Engineering Design Process

Overview

The engineering design process (EDP) is an iterative, systematic process used to guide the development of solutions to engineering problems. There is no single engineering design process, just like there is no one scientific method. However, the various engineering design processes have similar components. The engineering design process (EDP) involves understanding the problem, learning background information necessary to solve the problem, planning, trying, testing the solution, making changes based on the tests, and communicating their ideas. Students will use an engineering design process “slider” throughout the unit as an aid to help them understand where they are in the design process as they work through their project. The SCALE K-12 slider and its terminology has been specifically designed for K-12 use.

Criteria and constraints

One difficulty that students might experience is distinguishing between criteria and constraints. Criteria are the things required for a successful design, or the goals of the designed solutions. They help engineers decide whether the solution has solved the problem. Another way of thinking about criteria are that they are anything that the client and the engineers will use to judge the quality of a solution. Constraints are a specific type of criteria; they are those criteria that limit design possibilities, or the ways that problem can be solved. If constraints are not met, the design solution is by default not a viable solution to the problem. The relationship between criteria and constraints is represented in the figure. It may be helpful to post the definitions with the figure somewhere in the classroom for future reference.

Some common misconceptions about engineering

• Engineers do not have to learn anything new when they are working on a project. In reality: Engineers need to continually learn throughout their lives.

• Engineers come up with solutions that are just “good enough” and do not take risks. In reality: Engineers strive to create the best solution possible through optimization. It is normal to experience failure when solving engineering problems.

• Engineers work alone to solve a design problem. In reality: Engineers collaborate with people in different disciplines and fields to best solve a problem. Engineering problems often require a wide range of content knowledge.

Some common misconceptions about the EDP

• The engineering design process is linear, and you never need to go back to previous phases. In reality: The EDP is a cyclical process that requires many iterations.

• Once the project is done, it is considered complete and not revisited. In reality: The engineering design process is never really “done” and it is revisited so engineers can improve projects and make changes.

Define the problem and learn about the problem combine to make Problem Scoping. In this stage, students will be first introduced to the engineering problem through a client letter and then be given a chance to ask questions to the client to receive more information about the problem. The problem statements given in the client memos purposefully do not provide all the information necessary to solve the problem. Students are tasked with generating questions about the problem to try to fill in this missing information. Based on all information from the client, students will then define the problem in terms of: what the problem is and why it is important, who are the client and end users, what are the criteria and constraints, and what other information they may need to learn about in order to solve the problem. This process of generating ideas and questions for the client is an important skill on its own both in engineering and in other fields, but it also helps to ensure that the students fully understand the problem and their task in the engineering design challenge.