Comparing Ideation Techniques for Beginning Designers

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanna R. Daly ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert ◽  
Seda Yilmaz ◽  
Richard Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Design Problem ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Engineering Design Problem ◽  
Consensual Assessment Technique ◽  
Initial Idea

Concept generation techniques can help to support designers in generating multiple ideas during design tasks. However, differences in the ways these techniques guide idea generation are not well understood. This study investigated the qualities of concepts generated by beginning engineering designers using one of three different idea generation techniques. Working individually on an open-ended engineering design problem, 102 first year engineering students learned and applied one of three different ideation techniques—design heuristics, morphological analysis, or individual brainstorming (using brainstorming rules to generate ideas working alone)—to a given design problem. Using the consensual assessment technique, all concepts were rated for creativity, elaboration, and practicality, and all participants' concept sets were rated for quantity and diversity. The simplest technique, individual brainstorming, led to the most concepts within the short (25 minute) ideation session. All three techniques produced creative concepts averaging near the scale midpoint. The elaboration of the concepts was significantly higher with design heuristics and morphological analysis techniques, and the practicality was significantly higher using design heuristics. Controlling for number of concepts generated, there were no significant differences in diversity of solution sets across groups. These results demonstrate that the use of design heuristics does not limit the creativity of ideation outcomes, and helps students to develop more elaborate and practical ideas. Design heuristics show advantages in the initial idea generation phase for beginning engineering students. These findings point to specific strengths in different ideation techniques, and the value of exposing beginning designers to multiple techniques for idea generation.

Can Design Teams Be Empathically Creative? A Simulation-Based Investigation on the Role of Team Empathy on Concept Generation and Selection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alsager Alzayed ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller ◽  
Jessica Menold ◽  
Jacquelyn Huff ◽  
Christopher McComb
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Computational Simulation ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Research on empathy has been surging in popularity in the engineering design community since empathy is known to help designers develop a deeper understanding of the users’ needs. Because of this, the design community has been invested in devising and assessing empathic design activities. However, research on empathy has been primarily limited to individuals, meaning we do not know how it impacts team performance, particularly in the concept generation and selection stages of the design process. Specifically, it is unknown how the empathic composition of teams, average (elevation) and standard deviation (diversity) of team members’ empathy, would impact design outcomes in the concept generation and selection stages of the design process. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to investigate the impact of team trait empathy on concept generation and selection in an engineering design student project. This was accomplished through a computational simulation of 13,482 teams of noninteracting brainstorming individuals generated by a statistical bootstrapping technique drawing upon a design repository of 806 ideas generated by first-year engineering students. The main findings from the study indicate that the elevation in team empathy positively impacted simulated teams’ unique idea generation and selection while the diversity in team empathy positively impacted teams’ generation of useful ideas. The results from this study can be used to guide team formation in engineering design.

Creativity ‘Misrules’: First Year Engineering Students’ Production and Perception of Creativity in Design Ideas

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin M. Gray ◽  
Seda Yilmaz ◽  
Shanna Daly ◽  
Colleen M. Seifert ◽  
Richard Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Minute Period ◽  
Engineering Design Problems ◽  
Present Design ◽  
Relationship Of

We report four cases from a larger study, focusing on participants’ self-identified “most creative” concept in relation to their other concepts. As part of an ideation session, first-year engineering students were asked to create concepts for one of two engineering design problems in an 85-minute period, and were exposed to one of two different forms of fixation. Participants worked as individuals, first using traditional brainstorming techniques and generating as many ideas as possible. Design Heuristics cards were then introduced, and students were asked to generate as many additional concepts as possible. After the activity, participants ranked all of the concepts they generated from most to least creative. Representative cases include a detailed analysis of the concept that each participant rated as “most creative,” idea generation method used, and relative location and relationship of the concept to other concepts generated by that participant. Across four cases, we identified a number of characteristic “misrules” or misconceptions, revealing that first-year students judge creativity in their concepts in ways that could inhibit their ability to produce truly novel concepts. We present Design Heuristics as a tool to encourage the exploration of creative concept pathways, empowering students to create more novel concepts by rejecting misrules about creativity.

scholarly journals Can Pahl and Beitz’ systematic approach be a predictive model of designing?

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udo Kannengiesser ◽  
John S. Gero
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Model ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
First Year ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
Design Issue ◽  
Prescriptive Model ◽  
Design Behaviour

Pahl and Beitz’ ‘Systematic Approach’ is generally seen as a prescriptive model of designing based on observations of professional design practice. In this paper, we examine whether this model can be used as a predictive model. This is done by testing its predictive capacity for the design behaviour of students that are formally taught design and design methods. The behavioural observations used in this study are based on protocols of 15 design sessions involving mechanical engineering students after their first year of design education and 31 design sessions of the students using various concept generation methods. The design protocols and the Systematic Approach are coded uniformly using the Function–Behaviour–Structure (FBS) design issue schema. Cumulative occurrence analysis is used to derive qualitative and quantitative measures as a basis for comparison between the Systematic Approach’s prediction and the students’ design behaviour. The results indicate that the Systematic Approach can predict some but not all of students’ design issue behaviour.

