Domain-independent method for developing an integrated engineering design tool

Engineering design is a complex, cognitive process requiring extensive knowledge and experience to be done effectively. Successful design depends on appropriate use of available resources. Competitive design cycles mandate convenient and reliable access to engineering tools and information. An integrated engineering design tool (IEDT) has been developed in response to these demands. Further, the tool development efforts have been made systematic by utilizing the engineering design process, which is shown to be a cognitive activity based on Bloom\u27s taxonomy of cognition. The engineering design process consists of six tasks: establishment of objectives, development of requirements, function analysis, creation of design alternatives, evaluation, and improvements to the design. These tasks are shown to map to the six levels of Bloom\u27s cognitive taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Once engineering design is shown to be a cognitive process it can be employed to make each of the activities required to develop and IEDT, domain investigation, knowledge acquisition, and IEDT design, systematic. Past research has considered these to be largely ad hoc tasks. Application of the engineering design process to each of the three IEDT development tasks is discussed in general terms;A prototype IEDT has been created for the preliminary design of jet transport aircraft wings based on the systematic engineering design approach is used to demonstrate the implementation of the method. The IEDT is embedded in Microsoft Excel 97 with links to other software and executable code. Examples of different implementation strategies are provided. Several wing weight prediction models are included. The incorporation of depth knowledge is done using fuzzy logic. The IEDT is linked to relevant files containing design documentation, parameter information, graphics, drawings, and historical data. The designer has access to trade-off study information and sensitivity analysis and can choose to perform structural analysis or design optimization. The engineer can also consider design issues such as cost analysis. The modular IEDT has been designed to be easily adaptable by design domain experts so that it may continue to be updated and expanded

A Content Analysis of How Engineering is Assessed in Published Curricula

A Content Analysis of How Engineering is Assessed in Published Curricula (Fundamental) The purpose of this proposal is to present research findings concerning how and what about engineering is commonly assessed in well-known engineering or integrated STEM published curriculum. Two of the major shifts brought about by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are an increased emphasis in students’ capabilities to perform higher-level reasoning skills and integrate content understanding into science practices. At the same time, NGSS has made engineering integration into science education a priority, and it is an exciting time of reform as schools are exploring curriculum resources and teachers are being trained in engineering design. When engineering is a part of science instruction, there must also be corresponding measurement of student learning, yet many teachers who are new to engineering are also unfamiliar with the process of assessing design practices. In addition, teachers must grapple with how to assess higher order skills, including how students use science to make design decisions. Evidence of higher levels of learning beyond memorizing content or identifying facts is the goal of engineering assessment, and NGSS provides general patterns of thought and behavior that students may exhibit at each grade level related to defining problems, developing solutions, and optimizing results which demonstrate learning. However, these guidelines are very broad and do not clearly recommend ways to go about assessing these practices in the classroom. It is imperative that teachers are provided with the means to properly assess student learning of both content and engineering practices. As part of a larger goal of developing an integrated STEM curriculum for grades 4 – 8, this content analysis addresses the need for questioning how engineering is commonly assessed in elementary engineering or integrated STEM curricula. By examining current STEM assessments with two frameworks, this study investigates the following research questions: (1) What aspects of engineering are being assessed in common engineering or integrated STEM curricular units? (2) What level of cognitive demand is being referenced by these assessments? Using a purposeful sampling strategy, the authors reviewed 15 engineering curricula units published by 3 different publishing companies. To address the research questions, assessment tasks were coded based on the Task Analysis Guide in Science (TAGS) framework and alignment to the engineering process of design (POD). Preliminary results show that the majority of integrated STEM assessment items are testing students on memorized engineering practice, and very few are referencing higher levels of cognitive demand. These results indicate that the more complex thinking that students use during engineering classroom learning is being overlooked by subsequent assessment. In addition, a large proportion of assessment items are dedicated to learning background information about the problem and planning solution ideas, compared with other steps in the design process. The full paper will discuss conclusions and implications of the study

Virtual assembly rapid prototyping of near net shapes

Virtual reality (VR) provides another dimension to many engineering applications. Its immersive and interactive nature allows an intuitive approach to study both cognitive activities and performance evaluation. Market competitiveness means having products meet form, fit and function quickly. Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (RP&M) technologies are increasingly being applied to produce functional prototypes and the direct manufacturing of small components. Despite its flexibility, these systems have common drawbacks such as slow build rates, a limited number of build axes (typically one) and the need for post processing. This paper presents a Virtual Assembly Rapid Prototyping (VARP) project which involves evaluating cognitive activities in assembly tasks based on the adoption of immersive virtual reality along with a novel non-layered rapid prototyping for near net shape (NNS) manufacturing of components. It is envisaged that this integrated project will facilitate a better understanding of design for manufacture and assembly by utilising equivalent scale digital and physical prototyping in one rapid prototyping system. The state of the art of the VARP project is also presented in this paper

