RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
Preliminary Analysis of Problem Solving in Introductory Environmental Engineering
Page: 1456
Mathematical skills are often considered essential for success in engineering. In this preliminary work, we examine the written work of environmental engineering students on their midterm exams in a class on small water systems. Using an adapted version of Carlson and Bloom's Multidimensional Problem-Solving Framework, we identified the problem-solving phase in which students committed errors on their exams. Preliminary analysis of these data suggest that the engineering students in our sample possessed the necessary mathematical skills necessary to solve problems related to the design of small water systems, but their ability to solve these problems successfully was inhibited by gaps in their understanding of engineering content.