Graphical representations of engineering design behavior

Engineering design is a necessary skill for all graduating engineers. As educators, we must develop ways to represent engineering design behavior that allow us to assess alternative methods of teaching design. Using verbal protocol analysis, we are able to document and analyze student design processes. When analyzed, design process data reveal differences in student approaches and allow researchers to make comparisons across students. Here, we present alternative methods of displaying design process data from verbal protocols and discuss the types of analyses that are possible from each representation.