004_Engineering Design Processes

Engineering Design Processes

Engineering Design in the Framework: The term “engineering design” has replaced the older term “technological design,” consistent with the definition of engineering as a systematic practice for solving problems, and technology as the result of that practice. According to the Framework: “From a teaching and learning point of view, it is the iterative cycle of design that offers the greatest potential for applying science knowledge in the classroom and engaging in engineering practices” (NRC 2012). The Framework recommends that students explicitly learn how to engage in engineering design practices to solve problems. 

The Framework also projects a vision of engineering design in the science curriculum, and of what students can accomplish from early school years to high school: In some ways, children are natural engineers. They spontaneously build sand castles, dollhouses, and hamster enclosures, and they use a variety of tools and materials for their own playful purposes. ...Children’s capabilities to design structures can then be enhanced by having them pay attention to points of failure and asking them to create and test redesigns of the bridge so that it is stronger. (NRC, 2012).

By the time these students leave high school, they can “undertake more complex engineering design projects related to major global, national, or local issues” (NRC, 2012). The core idea of engineering design includes three component ideas (Figure 1): 

• Defining and delimiting engineering problems involves stating the problem to be solved as clearly as possible in terms of criteria for success, and constraints or limits. 
• Designing solutions to engineering problems begins with generating a number of different possible solutions, then evaluating potential solutions to see which ones best meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. 
• Optimizing the design solution involves a process in which solutions are systematically tested and refined and the final design is improved by trading off less important features for those that are more important.