Abstract
The research objective is to develop teaching materials for learning engineering design at the college-level where students are required to have basic engineering knowledge, but where no design experience is needed. The method has the following features: Students realize that communicating with a design specification is a core part of design tasks; that a hands-on exercise is crucial to understanding the product’s features and functions; that to design a product is not only to create a new product, but also to apply existing ideas; that by taking apart a real product, they can easily realize the physical and mechanical principles imbedded therein; that to learn design principles is not just to memorize them but to experience them. The method structures and interprets the takeapart activities from the perspective of the design process steps, with special emphasis on the writing of specifications at increasing levels of detail. The take apart activity assists in identifying technical descriptors or design variables, which are then given values, ranges or qualities that become specifications. It employs a common consumer product of which many variations are available.
Citation
Abe, T., and Starr, P. (2002) Teaching the writing and role of specifications via a structured teardown process, in Durling, D. and Shackleton, J. (eds.), Common Ground - DRS International Conference 2002, 5-7 September, London, United Kingdom. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2002/researchpapers/1
Teaching the writing and role of specifications via a structured teardown process
The research objective is to develop teaching materials for learning engineering design at the college-level where students are required to have basic engineering knowledge, but where no design experience is needed. The method has the following features: Students realize that communicating with a design specification is a core part of design tasks; that a hands-on exercise is crucial to understanding the product’s features and functions; that to design a product is not only to create a new product, but also to apply existing ideas; that by taking apart a real product, they can easily realize the physical and mechanical principles imbedded therein; that to learn design principles is not just to memorize them but to experience them. The method structures and interprets the takeapart activities from the perspective of the design process steps, with special emphasis on the writing of specifications at increasing levels of detail. The take apart activity assists in identifying technical descriptors or design variables, which are then given values, ranges or qualities that become specifications. It employs a common consumer product of which many variations are available.