Ambiguity and Uncertainty of Engineering Projects and Defining Goals in Engineering Capstone Courses

Capstone courses have become more widely employed in engineering and engineering technology curricula in the US and around the world in the last thirty years. The courses use a problem-based learning approach and are team-based. Students are tasked to form teams, define their projects’ purpose and goals, investigate concepts of solving problems, and finally implement the most feasible solutions. There are many variations in these courses. Some are offered in one semester, others take place in two or more consecutive semesters. The courses exist in many different engineering branches with a variety of specific requirements. However, the main idea of capstones remains the same: students must take an active role in their own learning and demonstrate proficiency in learning outcomes of their respective programs. In many cases, however, students are not ready to perform well, not because they lack technical knowledge in their respective field, but because they don’t understand the major philosophical contradiction between the ambiguous nature of engineering projects and the need for defining explicit goals of these undertakings. This issue creates stress and frustration, not just for students, but also for instructors, who often don’t recognize the problem of ambiguity that the students encounter. This is also true in many cases because engineering faculty members are experts in their technical fields, not in the philosophy of engineering education. This paper looks at the complexities of the issue in order to help students and instructors improve learning and reduce unnecessary anxiety.