Teaching the writing and role of specifications via a structured teardown process

✍ Scribed by Tokio Abe; Patrick Starr

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 162 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0142-694X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0142-694x(03)00037-1

✦ Synopsis

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 structures and interprets the take-apart activities from the perspective of the design process steps, with special emphasis on the writing of specifications at increasing levels of detail. The takeapart 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.