The acquisition of wisdom in engineering design

Student motivation and knowledge restructuring are examined in the light of experience with engineering design projects. The work is related to existing experience with a broad range of observations resulting from educational experiments. The results of student responses to project work clearly identify concepts which are avoided by students when solving engineering problems. It is conjectured that these orphan concepts provide signposts to a better learning environment. The students' responses also suggest that working in a familiar environment, where an informal knowledge base already exists, is a strong positive motivator for knowledge restructuring.