The Influence of Physical Examples on Originality and Fixation in Engineering Design

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C. Simmons ◽  
Trina C. Kershaw ◽  
Alexander LeGendre ◽  
Sankha Bhowmick
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Garbage Collection ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
The Relationship

Improving creativity in engineering design continues to be a challenge. The relationship between fixation and creativity within engineering is mixed, as engineers desire to be innovative, yet are usually working from their existing knowledge to redesign existing products. In the current study, we wanted to examine the influence of physical examples on originality and fixation at the freshmen and senior level in a Mechanical Engineering program. We compared concepts for garbage collection systems generated by two groups — one provided with an example product (Example group), and another who did not receive an example product (No Example group). Using metrics established in prior publications, we found that seniors had higher levels of originality than freshmen whether an example product was received or not, reinforcing our previous findings. Fixation scores were higher for the group that did have an example. Receiving an example product was not a predictor of originality on its own, but did interact with curriculum and fixation level. Within the group that received an example product, there was a negative relationship between fixation and originality, particularly for the seniors. Within the group that did not receive an example product, there was no significant relationship between fixation and originality. Further analysis of our results are required to delineate how not receiving an example product influences design approach in freshmen and senior engineering students.

Functional Design Tree for Mechatronic Projects in Mechanical Engineering Design Course

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meltem Korkmazel ◽  
Abdülkadir Erden
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Engineering System ◽  
Systematic Design ◽  
Functional Design ◽  
Mechatronic Systems ◽  
Design Projects

Abstract The functional approach utilizes a ‘Functional Design Tree’, which is a decomposition hierarchy of functions involving sub-functions of an engineering system at various levels of resolution. Use of functional approach in the design of mechatronic systems is investigated in the senior level mechanical engineering design projects. A survey is conducted on the senior mechanical engineering students after an engineering design course. It is attempted to find out whether the students followed the systematic design approach, and to what extent they used the functional design tree. The results of the survey are presented and evaluated in the paper, and some conclusions are derived for possible outcomes of the survey.

The Relationship Between Fixation and Originality in Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander LeGendre ◽  
Trina C. Kershaw ◽  
Rebecca L. Peterson ◽  
Sankha Bhowmick
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Inverse Correlation ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Design Fixation ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
The Relationship

The goal of the current work was to supplement our existing work on creativity with work on a key design hurdle: fixation. Design fixation was measured based on six features of a litter collector that was used as a physical example for students who were asked to design a ‘next generation litter collector’. We found that certain example features occurred more commonly than others. If less common features were present in a design, chances were greater that the design was highly fixated. Across the Mechanical Engineering program, mean fixation decreased for seniors compared to other students. Fixation and originality had an inverse correlation, although less so for seniors compared to freshmen. This is the first study that may provide insights into how design fixation can impede originality.

A Pillar of Mechanical Engineering Design Education in Australia: 25 Years of the Warman Design and Build Competition

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren F. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
National Committee ◽  
Engineering Design Education ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Institutional Learning ◽  
History Of

The “Warman Design and Build Competition”, running across Australasian Universities, is now in its 26th year in 2013. Presented in this paper is a brief history of the competition, documenting the objectives, yearly scenarios, key contributors and champion Universities since its beginning in 1988. Assuming the competition has reached the majority of mechanical and related discipline engineering students in that time, it is fair to say that this competition, as a vehicle of the National Committee on Engineering Design, has served to shape Australasian engineering education in an enduring way. The philosophy of the Warman Design and Build Competition and some of the challenges of running it are described in this perspective by its coordinator since 2003. In particular, the need is for the competition to work effectively across a wide range of student group ability. Not every group engaging with the competition will be competitive nationally, yet all should learn positively from the experience. Reported also in this paper is the collective feedback from the campus organizers in respect to their use of the competition as an educational experience in their classrooms. Each University participating uses the competition differently with respect to student assessment and the support students receive. However, all academic campus organizer responses suggest that the competition supports their own and their institutional learning objectives very well. While the project scenarios have varied widely over the years, the intent to challenge 2nd year university (predominantly mechanical) engineering students with an open-ended statement of requirements in a practical and experiential exercise has been a constant. Students are faced with understanding their opportunity and their client’s value system as expressed in a scoring algorithm. They are required to conceive, construct and demonstrate their device with limited prior knowledge and experience, and the learning outcomes clearly impact their appreciation for teamwork, leadership and product realization.

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.

scholarly journals FROM MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CAPSTONE DESIGN TO DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Dumond ◽  
Eric Lanteigne
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Capstone Courses ◽  
Engineering Theory ◽  
Teaching Design ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Capstone Design

Traditionally, mechanical engineering capstone courses focused on teaching students the application of fundamental engineering theory to complex mechanical designs. Recently, there has been a transition towards experiential learning initiatives, such as prototyping, in engineering design. This paper looks at the relationship between the mechanical engineering design capstone course and a course in product design and development, which provides students with the opportunity to build prototypes of their designs, at the University of Ottawa. The importance of the traditional capstone course is considered and the implications of implementing these designs are examined. Many capstone design projects would require extensive work so that they could be implemented. A large hurdle appears to exist between analytical design and design implementation, and the term time constraints limit the complexity of designs intended for prototyping. In fact, students require many design iterations before they can build full-scale functional prototypes of their design. Therefore, we have observed that simple products work best for teaching design implementation.

