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The objective of this study was to describe the task interpretation of students engaged in a design activity and determine the extent to which students translate their understanding of their design task to their planning and cognitive strategies. Twenty-nine students at one Colorado high school participated in this study. Students worked individually in the Architectural Design class (n=7), and in teams in the Robotics Design class (n=22). To capture students' perceptions of their understanding of the task, planning strategies, and cognitive strategies, the Engineering Design Questionnaire (EDQ) was used. The development of the EDQ was guided by Butler and Cartier's Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) model. Besides the EDQ, a Web-based Engineering Design Notebook was developed to facilitate students reporting planning activities and engineering design strategies. Graphical views are used to present quantitative and qualitative analysis of data collected in this study. In addition, the mean scores of design phases (i.e., SRL dimensions) were compared across SRL features (i.e., task interpretation, planning strategies, and cognitive strategies). From the analysis, the findings suggest that the level of understanding of the task were high in problem definition, conceptual design, and preliminary design. In contrast, students were found to be lacking on those three design process components in the area of planning strategies. Students performed well in cognitive strategies except for problem definition. (Contains 18 figures and 10 tables.)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert