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A Proposed Case-Based Learning Framework for Fostering Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Creative and Critical Thinking

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Journal of Science Education and Technology
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Rea Lavi at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rea Lavi
H.Deniz Marti at Harvard University
H.Deniz Marti
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Scholars and international bodies have highlighted the need to foster undergraduate engineering students’ creative thinking and critical thinking. Case-based learning is a name for a host of pedagogical approaches which are student-centered, requiring the instructor to act as an expert guide rather than as a source of knowledge. These approaches make use of cases, thus contextualizing learning of discipline or practice-specific knowledge. This approach can help facilitate students’ development of conceptual understanding and thinking skills, as students work through and reflect on the process of solving cases. Despite the learning benefits of case-based learning, it has not often been implemented in undergraduate engineering education when compared with project- or problem-based learning. This paper outlines our proposal for a case-based learning pedagogical framework which aims to foster undergraduate engineering students’ creative and critical thinking. The framework provides scaffolding of the learning process for students using a sequence of case-based learning implementations with varying levels of student autonomy. We begin by providing a theoretical background on problem-solving in engineering, creative thinking, and critical thinking, followed by a review of case-based learning in undergraduate engineering education. Next, we outline our proposed pedagogical framework, including guidelines for instructional design and implementation, as well as practical examples. We then discuss the contributions and limitations of our work. Finally, we discuss potential challenges associated with the implementation of our framework and potential mitigations. This work offers theoretical and practical contributions for developing undergraduate engineering students’ creative and critical thinking.
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Vol:.(1234567890)
Journal of Science Education and Technology (2023) 32:898–911
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-022-10017-w
1 3
A Proposed Case‑Based Learning Framework forFostering
Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Creative andCritical Thinking
ReaLavi1 · DenizMarti2
Accepted: 7 December 2022 / Published online: 9 February 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2023
Abstract
Scholars and international bodies have highlighted the need to foster undergraduate engineering students’ creative think-
ing and critical thinking. Case-based learning is a name for a host of pedagogical approaches which are student-centered,
requiring the instructor to act as an expert guide rather than asa source of knowledge. These approaches make use of
cases, thus contextualizing learning of discipline or practice-specific knowledge. This approach can help facilitate stu-
dents’ development of conceptual understanding and thinking skills, as students work through and reflect on the process
of solving cases. Despite the learning benefits of case-based learning, it has not often been implemented in undergraduate
engineering education when compared with project- or problem-based learning. This paper outlines our proposal for a
case-based learning pedagogical framework which aims to foster undergraduate engineering students’ creative and critical
thinking. The framework provides scaffolding of the learning process for students using a sequence of case-based learning
implementations with varying levels of student autonomy. We begin by providing a theoretical background on problem-
solving in engineering, creative thinking, and critical thinking, followed by a review of case-based learning in undergraduate
engineering education. Next, we outline our proposed pedagogical framework, including guidelines for instructional design
and implementation, as well as practical examples. We then discuss the contributions and limitations of our work. Finally,
we discuss potential challenges associated with the implementation of our frameworkand potential mitigations. This work
offerstheoretical and practicalcontributions for developingundergraduate engineering students’ creative and critical thinking.
Keywords Case-based learning· Creative thinking· Critical thinking· Engineering education· Undergraduate education
Introduction
As the world becomes more volatile, uncertain, ambiguous,
and complex (Scott, 2015), and with automation expected
to spread rapidly to more sectors (Nedelkoska & Quintini,
2018), the need for problem-solvers who are creative and
critical-minded has come to the fore in global job markets
(World Economic Forum, 2016). Such need has become
even more pronounced in science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) professions (Jang, 2016).
Educational organizations have also stressed the impor-
tance of fostering undergraduate STEM students’ creative
and critical thinking (ABET, 2019; Jamieson & Lohmann,
2012; National Research Council, 2013). However, despite
the stated need for creative, critical thinking alumni of
undergraduate engineering, many engineering-centric insti-
tutions of higher education neither emphasize nor encourage
the acquisition of these thinking skills. Furthermore, those
institutions fail to include acquisition of general abilities
to tackle real-life problems into their curricula and peda-
gogy (Atwood & Pretz, 2016; Cropley, 2015; Jamieson &
Lohmann, 2012; Lavi etal., 2021; Valentine etal., 2019).
Other studies have also shown that undergraduate engi-
neering students’ general creativity has decreased in
recent decades (Kim, 2011) and that those students’ crea-
tive problem-solving ability tends to decrease during their
studies (Genco etal., 2012; Kazerounian & Foley, 2007).
Regarding students’ critical thinking, studies tend to show a
mixed picture pointing toward overall stagnation rather than
an increase or a decline (Sola etal., 2017).
* Rea Lavi
realavi@mit.edu
Deniz Marti
hdmarti@g.harvard.edu
1 School ofEngineering, Massachusetts Institute
ofTechnology, Cambridge, USA
2 John A. Paulson School ofEngineering andApplied
Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, USA
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... It provides prototype strategies that represent theories or principles in addition to facilitating situations where students may practice their problem-solving and decision-making skills (Luo et al., 2018). The students must dissect the case studies, identify the underlying issues, and generate potential solutions (Lavi & Marti, 2023). Hence, the students think beyond the given information, make connections between information, and propose innovative solutions. ...
