Abstract
To improve first year engineering students' understanding of the design process, a collaborative bridge design project is given to Architectural Engineering students during their first year at Penn State. This paper examines the benefits of reverting to traditional physical prototyping techniques for students to better understand the design process and how to compose and interpret design documents. Students create a preliminary set of design documents, exchange documents with a group of their peers, physically build a prototype of their peers' design, and synthesize design feedback. This process of generating feedback from another group's design through building their bridge benefits the students by allowing them to improve their design document comprehension skills and by gaining formative design feedback from another group of students in their class. After the prototyping activity: students were more likely to recognize areas of deficiency of their own work as well as the work of others; they could comprehend their peers' work well enough to accurately predict the primary design intent of their peers' designs; and the quality of the design documentation submitted improved over prior semesters that did not involve a prototyping design review activity. While this exploratory research suggests several distinct learning benefits based on the obtained data, it was also found that students' self-reports suggest that they do not necessarily recognize the learning benefits from this type of prototyping activity.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Construction Research Congress 2012 |
| Subtitle of host publication | Construction Challenges in a Flat World, Proceedings of the 2012 Construction Research Congress |
| Pages | 2021-2030 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 19 2012 |
| Event | Construction Research Congress 2012: Construction Challenges in a Flat World - West Lafayette, IN, United States Duration: May 21 2012 → May 23 2012 |
Other
| Other | Construction Research Congress 2012: Construction Challenges in a Flat World |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| City | West Lafayette, IN |
| Period | 5/21/12 → 5/23/12 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Building and Construction
Cite this
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Assessing the impact of physical prototyping in first-year engineering education. / Ayer, Steven K.; Leicht, Robert Michael; Smith, Christie A.
Construction Research Congress 2012: Construction Challenges in a Flat World, Proceedings of the 2012 Construction Research Congress. 2012. p. 2021-2030.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
TY - GEN
T1 - Assessing the impact of physical prototyping in first-year engineering education
AU - Ayer, Steven K.
AU - Leicht, Robert Michael
AU - Smith, Christie A.
PY - 2012/9/19
Y1 - 2012/9/19
N2 - To improve first year engineering students' understanding of the design process, a collaborative bridge design project is given to Architectural Engineering students during their first year at Penn State. This paper examines the benefits of reverting to traditional physical prototyping techniques for students to better understand the design process and how to compose and interpret design documents. Students create a preliminary set of design documents, exchange documents with a group of their peers, physically build a prototype of their peers' design, and synthesize design feedback. This process of generating feedback from another group's design through building their bridge benefits the students by allowing them to improve their design document comprehension skills and by gaining formative design feedback from another group of students in their class. After the prototyping activity: students were more likely to recognize areas of deficiency of their own work as well as the work of others; they could comprehend their peers' work well enough to accurately predict the primary design intent of their peers' designs; and the quality of the design documentation submitted improved over prior semesters that did not involve a prototyping design review activity. While this exploratory research suggests several distinct learning benefits based on the obtained data, it was also found that students' self-reports suggest that they do not necessarily recognize the learning benefits from this type of prototyping activity.
AB - To improve first year engineering students' understanding of the design process, a collaborative bridge design project is given to Architectural Engineering students during their first year at Penn State. This paper examines the benefits of reverting to traditional physical prototyping techniques for students to better understand the design process and how to compose and interpret design documents. Students create a preliminary set of design documents, exchange documents with a group of their peers, physically build a prototype of their peers' design, and synthesize design feedback. This process of generating feedback from another group's design through building their bridge benefits the students by allowing them to improve their design document comprehension skills and by gaining formative design feedback from another group of students in their class. After the prototyping activity: students were more likely to recognize areas of deficiency of their own work as well as the work of others; they could comprehend their peers' work well enough to accurately predict the primary design intent of their peers' designs; and the quality of the design documentation submitted improved over prior semesters that did not involve a prototyping design review activity. While this exploratory research suggests several distinct learning benefits based on the obtained data, it was also found that students' self-reports suggest that they do not necessarily recognize the learning benefits from this type of prototyping activity.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84866259296&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84866259296&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1061/9780784412329.203
DO - 10.1061/9780784412329.203
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84866259296
SN - 9780784412329
SP - 2021
EP - 2030
BT - Construction Research Congress 2012
ER -