design in undergrad engineering

i've kicked off our research project, funded by the nsf, on how design theory and methodology can be incorporated throughout an undergraduate design curriculum. the hypothesis, you see, is that most of engineering education is concerned with tools (calculus) and theory. the problems students solve are narrowly defined and have a limited, if not singular, solution set.

this approach to engineering pedagogy limits the student's ability to deal with more open-ended, wide solution space problems -- namely, design problems.

we are taking an ethnographic approach, spending time with faculty, students, and industry engineers to find out how they currently experience engineering education and the demands of engineering practice.

our goal is to figure out a way to graft design theory and methodology into the current curriculum, not necessarily displacing any particular course.

Comments

[Jed Wood]

Glad to see I'm not the only one that is interested in too many projects... :)