A funds of knowledge approach to developing engineering students' design problem framing skills

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Svihla ◽  
Yan Chen ◽  
Sung “Pil” Kang
Keyword(s):  
Design Problem ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Funds Of Knowledge ◽  
Problem Framing

A Comparison of Variety Metrics in Engineering Design

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Henderson ◽  
Kevin Helm ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Seda McKilligan ◽  
Shanna Daly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Solution Space ◽  
New Variety ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Correlation Analyses ◽  
Design Ideas

This paper focuses on comparing and contrasting methods for assessing the variety of a group of design ideas. Variety is an important attribute of design ideas, because it indicates the extent to which the solution space has been explored. There is a greater likelihood of successfully solving a design problem when a more diverse set of ideas is generated in the early stages of design. While there are three existing metrics for variety, it has not been established how well they correlate with each other, so it is unknown whether they provide similar assessments of variety. This uncertainty inspired our investigation of the three existing metrics and, eventually, the development of a new variety metric — all of which we compared statistically and qualitatively. In particular, 104 design ideas collected from 29 sophomore mechanical engineering students were analyzed using the existing and new variety metrics. We conducted correlation analyses to determine if the four metrics were related and to what degree. We also considered the qualitative differences among these metrics, along with where they might be used most effectively. We found varying levels of statistically significant correlations among the four metrics, indicating that they are dependent. Even so, each metric offers a unique perspective on variety and may be useful in different situations.

Quantifying the Impact of Domain Knowledge and Problem Framing on Sequential Decisions in Engineering Design

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Murtuza Shergadwala ◽  
Ilias Bilionis ◽  
Karthik N. Kannan ◽  
Jitesh H. Panchal
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Information Acquisition ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Domain Knowledge ◽  
Optimization Problem ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Problem Framing ◽  
Design Solutions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Domain Independent

Many decisions within engineering systems design are typically made by humans. These decisions significantly affect the design outcomes and the resources used within design processes. While decision theory is increasingly being used from a normative standpoint to develop computational methods for engineering design, there is still a significant gap in our understanding of how humans make decisions within the design process. Particularly, there is lack of knowledge about how an individual's domain knowledge and framing of the design problem affect information acquisition decisions. To address this gap, the objective of this paper is to quantify the impact of a designer's domain knowledge and problem framing on their information acquisition decisions and the corresponding design outcomes. The objective is achieved by (i) developing a descriptive model of information acquisition decisions, based on an optimal one-step look ahead sequential strategy, utilizing expected improvement maximization, and (ii) using the model in conjunction with a controlled behavioral experiment. The domain knowledge of an individual is measured in the experiment using a concept inventory, whereas the problem framing is controlled as a treatment variable in the experiment. A design optimization problem is framed in two different ways: a domain-specific track design problem and a domain-independent function optimization problem (FOP). The results indicate that when the problem is framed as a domain-specific design task, the design solutions are better and individuals have a better state of knowledge about the problem, as compared to the domain-independent task. The design solutions are found to be better when individuals have a higher knowledge of the domain and they follow the modeled strategy closely.

scholarly journals Mapping Assets of Diverse Groups for Chemical Engineering Design Problem Framing Ability

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Svihla ◽  
Abhaya Datye ◽  
Jamie Gomez ◽  
Victor Law ◽  
Sophia Bowers
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
Problem Framing ◽  
Engineering Design Problem ◽  
Diverse Groups

Comparing Ideation Techniques for Beginning Designers

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert ◽  
Seda Yilmaz ◽  
Richard Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Design Problem ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Engineering Design Problem ◽  
Consensual Assessment Technique ◽  
Initial Idea

Concept generation techniques can help to support designers in generating multiple ideas during design tasks. However, differences in the ways these techniques guide idea generation are not well understood. This study investigated the qualities of concepts generated by beginning engineering designers using one of three different idea generation techniques. Working individually on an open-ended engineering design problem, 102 first year engineering students learned and applied one of three different ideation techniques—design heuristics, morphological analysis, or individual brainstorming (using brainstorming rules to generate ideas working alone)—to a given design problem. Using the consensual assessment technique, all concepts were rated for creativity, elaboration, and practicality, and all participants' concept sets were rated for quantity and diversity. The simplest technique, individual brainstorming, led to the most concepts within the short (25 minute) ideation session. All three techniques produced creative concepts averaging near the scale midpoint. The elaboration of the concepts was significantly higher with design heuristics and morphological analysis techniques, and the practicality was significantly higher using design heuristics. Controlling for number of concepts generated, there were no significant differences in diversity of solution sets across groups. These results demonstrate that the use of design heuristics does not limit the creativity of ideation outcomes, and helps students to develop more elaborate and practical ideas. Design heuristics show advantages in the initial idea generation phase for beginning engineering students. These findings point to specific strengths in different ideation techniques, and the value of exposing beginning designers to multiple techniques for idea generation.

scholarly journals Data on the Configuration Design of Internet-Connected Home Cooling Systems by Engineering Students

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher McComb ◽  
Jonathan Cagan ◽  
Kenneth Kotovsky
Keyword(s):  
Design Problem ◽  
Design Pattern ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Configuration Design ◽  
Cooling Systems ◽  
Analysis And Design ◽  
Cost Constraints ◽  
Total Data ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Study Participants

This experiment was carried out to record the step-by-step actions that humans take in solving a configuration design problem, either in small teams or individually. Specifically, study participants were tasked with configuring an internet-connected system of products to maintain temperature within a home, subject to cost constraints. Every participant was given access to a computer-based design interface that allowed them to construct and assess solutions. The interface was also used to record the data that is presented here. In total, data was collected for 68 participants, and each participant was allowed to perform 50 design actions in solving the configuration design problem. Major results based on the data presented here have been reported separately, including initial behavioral analysis and design pattern assessments via Markovian modeling.

Function Modeling: A Modeling Behavior Analysis of Pause Patterns

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Apurva Patel ◽  
William S. Kramer ◽  
Michelle Flynn ◽  
Joshua D. Summers ◽  
Marissa L. Shuffler
Keyword(s):  
Design Problem ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Protocol Analysis ◽  
Modeling Process ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Research ◽  
Protocol Study ◽  
Modeling Behavior ◽  
Novel Design

Abstract This paper presents a behavior-based protocol study conducted with mechanical engineering students, where the participants developed function–structure models for a novel design problem. A modeling activity video was recorded for each participant and coded using a protocol analysis that captured the modeling sequence, actions, and elements. Pauses in the modeling process were analyzed to identify patterns based on pause time and frequency, the distribution of pauses over the modeling activity, and events preceding and following the pauses. In this study, a pause is characterized as an interruption in the modeling process lasting at least 2 s. Participants were found to spend an average of 38% of the modeling time in pauses, with more of it being allotted to the middle of the modeling activity and less toward the start and end. Three pause types are defined (short, intermediate, and long pauses) based on an analysis of pause lengths, which are then used to analyze events before and after pauses. Participants added elements to the model more frequently, compared to editing and deleting elements. Longer pauses were observed before participants before elements are removed from the model, whereas editing was done more frequently after shorter pauses. Several modeling element pairs are identified that are infrequently separated by pauses, such as the “edge” and “edge text” pair, suggesting that the designer thinks about these as paired elements rather than distinct elements. Limitations of the research methods are discussed, and finally, new research questions are identified as continuing work for this research.

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