Teaching students to structure engineering problems with CAI tools

The importance of methodologies and computer-aided tools for problem structuring and solving has been demonstrated by various research activities since the 1970s. The need for systematizing the first phase of problem solving activity has led the authors to the development of a dedicated procedure for problem reformulation and the implementation of a dedicated software package, named BOB-UP1. It aims at driving the user to reformulate the initial problem using a dialogue–based system hiding an accurate cause-effect analysis. BOB-UP1 provides three tools (Ill-Balls diagram, Fight diagram, and a linguistic composer) that guide step-by-step the user to the right problem formulation. This paper presents the experimentation of such CAI tool within two courses at the University of Bergamo. The first is a compulsory course for the master degree in Mechanical Engineering, while the latter is an elective course for the master degree in Mechanical Engineering and Management Engineering. The experimentation has been carried out with 56 students sub-divided into three groups according to their competences on problem structuring and solving and technical backgrounds. We considered five problems related to industrial applications coming from different technological domains to demonstrate the independence of the results from the specific industrial area. Finally, results are discussed presenting advantages and drawbacks. They have been evaluated according to specific criteria to evaluate its usability and efficacy; in addition, students were asked to fill a questionnaire to comprehend the perception they have on BOB-UP1 usefulness and potential.