Virtual bloXing - assembly rapid prototyping for near net shapes

Virtual reality (VR) provides another dimension to many engineering applications. Its immersive and interactive nature allows an intuitive approach to study both cognitive activities and performance evaluation. Market competitiveness means having products meet form, fit and function quickly. Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (RP&M) technologies are increasingly being applied to produce functional prototypes and the direct manufacturing of small components. Despite its flexibility, these systems have common drawbacks such as slow build rates, a limited number of build axes (typically one) and the need for post processing. This paper presents a Virtual Assembly Rapid Prototyping (VARP) project which involves evaluating cognitive activities in assembly tasks based on the adoption of immersive virtual reality along with a novel nonlayered rapid prototyping for near net shape (NNS) manufacturing of components. It is envisaged that this integrated project will facilitate a better understanding of design for manufacture and assembly by utilising equivalent scale digital and physical prototyping in one rapid prototyping system. The state of the art of the VARP project is also presented in this paper

The Link between Cognition and the Complexity of Engineering Systems Design

This paper focuses on the role of human cognition in the design of large complex systems. It contrasts the physical system that is the product of the design with the cognitive model that is used by the designer to “understand” the system. The complexity of the system relevant to the designer is a function not only of the physical system, but also of the cognitive model that the designer holds in his mind. Furthermore, the level of cognitive model available to an experienced designer depends on the state of domain knowledge. To be useful in answering the question, “How complex is this system to design?” the state of the domain knowledge available to the designer must be assessed with respect to the level at which the design problem is posed. The concept of conceptual distance is introduced that depends on the disparity between the present level of integrated knowledge and the conceptual level of the design problem. This “distance” is a measure of the complexity of the design task and is called the cognitive complexity of the design. To investigate the concept of cognitive complexity a model of human knowledge is proposed along with a set of graphical abstractions. It is concluded that the cognitive complexity of the design task is neither wholly intrinsic (a property of the system) nor wholly subjective (a property of the mind) but requires an objective evaluation of the engineering problem with respect to present knowledge. It is noted that the structure of knowledge in a specific domain can be mapped and therefore a research program can be launched to systematically determine the difficulty of various engineering endeavors

About the nature of Kansei information

Kansei studies refer to the more and more holistic consideration of the cognitive and affective processes which occur during user experience. In addition, few studies deal with the experience of the designers during the design process, and its influence on the final design outputs. Historically kansei engineering has been firstly focused on the semantic differential approach. Afterwards emotions were integrated into kansei approaches. The semantic differential approach enabled to evaluate products and then to generate automatically design solutions with semantic input data. Thereafter, evaluations have been completed by physiological measurements in order to reduce the subjectivity involved in those evaluations and also to capture some unconscious reactions. This implementation is still in process. Today kansei studies have been much enriched from the three disciplines of design science, psychology and artificial intelligence. The cross influence between these disciplines brought new dimensions into kansei approaches (multisensory design information, personality, values, and culture, new formalisms and algorithms) which lead progressively towards the consideration of a whole enriched kansei experience. We propose in this paper a description of the nature of kansei information. Then we present some major orientations for kansei evaluation. Finally we propose an overall table gathering information about kansei dimensions and formats.AN

Designing Clinical Data Presentation Using Cognitive Task Analysis Methods

Despite the many decades of research on effective use of clinical systems in medicine, the adoption of health information technology to improve patient care continues to be slow especially in ambulatory settings. This applies to dentistry as well, a primary care discipline with approximately 137,000 practicing dentists in the United States. One critical reason is the poor usability of clinical systems, which makes it difficult for providers to navigate through the system and obtain an integrated view of patient data during patient care. Cognitive science methods have shown significant promise to meaningfully inform and formulate the design, development and assessment of clinical information systems. Most of these methods were applied to evaluate the design of systems after they have been developed. Very few studies, on the other hand, have used cognitive engineering methods to inform the design process for a system itself. It is this gap in knowledge – how cognitive engineering methods can be optimally applied to inform the system design process – that this research seeks to address through this project proposal. This project examined the cognitive processes and information management strategies used by dentists during a typical patient exam and used the results to inform the design of an electronic dental record interface. The resulting 'proof of concept' was evaluated to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of such a cognitively engineered and application flow design. The results of this study contribute to designing clinical systems that provide clinicians with better cognitive support during patient care. Such a system will contribute to enhancing the quality and safety of patient care, and potentially to reducing healthcare costs