... This initiative can be beneficial in satisfying students' psychological need for autonomy and relatedness. Moreover, it was previously highlighted that CBI advocates problem-solving and requires students' innovative solutions for cases (Lavi & Marti, 2023). Our design encourages students to describe and explain the cases (Yin, 2009) with reference to solid international standards or benchmarks. ...
... Contrary to our common perception that the selected case studies should represent successful and influential cases, the students considered open-ended or imperfect cases, recent cases or cases representing small and medium-sized companies as being more effective in cultivating their creativity and entrepreneurship. These proposals indicate that students feel stronger relatedness when the case is relevant to them, and they are provided with opportunities to improve on their designed solutions (Lavi & Marti, 2023). Future instructional designers are suggested to incorporate these insights into their subsequent practices. ...
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Designing effective strategies for developing higher education students’ competencies, such as creativity and entrepreneurship, is crucial for their survival and self-realization in the technology-rich 21st century. This study is important as it addresses a significant research gap by designing and implementing self-determination theory (SDT)-guided case-based instruction (CBI) to enhance digital learners’ creativity and entrepreneurship. A class of 34 master’s students in a taught programme focused on digital learning and technology at a public university in Hong Kong participated in the study. First, the students took a pre-test to assess their creativity and entrepreneurship. They then experienced a 13-week course designed using SDT-guided CBI. After the intervention, they completed a post-test on their creativity and entrepreneurship. Additionally, the researchers conducted interviews with 10 participants. These processes allowed the researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of the SDT-guided CBI learning activities and to gather participants’ suggestions for improving the design. The results of a repeated measures analysis of variance indicated the feasibility of SDT-guided CBI. Significant improvements in creativity were observed from the pre-test to the post-test, from the pre-test to the mid-test, and from the mid-test to the post-test. Meanwhile, students’ entrepreneurship significantly increased from the pre-test to the post-test, although the increases from the pre-test to the mid-test and from the mid-test to the post-test were slight and did not reach a significant level. From the qualitative data, students provided suggestions such as selecting effective case studies, using entrepreneurs’ stories, supporting entrepreneurial experiences, promoting technology-enhanced learning, and advocating for collaborative learning to improve the design. The findings imply that SDT-guided CBI has the potential to continually enhance students’ creativity and entrepreneurship throughout its implementation, with significant opportunities for improvement based on the implementation experiences.
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... Active learning methods are represented in six papers (Dai et al., 2023;Dori et al., 2023;Dutta et al., 2023;Lavi & Marti, 2023;Swain et al., 2023;Wengrowicz et al., 2023;Yoel Rocker et al., 2023). These methods include project-, problem-, case-, and inquiry-based learning, with students working individually and in groups while applying higher order thinking skills (Lavi et al., 2021). ...
... Critical thinking is the highest represented thinking skill in the special issue, with five papers including it within the research scope (Barak & Shahab, 2023;Davis et al., 2023;Dutta et al., 2023;Gadot & Tsybulsky, 2023;Lavi & Marti, 2023). Barak and Shahab (2023) examined the way critical thinking (CT) is conceptualized and experienced by instructors and local and international students from China and accordingly design a culturally inclusive theoretical framework for CT cultivation. ...
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... In medical education, studies by Agustina & Ro'isatin, (2024) and Roshangar et al., (2020) highlighted that CBL effectively nurtures critical thinking skills by simulating clinical decision-making processes. However, studies in the field of business education, such as those by Lavi & Marti, (2023), showed that while CBL enhances analytical skills, its effectiveness in fostering critical reflection on business practices is mixed. This indicates that while CBL is universally beneficial, its application and effectiveness may depend on the subject area and the nature of the real-life cases used. ...
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... Such a framework can prepare students to meet the challenges of the future with a well-rounded set of skills and values. By integrating these themes into curriculum development and pedagogical strategies, engineering educators can cultivate a new generation of engineers poised to tackle global challenges with innovative solutions, ethical foresight, and effective leadership (Lavi and Marti, 2023;Rottmann and Kendall, 2022;Niles et al., 2020;Boshoff et al., 2013). The insights gathered from the DAE workshop underscore the importance of innovative educational practices to foster a diverse set of competencies, highlighting the role of pioneering pedagogical tools in shaping the future of engineering identity and practice. ...
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... Critical thinking disposition is imperative for medical education. The case-based learning method has gained recognition as a pivotal strategy for fostering the critical thinking disposition among undergraduate students across a diverse range of disciplines and curricula [22][23][24]. Given that Medical Immunology is the overarching principle that links multiple medical subjects, this study discovered a case-based teaching model based on Nobel Prize stories in this course to cultivate students' critical thinking disposition in the medical university. ...
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... Lavi and Marti [28] reviewed the literature on CBL in undergraduate engineering education and found four ways in which cases were used in empirical studies: (a) embeddedone or more cases embedded throughout course or module; (b) multi-standalone-one or more standalone cases implemented in multiple courses; (c) single standalone-one or more standalone cases, each implemented in one course; and (d) assessment-standalone case(s) used for summative learning assessments in course. Table 3. Types of case-based learning implementations and their respective learning progressions. ...
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