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Effect of interdependence on team effectiveness during design problem-solving in first-year engineering

ABSTRACT This quasi-experimental study presents the integration of cooperative learning pedagogy with the tasks of the engineering design process at a first-year interdisciplinary design course for undergraduate engineering students at a private engineering university in India. With a sample of 118 students, 59 each in the experimental group and control group, the integration presented as four interventions were tested for their effectiveness in two aspects: performance in the three tasks of the engineering design process: problem definition, concept generation and detailed design, and satisfaction with team interpersonal processes and, individual wellbeing and learning. The performance was measured using rubrics-based assessment, and satisfaction was measured using two subscales of a team diagnostic survey after demonstrating its validity and reliability. Results revealed significant differences in performance between the two groups with large to medium effect sizes. While cooperative learning brings members together at a level that increases interdependencies, often leading to arguments and conflicts, the proposed interventions yielded contrary results. Despite increased interdependence, the interventions did not lead to statistically significant between-group differences in team interpersonal processes and individual wellbeing and learning. Thus, this study has important implications for how engineering educators structure interdependencies between students in courses focusing on design problem-solving.