Problem Solving and Learning in Everyday Structural Engineering Work

In this chapter, the author presents synopses of two problem solving episodes drawn from an extensive ethnographic study of the mathematical behavior of structural engineers. The larger study comprised 70 hours of observations of engineers at work in two structural engineering firms, along with 24 hours of interviews of the engineers and the collection and analysis of artifacts of their work. Using episodes from an ethnographic study of the mathematical behavior of structural engineers in practice, the author illustrates the nature of their everyday problem solving. Further, like Lesh and Harel, she takes the view that solving problems is, in effect, learning, and contend that through observations of everyday problem solving activity we can gain an understanding of how and what engineers learn in the course of practice. The heart of the intellectual work of structural engineers is the application of mathematical representations and procedures to solve design problems, which usually requires the selection, adaptation, or creation of a model.