engineering design eDUCAtiOn: When, WHat, and HOw - winter 2013 - ABStrACt

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rizky

This paper presents an innovative, interdisciplinary design-and-build course for introductory engineering design education, targeted at first-year students. It promotes expert design thinking through problem-based learning (PBL), embedding it within a prescriptive design-and-build cycle. The course uses ill-structured, open-ended industry-inspired problems and technology such as robotics kits and rapid prototyping machines. Results from post-analysis show improved design attitudes and a strong correlation between adherence to the prescribed cycle and the quality of finished designs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Placement

Content

Instructional pedagogy

| Ad | vances in engineering edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | winter 2013 engineering Design eDUCAtiOn: when, what, And HOw KINDA KHALAF SHADI BALAWI GEORGE WESLEY HITT AND AHMAD RADAIDEH Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research United Arab Emirates (UAE) ABStrACt This paper presents an innovative, interdisciplinary, design-and-build course created to improve placement, content, and pedagogy for introductory engineering design education. Infused at the freshman level, the course aims to promote expert design thinking by using problem-based learning (PBL) as the mode of delivery. The course is structured to actively engage the students in the various phases of a prescriptive design-and-build cycle using ill-structured, open-ended problems inspired from industry, and is supported by technological tools such as robotics kits and rapid prototyping machines. One of the main contributions is the integration of the prescriptive design cycle with PBL to promote effective inquiry and the systematic, iterative interplay between divergent and convergent questioning in the engineering design process. The inherent alignment of PBL pedagogy and the prescriptive design cycle enhances students’ ability to tackle complex challenging problems and reach optimal solutions by following an iterative loop of divergent-convergent processing and decision making. In the post-analysis, the course has two significant positive impactson students: 1) as measured by a newly developed design attitudes survey, course graduates are 20 􀀖 5% more likely than other engineering students to express attitudes consistent with professional engineers regarding problem-solving practices in the engineering design process, and 2) a measure of teams’ adherence to the course’s prescribed design cycle are moderate-to-strongly correlated (􀁒 ~ 0. 66, > 90% confidence) with the quality of the finished design, as measured by live, in-class demonstrations. Keywords: Freshman Design, Design Thinking, Design Cycle winter 2013 1 advances in engineering education engineering design eduction: When, WHat, and How intrODUCtiOn Although the role of design, an interdisciplinary central activity in engineering education, has progressively evolved over the years, many educators agree that further critical improvements are warranted on three different levels: placement in engineering curricula (When), content (What), and instructional pedagogy (How) (Evans et al., 1990, Beaudorn et al, 1995), Froyd and Ohland, 2005, Dym, 2004, Dym et al., 2003, 2007, Dutson et al., 2007, Sheppard et al., 2009, Litzinger et al., 2011, Cheville and Bunting 2011, King, 2012) . Placement The recent infusion of cornerstone engineering design courses at the freshman level was mainly motivated by the curricular disconnect in the traditional science model of engineering education, in which the first two years are typically devoted to basic sciences and mathematics, with minimal exposure to “real-world” engineering problems (Froyd and Ohland, 2005, Dym et al., 2003, 2007, Sheppard et al., 2009) . This model poses several potential problems as summarized by Froyd and Ohland (2005), including low student retention due to the delay of explicit connections to engineering; academic challenges perceived by students due to the curricular detachment between their mathematics and science courses and their applied engineering courses; and suboptimal performance of students perceived by faculty as a result of this time lag (Froyd and Ohland, 2005) . The long-term impact of this curricular disconnect, which clearly delays student exposure to engineering integrative thinking and experience, potentially extends to professional practice. Many educators agree that students adhering to this model may face challenges in meeting industry’s need for engineers who are not only technically proficient in their respective domains, but who a

FAQs

What is the main goal of the proposed design-and-build course?

To improve placement, course content, and instructional pedagogy in introductory engineering design education by strengthening expert design thinking.

How does the course use problem-based learning (PBL)?

PBL is used as the delivery mode, engaging students across phases of a prescriptive design-and-build cycle with ill-structured, open-ended problems inspired by industry.

What evidence is reported about student impact?

Post-analysis indicates graduates are more likely to express professional-engineer-like attitudes toward problem-solving practices, and team adherence to the prescribed design cycle correlates strongly with final design quality.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rizky