Paper presented at ASEE Annual Meeting 1995, Session 2666. Abstract: "A variety of design-process and design-methods courses exist in engineering education. The primary objective of such courses is to teach engineering design fu  ... more

Paper presented at ASEE Annual Meeting 1995, Session 2666. Abstract: "A variety of design-process and design-methods courses exist in engineering education. The primary objective of such courses is to teach engineering design fundamentals utilizing repeatable design techniques. By so doing, students obtain (1) tools they may employ during their education, (2) design experiences to understand the “big picture” of engineering, and (3) proven methods to attack open-ended problems. While these skills are worthwhile, especially as design courses are moved earlier in curricula, many students report that design methods are typically taught at a high-level and in a compartmentalized fashion. Often, the students’ courses do not include opportunities to obtain incremental concrete experiences with the methods. Nor do such courses allow for suitable observation and reflection as the methods are executed. In this paper, we describe a new approach for teaching design methods which addresses these issues. This approach incorporates hands-on experiences through the use of “reverse-engineering” projects. As the fundamentals of design techniques are presented, students immediately apply the methods to actual, existing products. They are able to hold these products physically in their hands, dissect them, perform experiments on their components, and evolve them into new successful creations. Based on this reverse-engineering concept, we have developed and tested new courses at The University of Texas, MIT, and the United States Air Force Academy. In the body of this paper, we present the structure of these courses, an example of our teaching approach, and a brief evaluation of the results."   less

Autodesk provides a wide range of CAD and engineering analysis software products in use in industry and academe. They have very favorable programs for secondary and higher education.  ... more

Autodesk provides a wide range of CAD and engineering analysis software products in use in industry and academe. They have very favorable programs for secondary and higher education.   less

Digital video from the Futures Channel. Synopsis: "She designed a sailboat and a ferris wheel. He designed a motorcycle and a roller coaster. They're a team and they have jobs that most kids (and a lot of adults) would envy: They  ... more

Digital video from the Futures Channel. Synopsis: "She designed a sailboat and a ferris wheel. He designed a motorcycle and a roller coaster. They're a team and they have jobs that most kids (and a lot of adults) would envy: They design toys and get paid for it." Running time 4:45 minutes.   less

Wired news story and video about the invention of Legos. Excerpt: "As of two days ago, it has been 80 years since Ole Kirk Kristiansen started a carpentry business in Billund, Denmark — a company that would eventually turn into th  ... more

Wired news story and video about the invention of Legos. Excerpt: "As of two days ago, it has been 80 years since Ole Kirk Kristiansen started a carpentry business in Billund, Denmark — a company that would eventually turn into the Lego Group we all know and love. As part of the celebrations, Lego has made this short animated film. It chronicles the ups and downs Ole, his sons, and now grandson have gone through since the carpentry business starting failing in the mid 1930s and Ole turned to making high-quality wooden toys, including a disastrous fire in the factory during World War II, the introduction of the first plastic toys and bricks in late 40s, another factory fire, the construction of an airport to help with shipping and eventually the first Legoland theme park."   less

Teaching activity for ages 7-11. On this day in 1959, the first Barbie doll goes on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Ask learners to organise a survey of favourite toys in their class and swap results with  ... more

Teaching activity for ages 7-11. On this day in 1959, the first Barbie doll goes on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Ask learners to organise a survey of favourite toys in their class and swap results with another class. Encourage them to use IT to present the results in different graph formats. They may need support in deciding how to group different answers together, for example whether to count all kinds of dolls in one category, or have separate categories for each individual kind of doll. They could swap results with another class or age group, or ask parents and grandparents about their favourite toys when they were children, or re-run the survey in relation to their own favourite toys when they were younger. Help them to compare and interpret the results, looking for differences and trends. What sorts of toys do older / younger learners seem to prefer?   less

"The Biomimicry Institute has a passion for both formal and informal public education from K-12 and university to museum exhibits, nature center programs, media, and publications. Wherever we teach biomimicry, we have the choice o  ... more

