Functional modeling is often covered as a critical element of the engineering design process is engineering design texts, but little empirical data clearly demonstrates that functional modeling improves engineering designs or that teaching functional modeling makes students better designers. The overall objective of this project is to determine the impact of teaching function on engineering students’ design synthesis abilities. Two studies are being performed as a part of this project: (1) a longitudinal study following students through their sophomore, junior, and senior year following some being taught functional modeling, while others not, and (2) a yearly study looking at capstone project quality of students from cohorts either taught or not taught functional modeling. This paper focuses on preliminary data collected as a part of the longitudinal study using a functional modeling skills quiz to assess students’ ability to understand and represent a system. In particular, a functional modeling skill assessment quiz is being investigated for its ability to discern the extent of a student’s function knowledge. Two student groups are studied, one taught functional modeling and function enumeration and a second taught only function enumeration. The results provide promise that the skills quiz is working as desired; however, work is yet needed to develop an adequate scoring technique.
Dr. Robert Nagel is a Professor and Director of the Department of Engineering at Carthage College. Dr. Nagel, a mechanical engineer by training, performs research on engineering student learning and engagement with a focus on interventions, pedagogies, and design methodologies. He seeks to gain applicable knowledge for increasing student engagement and reducing barriers in engineering, design, and making.
Dr. Julie S. Linsey is an Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technological. Dr. Linsey received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas. Her research area is design cognition including systematic methods and tools for innovative design with a particular focus on concept generation and design-by-analogy. Her research seeks to understand designers’ cognitive processes with the goal of creating better tools and approaches to enhance engineering design. She has authored over 100 technical publications including over thirty journal papers, five book chapters, and she holds two patents.
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