How do everyday items come to be? How do engineers get from thought to thing? The products of engineering are all around us. From the paperclip to the fork to the pencil, each item in our everyday lives was created to solve a problem.
Henry Petroski, an engineer and science historian states "It is imperative in the design process to have a full and complete understanding of how failure is being obviated in order to achieve success. Without fully appreciating how close to failing a new design is, its own designer may not fully understand how and why a design works." In other words, "form follows failure". We need to fail in order to achieve a successful result, or try and try again.
Simple solutions such as a pencil were developed as a re-engineering of an existing item, the Roman stylus. James Dyson, modern day inventor and engineer, re-engineers everyday items from the vacuum to hand dryers to the fan.
For our WebQuest, you will define a problem in your everyday life and engineer a solution to solve it. You can design a new product or re-engineer an existing product to make it better. Our WebQuest will take you through the steps of the engineering design process, through trial and error to the final design presentation that you will present to your fellow classmates.
Sources:
Petroski, Henry, 1992, "The Evolution of Useful Things:
Petroski, Henry, 1996. "Invention by Design: How Engineers get from Thought to Thing"
Dyson, N.D. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEDKBFjGOT-zdxU9RApxDA
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