Student Understanding of Prototyping in Capstone Projects

Abstract This study investigates the evolving understanding and application of prototyping among twenty undergraduate mechanical engineering students involved in their capstone projects. Employing a four-stage survey design approach, the research explores how students’ baseline knowledge, perceptions, and collaborative experiences with prototyping evolve throughout the project. Student definitions of prototyping are compared to a literature-based definition to determine conceptual understanding. These, in addition to other student factors, such as types of prototypes, facilities, tools used in the past are aggregated into composite team profiles that are compared. This includes systematically capturing the students’ conceptual understanding through definitions that are compared with established literature-based definitions of prototypes and prototyping. Additionally, the evolution of students’ perceptions of prototyping is elucidated. It is seen that students and teams’ perceptions of prototyping do change throughout the project, likely because of engaging with the prototypes. The results reveal that while a deeper grasp of prototyping does not align with proficient results, it generally leads to avoiding poor project outcomes. This emphasizes the importance of equipping students with early exposure and knowledge of prototyping principles. This study aims to inform educational practices and encourage effective use of prototyping in capstone projects and real-world engineering contexts, ultimately providing valuable insights into its role in student learning and project success.