking in Engineering Students

Overview

The lack of creativity coming from recently

graduated engineering students seems to be

apparent through my observations of students,

standard social stigma, as well as research

conducted at the University of Massachusetts,

Dartmouth. However, little is known about the

reason behind this vastly growing problem.

Without a better understanding of the issues,

universities will continue to produce engineers

lacking innovative abilities and creative

motivation. Seven scholarly articles and studies

as well as three primary sources were reviewed

and analyzed in order to better understand what

difficulties universities face within the

engineering community. It has come to my

realization that not only is the lack-luster

curriculum leading to student disengagement, but

the professors also have difficulty expressing the

value of creativity, as they cannot clearly define

what creativity entails in their specific courses

and disciplines. Other problems arise when

professors who are proficient with the idea of

creative teaching are not incorporating it into

their classrooms because the courses are material

heavy and time-limited. Several solutions such

as project-based introductory courses,

interdisciplinary study programs, and professor

training have been suggested to solve these faults

in the engineering curricula. If changes do not

begin to occur within the university environment,

engineering students may find it difficult to

exhibit the main characteristics of a “good”

engineer that companies are searching for—

becoming an innovator and a thinker.

ReferencesAhern, Aoife; O’Connor, Tom; McRuairc, Gerry; McNamara, Martin; O’Donnell, Dierdre. (2011, November). “Critical thinking

in the university curriculum—the impact on engineering education”. European Journal of Engineering Education,37.

Retrieved March 17, 2013, from https://vcu-illiad-oclc-

org.proxy.library.vcu.edu/illiad/illiadsso/illiad.dll?SessionID=Y144041252C&Action=10&Form=75&Value=586672.

Amoussou, Guy-Alain; Porter, Michael; Steinberg, Steven.(2011,October). “Assessing Creativity Practices in Design.”

Frontiers of Education Conference, S2B-1 - S2B-6. Retrieved Feb. 17, 2013, from

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.library.vcu.edu/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6143053.

Baillie, Caroline. (2002, October). “Enhancing creativity in engineering students”. Engineering Science and Education Journal,

11. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1106722&contentType=Journals+%26+Magazines&ma

tchBoolean%3Dtrue%26searchField%3DSearch_All%26queryText%3D%28%28Engineering+Curricul*%29+AND+cre

ativ*+OR+Innovat*%29.

Disney’s Approach to Creativity and Innovation. Disney Institute. n.d. Web. Retrieved Mar 4, 2013 from

http://www.disneyinstitutecollateral.com/files/PDP/CreativityInnovation_Extended.pdf.

Engineer Memes. (n.d.). In Facebook [Fan Page]. Retrieved April 2, 2013, from

http://www.facebook.com/TrustMeEngineeringMemes?ref=ts&fref=ts

Genco, Nicole; Holtta-Otto, Katja; Seepersad, Carolyn Conno. (2012, January). “An Experimental Investigation of the

Innovation Capabilities of undergraduate Engineering Students”. Journal of Engineering Education, 101. Retrieved

February 1, 2013, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2012.tb00041.x/abstract.

Haertel, Tobias; Terkowsky, Claudius; Jahnke, Isa.(2012,September). “Where have all the inventors gone? Is there a lack of

spirit of research in engineering education curricula?” 2012 15th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative

Learning (ICL),8. Retrieved Feb. 17, 2013, from

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.library.vcu.edu/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6402085.

Johri, Aditya. (2009,October). “Work in Progress— Reorganizing Engineering Pedagogy: Preventing Student Disengagement

by Increasing Dialogic Learning”. Frontiers in Education Conference, 39. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5350602&contentType=Conference+Publications&ma

tchBoolean%3Dtrue%26searchField%3DSearch_All%26queryText%3D%28%28Engineering+Curricul*%29+AND+lack+of

+creativ*+OR+Innovat*%29.

Liu, Zhiqiang; Schonwetter, Dieter J. (2004). “Teaching Creativity in Engineering”. International Journal of Engineering

Education, 20. Retrieved February 5, 2013, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2168-

9830.2012.tb00041.x/abstract.

VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation. n.d. Web. Retrieved Mar 4, 2013 from http://www.davincicenter.vcu.edu/.

By Rachel Wilbur

ResultsBased on a study by Genco (2012) freshman

engineering students typically hold more

creativity and innovation than those of graduating

seniors, but do not lose the feasibility of design.

Studies by Ahern (2011), Amoussou (2011), and

Haertel (2012) show most professors have a

desire to incorporate creativity into their courses

but lack the knowledge on how exactly to do so as

well as the time. Many classes are content driven

leaving little time for the students to explore

actual uses for the formulae they learn but rather

plug-and- chug. The result is a higher focus on

getting good grades than fully understanding the

material and knowing how to implement it

innovatively. Some universities such as VCU and

RPI are attempting to supplement their

engineering students with programs such as the da

Vinci Center that allows for interdisciplinary

open-ended projects. It is the option for open-

ended problems that allows students to apply the

knowledge from the classroom. Based on the

VCU curriculum there is a significant lack of

these real-life situations that are presented in

engineering course. Most of the problems and

projects given to students already have answers.

This causes a limit to the creative thinking

students can apply.

ConclusionCreativity is a necessary part of the engineering curriculum because

it allows for improved innovation and discovery. However, the

engineering curriculum at most schools is not substantial enough in

their ability to teach or encourage creativity. This is leading to

graduating students who lack the ability to think creatively and

discover innovations. Some of the problem lies in the fact that

creativity is difficult to define in the engineering community. There

is also a lack of time available to allow for open-ended problem

solving, therefore professors opt for the easier, more obvious

problems that lack real-life trial and error. In order to correct these

issues, we must consider implementing training for professors or

additional supplemental programming to allow for creative outlet by

the students.

Taylor's Hierarchy of CreativityIt appears most students reach Technical Creativity by the

time they graduate. Liu (2004) suggests it is likely that

engineers will not surpass innovative creativity.

AcknowledgmentsThank you to Professor Prichard and Dr. Fong for encouraging

my research and helping me organize my thoughts. Also to

my parents who have taught me to challenge the norm and

speak confidently about my opinions.