Function Modeling: A Study of Sequential Model Completion Based on Count and Chaining of Functions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apurva Patel ◽  
William Kramer ◽  
Joshua D. Summers ◽  
Marissa Shuffler-Porter
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Solution Space ◽  
Backward Chaining ◽  
Forward Chaining ◽  
Engineering Design Problems ◽  
Initial Seed ◽  
Function Models ◽  
Model Completion

Function models are widely recognized as a useful tool in mechanical engineering conceptual design as a bridge between problem and solution space. Unlike many other engineering design tools that are collaborative allowing many designers to contribute to the design task, function modeling has not been historically presented as a collaborative tool. This paper presents a controlled experimental study that explores the how different initial function models are completed by novice engineers influence the number of functions added to the model. Eighty-eight senior mechanical engineering students were given partial function models to two similarly complex engineering design problems. Each student was asked to complete the function model to best address the problem presented. The number of added functions was compared considering two variables: percent completed of initial seed model (10%, 40%, and 80%), initial chaining of functions (forward, backward, and nucleation). It was found that models for Backward Chaining and Nucleation at 10% initial seed resulted in the greatest addition of functions by the students. Further, Backward Chaining and Nucleation yielded more added functions than Forward Chaining in all seed configurations. Recognizing that there is a difference between Forward Chaining and Backward Chaining or Nucleation, further study is warranted to understand how individuals create function models and which approach yields more useful models to either understand the problem presented or to explore solution options.

How Function Ordering Within Morphological Charts Influence Exploration1

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anant Chawla ◽  
Joshua D. Summers
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Design Space Exploration ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Space ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Input Function ◽  
Output Function ◽  
Design Concepts

Although morphological charts are widely taught used tools in engineering design, little formal guidance is provided regarding their representation and exploration. Thus, an experiment was conducted to elucidate the influence of functional ordering on the exploration of morphological charts. Two design prompts were used, each with five different functional arrangements: (1) most-to-least important function, (2) least-to-most important function, (3) input-to-output function, (4) output-to-input function, and (5) Random. Sixty-seven junior mechanical engineering students were asked to generate integrated design concepts from prepopulated morphological charts for each design prompt. The concepts were analyzed to determine the frequency with which a given means was selected, how much of the chart was explored, the sequence of exploration, and the influence of function ordering. Results indicated a tendency to focus upon the initial columns of the chart irrespective of functional order. The most-to-least-important functional order resulted in higher chances and a uniformity of design space exploration.

The effect of weather conditions on harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) haulout behaviour in the Moray Firth, northeast Scotland

1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (10) ◽  
pp. 1806-1811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Grellier ◽  
Paul M. Thompson ◽  
Heather M. Corpe
Keyword(s):  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Seasonal Changes ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Phoca Vitulina ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Harbour Seals ◽  
Moray Firth ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Relationship

Abundance data from a 6-year study (1988–1993) of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) were used to control for seasonal changes in haulout behaviour and assess the effect of temperature and other weather conditions on haulout numbers at a site in Scotland. A significant relationship between Julian day and haulout numbers was consistent between years. In some years, there was also a significant relationship between ambient temperature and haulout numbers, but examination of the residuals around the relationship between haulout numbers and Julian day revealed no evidence for a consistent effect of temperature, wind speed, or wind-chill adjusted temperatures. A weak negative relationship between haulout numbers and both precipitation and cloud cover did exist, but these variables explained little of the variation in seal numbers.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Parental Treatment Styles and Early Discovery of Learning Difficulties among Pre-school Children

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 591
Author(s):  
Khadeja M. Badr
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Parenting Style ◽  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Positive Parenting ◽  
The Family ◽  
Parental Treatment ◽  
The Relationship

This study aimed to explore the relationship between the parenting style and discovery of learning disabilities in early childhood education. The study used a sample of Egyptian parents to investigate the parenting style followed in the family. Also, the study investigated the family awareness and interest in the discovery and treatment of learning difficulties. The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between parenting style and discovery of child’s learning difficulties in the early stages. The results also showed that there was a significant relationship between positive parenting styles and discovering of learning difficulties. However, there was a negative relationship between negative parenting styles and discovery of learning difficulties in early childhood. The study recommended the need to provide appropriate training and guidance programs of positive parenting and avoid the negative methods of raising children.

scholarly journals Motivation and Willingness to Communicate in English amongst ESL Engineering Pre-university Students in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (SI4) ◽  
pp. 87-93
Author(s):  
Sathiyaperba Subramaniam ◽  
Rozi Hanum Shaharudin ◽  
Nurul Bazilah Abdul Hamid ◽  
Nadiah Hanim Abdul Wahab
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
University Students ◽  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Multivariate Regression ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
International Publishing ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Open Access Article

This study investigated the relationship between motivation and willingness to communicate (WTC) in English and motivation towards the WTC in English amongst pre-university Engineering students. The instruments used to investigate the motivation and the WTC in English and the correlation between motivation and WTC in English were administered amongst 109 respondents. There was a significant relationship between the variables. The multivariate regression results implied that 48.8% of WTC variance could be predicted from the motivation to communicate in English. The study provided important implications concerning the extension of the corpus of knowledge and pedagogical enhancement. Keywords: Motivation to communicate, Willingness to communicate, Engineering students eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI4.2906  

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