AUTHOR=Hofer Sarah Isabelle , Reinhold Frank , Loch Frieder , Vogel-Heuser Birgit 

TITLE=Engineering Students' Thinking About Technical Systems: An Ontological Categories Approach

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Education

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.00066

DOI=10.3389/feduc.2020.00066

ISSN=2504-284X

ABSTRACT=<p>This paper aims at identifying ontological categories as higher-order knowledge structures that underlie engineering students' thinking about technical systems. Derived from interviews, these ontological categories include, inter alia, a focus on the behavior, structure, or purpose of a technical system. We designed and administered a paper-based test to assess these ontological categories in a sample of <italic>N</italic> = 340 first-year students in different engineering disciplines. Based on their activation patterns across ontological categories, students clustered into six different <italic>ontological</italic> profiles. Study program, gender as well as objective and self-perceived cognitive abilities were associated with differences in jointly activated ontological categories. Additional idiosyncratic influences and experiences, however, seemed to play a more important role. Our results can inform university instruction and support successful co-operation in engineering.</p>