Engineering Method/ Team Building

1. Engineering Method/ Team Building

2. Lecture 2: The Engineering Method / Team Building / Creative Problem Solving Approximate Running Time – 44 minutes Distance Learning / Online Instructional Presentation Presented by: Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Baylor University

3. Lecture 2 Topics • Outline • The Engineering Method • Team Building • Creative Problem Solving • Plagiarism Dr. Carolyn Skurla Speaking

4. What is an Engineer? • Engineers are not defined by their product • Nano-robots • Airplanes • Embedded Computers • Engineers are defined by their method • Finding the best change using available resources in an environment of uncertainty ?

5. “To Engineer” • The clergy in Iran engineered the firing of the president. • The chessmaster engineered a perfect countermove. • The general engineered a coup d'état without the loss of life. http://www.teamclouds.com/staff/dawboy/images/chess_set.png

6. Why is Engineering Such a Mystery? • The Scientific Method • Well-understood, even by the layperson. • “Science is theory corrected by experiment.” • All variables held constant except one. • “Answer in the back of the book.” • Extensively analyzed by philosophers

7. Why is Engineering Such a Mystery? • The Engineering Method • Little significant research into the philosophical foundations of engineering. • Can you name an engineer who is wise, well-known, well-read, and scholarly? • Contrast with law, economics, medicine, politics, religion, and science • Can you name a public spokesperson in any of these fields?

8. Why is Engineering Such a Mystery? • Few high school students take engineering courses • Liberal arts students are not required to study technology • Technology students are required to study liberal arts

9. Four Key Elements of Engineering Problems • Change: the situation requires a change. • Best: the best change is desired... • Resources: using the available resources • Uncertainty: knowledge about the situation is incomplete and sometimes inconsistent

10. Change A Measure of Change B Time

11. Change • Four practical difficulties in getting from A to B: • Engineer lacks complete knowledge of the world at A • The exact final state, B, is unknown and cannot be anticipated • There is no single path from A to B • Engineering goals can change during the process • The location of B drifts!

12. Change • Is all change caused by engineers good? • What about unintended consequences? • Aswan High Dam in Egypt • Can you think of any engineering disasters? • Tacoma Narrows Bridge • Kansas City Hyatt Regency • Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in U.S.S.R.

13. Unintended Consequences http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/eg.html

14. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/nl/thumb/f/fa/280px-AswanHighDam_Egypt.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/nl/thumb/f/fa/280px-AswanHighDam_Egypt.jpg

15. Unintended Consequences • Increased salinity of the Nile by 10% • Led to collapse of sardine industry • Caused coastal erosion • Displaced 100,000 Nubians • Drastically altering their way of life

16. Available Resources http://newportbeachattorneys.org/gen02_clock.jpg • Tangible Resources • Money available for project • Time to complete project • Raw materials (e.g., steel, concrete, silicon) • Computer resources • Number of engineers • Intangible Resources • Engineering staff’s past experience with similar projects • Engineering staff’s interest level http://fullcircle.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/free_money.jpg

17. Time as a Resource • Problem : Estimate the number of ping-pong balls that can fill a room • 60 seconds • 2 days • Unlimited time • Each time limit defines a new engineering problem because the time resource is different • Each solution would be correct from an engineering point of view.

18. Best • Best for whom? • Westerners are conditioned to accept Plato’s notion of the ideal • A new concept of “best” • Optimization theory • The optimum compromise • Apollo Program • Leapfrog learning • Political vs. economic tradeoffs

19. Best: Television Example • Consider a television with only one knob: • Increased knob setting results in sharper picture, • Increased knob setting also results in worse sound.

20. Best: Television Example Assuming Picture and Sound are Equally Weighted

21. Best: Television Example Picture is half as important as Sound (for a person with hearing problems)

22. Uncertainty • Engineers are asked to find a solution to a problem while lacking complete information • In Change: both the starting and ending points (A & B) are not fully known • Resources: intangible resources cannot be quantified, yet they affect the outcome • Best: the best design is not always clear, best for whom?

23. Why Work in Teams? • Your future employer requires teamwork skills • Student-centered learning is encouraged • Active learning • Collaborative learning • Cooperative learning • Positive interdependence • Individual accountability • Face-to-face interaction • Appropriate use of interpersonal skills • Regular self-assessment of group functioning

24. Benefits of Cooperative Learning • Improved • Student-faculty interaction • Student-student interaction • Grades & information retention • Teamwork & interpersonal skills • Communication skills • Training for the professional work environment

25. Creative Problem Solving • Thinking Aloud Pairs Problem-Solving (TAPPS) • Students form pairs • Problem-Solver (PS) • Talks through solution to the problem • Listener (L) • Questions • Prompts PS to keep talking • Gives clues when necessary • Short training exercise

26. TAPPS Training Exercise - Solution EXERCISE 1: TRAVELS OF A BOOKWORM How many covers did the worm eat through? (Call this x.) How many texts did the worm eat through? (Call this y.) Where is page 1 of Volume I? Where is the last page of Volume IV? I II III IV

27. TAPPS Training Exercise - Solution EXERCISE 2: Clue 1 Clue 2 X X X Clue 3 Clue 4 X X X X X X X X X

28. Plagiarism • “Plagiarism is using others' ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.”1 1Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN <http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html>

29. How Can Students Avoid Plagiarism? • “To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use • another person's idea, opinion, or theory; • any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings--any pieces of information--that are not common knowledge; • quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words; or • paraphrase of another person's spoken or written words.”1 1Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN <http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html>

30. How to Avoid Plagiarism? • Go to the Indiana University’s website on plagiarism. • http://education.indiana.edu/%7Efrick/plagiarism/ • Explore the links, examples, and quizzes until you are ready to attempt the test. • Print the confirmation certificate, fill it out, sign it, and: • Fax a copy to your instructor OR • Scan it and e-mail a copy to your instructor

31. Plagiarism Exercise Sample #1: Responsible engineering wastes neither physical nor mental resources. Economic constraints are often imposed by the demands of the marketplace. Unacceptable Sample #2: According to Petroski, “Responsible engineering wastes neither physical nor mental resources [1].” Marketplace demands often impose economic constraints. Bibliography: 1. Petroski, Henry. To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design. Vintage Books, New York (1992). Unacceptable

32. Plagiarism Exercise Sample #3: According to Petroski, responsible engineering wastes neither physical nor mental resources [1]. Bibliography: 1. Petroski, Henry. To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design. Vintage Books, New York (1992). Unacceptable Sample #4: According to Petroski, “Responsible engineering wastes neither physical nor mental resources [1].” He also states that marketplace realities may necessitate fiscal limitations. Bibliography: 1. Petroski, Henry. To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design. Vintage Books, New York (1992). Acceptable

33. This Concludes Lecture 2

34. References • Koen, Billy Vaughn, Discussion of The Method, Oxford University Press, 2003 • Egypt map from CIA website: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/eg.html • Aswan Dam photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/nl/thumb/f/fa/280px-AswanHighDam_Egypt.jpg