Between flexibility and relativism: How students deal with uncertainty in sustainability challenges

Bohm, N.L.; Klaassen, R.G.; van Bueren, Ellen; den Brok, P.

doi:10.21427/PCG5-D760

Between flexibility and relativism

Title

Between flexibility and relativism: How students deal with uncertainty in sustainability challenges

Author

Bohm, N.L. (TU Delft Urban Development Management)
Klaassen, R.G. (TU Delft Policy & Implementation)
van Bueren, Ellen (TU Delft Management in the Built Environment)
den Brok, P. (Wageningen University & Research)

Contributor

Reilly, Ger (editor)
Murphy, Mike (editor)
Nagy, Balazs Vince (editor)
Jarvinen, Hannu-Matti (editor)

Department

Management in the Built Environment

Date

2023

Abstract

Universities open their doors to society, inviting the complexity of the world to enter engineering education through challenge-based courses. While working on complex issues, engineering students learn to deal with different kinds of uncertainty: uncertainty about the dynamics of a real-world challenge, the knowledge gaps in the problem, or the conflicting perspectives amongst the people involved. Although we know from previous research that students are likely to encounter these uncertainties in sustainability challenges, which metacognitive strategies they use to deal with them is unclear. We interviewed nine MSc students at the end of a challenge-based course at a Dutch university of technology. We asked the students how they dealt with uncertainty in collaboration with the commissioner, their student team, and the teachers. The interviews were analyzed through grounded, consensus-based coding by two researchers. Preliminary results show students use three main strategies. First, the different perspectives from peers in their team inform the position of the student. Second, students find expectation management of the commissioner essential, yet students struggle with how to do this in a professional and timely way. Third, students frame the uncertainties they encounter as part of the learning process, which allows them to accept the possibility of failure. This study provides first insights in metacognitive uncertainty strategies and suggests those strategies should become a more prominent topic in coaching students. When uncertainty becomes an explicit part of challenge-based education, students learn to deal with both the known and unknown in the transition to a sustainable society.

Subject

challenge-based learning
metacognition
uncertainty
urban sustainability

To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:fc35eeb5-7d40-4839-9828-e971277d6107

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/PCG5-D760

Publisher

European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI)

ISBN

978-287352026-7

Source

SEFI 2023 - 51st Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education: Engineering Education for Sustainability, Proceedings