Advances in Engineering Education - Winter 2009 - Implementing and Assessing the Converging-Diverging Model of Design in a Sequence of Sophomore Projects

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rizky

Engineering Education paper examining a sophomore-level course in engineering design and technical writing. It reviews prior semester-long project delivery shortcomings, including limited exploration of alternatives and lack of quantitative justification for key decisions. The faculty team implemented a sequence of design projects and taught a converging-diverging model drawn from prior research, requiring detailed documentation of divergent and convergent evidence and rationales. Comparative assessment shows the redesigned structure strongly improves student performance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Course structure and instructional approach

Teamwork and project organization

Converging-Diverging Design Model

Divergent vs. convergent thinking

Cognitive process for design steps

Comparative assessment

Evidence of improved student performance

Advances in Engineering Education WINTER 2009 Implementing and Assessing the Converging-Diverging Model of Design in a Sequence of Sophomore Projects Kevin Dahm, William RiDDell, eRic constans, JennifeR couRtney, RobeRta haRvey, and PaRis von locKette Rowan university AbSTRACT This paper discusses a sophomore-level course that teaches engineering design and technical writing. Historically, the course was taught using semester-long design projects. Most students’overall approach to design problems left considerable room for improvement. Many teams chose a design without investigating alternatives, and important decisions were made without a quantitative analysis. The faculty team addressed this shortcoming by 1) replacing the semester-long project with a sequence of design projects, and 2) presenting a converging-diverging approach to design, modeled after a paper by Dym et al. [1] Students were required to document their design approach in detail, showing specific evidence of divergent design and convergent design and specific rationale for the final decisions resulting from these processes. This paper explains the convergent-divergent design model, provides a description of the design projects, and presents a comparative assessment that demonstrates the new course organization led to dramatic improvement in student performance. INTRoDuCTIoN the sophomore engineering clinic is a sequence of two, four semester-hour courses, team taught by the college of communication and the college of engineering. typically, the course has approximately 120 students divided into six sections. the faculty team for each semester consists of two or three instructors from the college of communication and five from the college of engineering, with each of the four Rowan engineering disciplines (chemical, civil and environmental, mechanical, electrical and computer) represented. students have two 75-minute lecture sessions and one 160-minute laboratory session each week. During the lecture sections students receive instruction on technical communication, specifically, technical writing in the fall and public speaking in the spring. each section is taught by a faculty WINTER 2009 1 aDvanceS in engineering eDucaTion implementing and assessing the converging-Diverging Model of Design in a Sequence of Sophomore Projects member from Department of Writing arts in the fall and Department of communication in the spring, and for these faculty members, each section is viewed as a 3-hour course for workload purposes. in the laboratory portion of the course, three sections meet simultaneously. consequently, for the engineering faculty, there are two lab sessions each week, each consisting of 60–65 students, and five instructors. for workload purposes this is viewed as a 3-hour course for each member of the engineering faculty. in the laboratory component of the course, students work on design projects, closely supervised by engineering faculty. lecturing is provided as-needed to facilitate the project, but the bulk of the lab time is provided for students to work with their teams. most of the course deliverables are writing assignments and presentations about these design projects, which are graded jointly by engineering and communication faculty. this course is consistent with growing national trends of integrating design into the early years of the curriculum [2, 3, 4] and stressing the importance of communication skills [5, 6, 7] . in both the lecture sections and the laboratory the emphasis on teamwork is exceptionally strong. Design projects are completed in teams of 4–5. team selection is done by the faculty with the primary criteria being: l teams must have compatible schedules so that the students will be able to meet outside of class time to work on the projects. l teams have members from a variety of disciplines—ideally, at least one student from each Rowan engineering discipline (chemical, civil, electrical, and

FAQs

What problem did the faculty identify in the previous semester-long project format?

Many teams selected designs without investigating alternatives, and key decisions were made without quantitative analysis. Students’ approaches showed substantial room for improvement overall.

How did the new course structure change the learning experience?

The faculty replaced a single semester-long project with a sequence of design projects and required detailed documentation of both divergent and convergent design evidence and the rationale behind final decisions.

What is the converging-diverging design model and why is it important?

The model alternates divergent exploration of possibilities with convergent selection of the best solution grounded in verifiable facts. It supports an effective design process that uses both thinking modes.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rizky