Designing Attention-Centric Notification Systems: Five HCI Challenges

Through an examination of the emerging domain of cognitive systems, with a focus on attention-centric cognitive systems used for notification, this document explores the human-computer interaction challenges that must be addressed for successful interface design. This document asserts that with compatible tools and methods, user notification requirements and interface usability can be abstracted, expressed, and compared with critical parameter ratings; that is, even novice designers can assess attention cost factors to determine target parameter levels for new system development. With a general understanding of the user tasks supported by the notification system, a designer can access the repository of design knowledge for appropriate information and interaction design techniques (e.g., use of color, audio features, animation, screen size, transition of states, etc), which have analytically and empirically derived ratings. Furthermore, usability evaluation methods, provided to designers as part of the integrated system, are adaptable to specific combinations of targeted parameter levels. User testing results can be conveniently added back into the design knowledge repository and compared to target parameter levels to determine design success and build reusable HCI knowledge. This approach is discussed in greater detail as we describe five HCI challenges relating to cognitive system development: (1) convenient access to basic research and guidelines, (2) requirements engineering methods for notification interfaces, (3) better and more usable predictive modeling for pre-attentive and dual-task interfaces, (4) standard empirical evaluation procedures for notification systems, and (5) conceptual frameworks for organizing reusable design and software components. This document also describes our initial work toward building infrastructure to overcome these five challenges, focused on notification system development. We described LINK-UP, a design environment grounded on years of theory and method development within HCI, providing a mechanism to integrate interdisciplinary expertise from the cognitive systems research community. Claims allow convenient access to basic research and guidelines, while modules parallel a lifecycle development iteration and provide a process for requirements engineering guided by this basic research. The activities carried out through LINK-UP provide access to and interaction with reusable design components organized based on our framework. We think that this approach may provide the scientific basis necessary for exciting interdisciplinary advancement through many fields of design, with notification systems serving as an initial model. A version of this document will appear as chapter 3 in the book Cognitive Systems: Human Cognitive Models in Systems Design edited by Chris Forsythe, Michael Bernard, and Timothy Goldsmith resulting from a workshop led by the editors in summer 2003. The authors are grateful for the input of the workshop organizers and conference attendees in the preparation of this document

Stem Approach to Recognition of Fractions with Traditional Anglek

This research was conducted to find the easiest solution in mathematics lessons about fraction recognition. With STEM learning which is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, fractional material is integrated into it with traditional engklek (paying) media. Through a qualitative descriptive study with research subjects of 3rd-grade students at Tegalweru Public Elementary School, Dau District, totaling 23 people, the results were obtained by research: (1) development of design skills; (2) development of collaboration and communication skills; (3) improvement of cognitive abilities about fractions; (4) increasing obedience to rules; and (5) developing motor skills. Keywords: traditional games, Engklek, STEM, fractio

INTEGRATION OF GENERAL TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE IN PROFESSIONAL TEACHING OF TECHNOLOGY TEACHERS

The content filling of the educational field of «Technology» provides a deeper acquaintance of students with the modern achievements of technology, mastering the practice of design and technological activities. Bearing this in mind, it is topical to develop the scientific principles of engineering training for future teachers of labor training and technology, which led to theoretical substantiation and practical implementation of structural changes in curricula in general technical disciplines. The analysis of the scientific literature and practical experience shows that the proposed structure of the content of the integrated course «Engineering Mechanics» is aimed primarily at intensifying the students’ cognitive activity, as well as their broad involvement in independent work on the design and construction of technical objects. Such circumstances favor direct impact on the content of engineering training of future teachers of labor training and technology linked to the global change in scientific approaches and innovative processes in the creation of technical facilities and also indirect – caused by the development of modern production and information technologies.The article analyzes the current system of engineering training of future teachers of labor training and technology which is characterized by the reorientation of the educational process to the project-technological activity of students. The authors substantiate the necessity of integration of knowledge from the cycle of general technical disciplines in the content of engineering training of future teachers. Based on the didactic principle of continuity and taking into account the requirements of school curricula and cross-curricular relations with different disciplines of vocational training of teachers of labor training and technology, the authors propose the structure and content of the integrated course «Engineering Mechanics», which consists of the following sections: 1) «Statics, kinematics and dynamics»; 2) «Material resistance and machine parts calculation».