"The Biomimicry Institute has a passion for both formal and informal public education from K-12 and university to museum exhibits, nature center programs, media, and publications. Wherever we teach biomimicry, we have the choice of teaching it as a separate subject, or incorporating it as a problem-solving method into any number of different subjects. We feel that the latter is a more useful way of naturalizing biomimicry in the culture. For instance, teachers can introduce biomimicry as a way to get ideas for green reactions in chemistry class, better structural designs in engineering class, or even better policy in economics class. We think this integration of bio-inspired problem-solving into all subjects prevents the “siloing” of biomimicry. What teachers tell us they need, in addition to a description of the method, is access to biological information that will help inspire their students. For this reason, the Institute would like to create “biological know-how” modules that will simultaneously meet the needs of all of our educational efforts. An example might be a module on how nature filters and purifies water. The module would contain information on nature’s champion filterers, such as mangroves, filter feeders, and kidneys, along with case studies of any technologies that have been inspired by these mentors. The same module would serve several different educational venues. For example, photos, content, and case studies might appear as a supplement to a water exhibit at a science museum. Project Wild! type curricula packets on the topic could be posted on the portal for easy distribution to K-12 teachers. Design studios helping direct designers toward specific biomimetic design solutions could also use the same theme-based content. Scientific content on water filtration would also be in the portal, hopefully encouraging engineers and designers to research nature’s strategies for their designs. We also plan to write short articles for the media on the topic."   less

Educational game with lesson plans. "A massively collaborative imagining of the first 32 weeks of a global oil crisis. An alternate reality chronicled online in 1,500 personal blog entries, videos, voicemails and images.  ... more

Educational game with lesson plans. "A massively collaborative imagining of the first 32 weeks of a global oil crisis. An alternate reality chronicled online in 1,500 personal blog entries, videos, voicemails and images.   less

Website with examples of toys that could be made from inexpensive materials and trash. "The best thing a child can do with a toy is break it !"  ... more

Website with examples of toys that could be made from inexpensive materials and trash. "The best thing a child can do with a toy is break it !"   less

A compilation of models of design. From the author: "This book is not finished. We’ve been developing it over the past few years. It began as a manilla folder with copies of different process models. We completed the first “book”  ... more

A compilation of models of design. From the author: "This book is not finished. We’ve been developing it over the past few years. It began as a manilla folder with copies of different process models. We completed the first “book” version as part of a project undertaken for Elaine Coleman and Sun’s Virtual Center for Innovation. We present this version for educational purposes only. We have obtained no permissions to reproduce any of the models. Copyrights remain with their owners. If you know of any models which are not featured in this book, please feel free to share them with us. Everyone designs. The teacher arranging desks for a discussion. The entrepreneur planning a business. The team building a rocket. Their results differ. So do their goals. So do the scales of their projects and the media they use. Even their actions appear quite different. What’s similar is that they are designing. What’s similar are the processes they follow. Our processes determine the quality of our products. If we wish to improve our products, we must improve our processes; we must continually redesign not just our products but also the way we design. That’s why we study the design process. To know what we do and how we do it. To understand it and improve it. To become better designers. In this book, I have collected over one-hundred descriptions of design and development processes, from architecture, industrial design, mechanical engineering, quality management, and software development. They range from short mnemonic devices, such as the 4Ds (define, design, develop, deploy), to elaborate schemes, such as Archer’s 9-phase, 229-step “systematic method for designers.” Some are synonyms for the same process; others represent differing approaches to design."   less

Case study on automotive design that includes oral histories, scholarship and gender issues. Some of the sections have teachers' guides. "Cars make cultural as well as personal statements—the designs of the cars we buy reveal a  ... more

Case study on automotive design that includes oral histories, scholarship and gender issues. Some of the sections have teachers' guides. "Cars make cultural as well as personal statements—the designs of the cars we buy reveal a great deal about both our society and our selves. When Buick discovered in the 1990s that the average age of its customers had risen to 68, for example, it hired Tiger Woods as a spokesperson and designed a sports car christened the Bengal to appeal to successful young professionals. Buick’s choice of pitchman and car—and their subsequent decision not to bring it to market—tells us much about America before and after September 11, 2001. In his first essay on the history of auto design, David Gartman shows that cars have only rarely and belatedly come to be treated seriously by scholars as aesthetic objects with cultural significance, and that this lack of attention has stemmed from scholarly prejudice against the car’s practical function as a transportation device. Then, in his second essay, Gartman examines more closely the tense relationship between engineers and designers in the auto industry, a relationship always shaped by cultural ideas about gender, with “pretty boy” designers having to establish their masculinity against the “tough guy” engineers."   less