scholarly journals Concept generation techniques change patterns of brain activation during engineering design

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tripp Shealy ◽  
John Gero ◽  
Mo Hu ◽  
Julie Milovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Cognitive Activation ◽  
The Brain

Abstract This paper presents the results of studying the brain activations of 30 engineering students when using three different design concept generation techniques: brainstorming, morphological analysis, and TRIZ. Changes in students’ brain activation in the prefrontal cortex were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results are based on the area under the curve analysis of oxygenated hemodynamic response as well as an assessment of functional connectivity using Pearson’s correlation to compare students’ cognitive brain activations using these three different ideation techniques. The results indicate that brainstorming and morphological analysis demand more cognitive activation across the prefrontal cortex (PFC) compared to TRIZ. The highest cognitive activation when brainstorming and using morphological analysis is in the right dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) and ventrolateral PFC. These regions are associated with divergent thinking and ill-defined problem-solving. TRIZ produces more cognitive activation in the left DLPFC. This region is associated with convergent thinking and making judgments. Morphological analysis and TRIZ also enable greater coordination (i.e., synchronized activation) between brain regions. These findings offer new evidence that structured techniques like TRIZ reduce cognitive activation, change patterns of activation and increase coordination between regions in the brain.

How Engineering Design Students’ Creative Preferences and Cognitive Styles Impact Their Concept Generation and Screening

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Heininger ◽  
Hong-En Chen ◽  
Kathryn Jablokow ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
The Impact

The flow of creative ideas throughout the engineering design process is essential for innovation. However, few studies have examined how individual traits affect problem-solving behaviors in an engineering design setting. Understanding these behaviors will enable us to guide individuals during the idea generation and concept screening phases of the engineering design process and help support the flow of creative ideas through this process. As a first step towards understanding these behaviors, we conducted an exploratory study with 19 undergraduate engineering students to examine the impact of individual traits, using the Preferences for Creativity Scale (PCS) and Kirton’s Adaption-Innovation inventory (KAI), on the creativity of the ideas generated and selected for an engineering design task. The ideas were rated for their creativity, quality, and originality using Amabile’s consensual assessment technique. Our results show that the PCS was able to predict students’ propensity for creative concept screening, accounting for 74% of the variation in the model. Specifically, team centrality and influence and risk tolerance significantly contributed to the model. However, PCS was unable to predict idea generation abilities. On the other hand, cognitive style, as measured by KAI, predicted the generation of creative and original ideas, as well as one’s propensity for quality concept screening, although the effect sizes were small. Our results provide insights into individual factors impacting undergraduate engineering students’ idea generation and selection.

scholarly journals The Neurocognition of Three Engineering Concept Generation Techniques

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1833-1842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tripp Shealy ◽  
John Gero
Keyword(s):  
Divergent Thinking ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Jazz Composition ◽  
Left Dlpfc ◽  
Hemisphere Dominance ◽  
Medial Pfc ◽  
The Right

AbstractTechniques and processes used for concept generation rely on composing new concepts and analysis given situational context. Composition and analysis require distinct neurocognitive function. For instance, jazz composition relies heavily on the right brain, while math relies on the left. Similar to music and math, is concept generation hemisphere dominant? What differences exist when using varying techniques? Twelve graduate engineering students were given three design tasks and instructed to use brainstorming, morphological analysis and TRIZ. A device called fNIRS measured cognitive activation. The results find left hemisphere dominance. More specifically, the left dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC), which is central to spatial working memory and filtering information. Temporal differences do exist. Morphological analysis and TRIZ reinforced the use of the left dlPFC, while brainstorming increased the use of the right dlPFC and medial PFC (mPFC) late during concept generation. The right dlPFC contributes to divergent thinking and mPFC facilitates memory retrieval. One explanation is designers relaxed rule constraints and more deeply searched for associations during brainstorming.

A Virtual Hemodialyzer Design Project for First-Year Engineers: An Epistemic Game Approach

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi C. Chesler ◽  
Elizabeth Bagley ◽  
Eric Breckenfeld ◽  
Devin West ◽  
David Williamson Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Engineering Profession ◽  
Virtual Design ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Enrollment Rates ◽  
Epistemic Frame

Engineering institutions nationwide are pursuing first-year engineering design courses to attract and retain nontraditional students. However, these courses often have high enrollment rates and can be resource intensive. Virtual design projects offer a potential solution to the physical resources requirements but often result in an overly constrained design space, creating uninteresting or non-challenging design problems. We are developing a design problem within a novel virtual environment (i.e., a game) that provides first-year engineering undergraduates with a more authentic engineering design experience and a more complete and accurate understanding of the engineering profession. The design problem presented challenges students to incorporate carbon nanotubes and chemical surfactants into a hemodialysis ultrafiltration unit. Our approach seeks to provide students with experience in the skills, knowledge, values, identity, and epistemology of the engineering profession, which is the epistemic frame of the profession. The virtual environment also provides a uniquely comprehensive platform for assessing the students’ epistemic frame development over time. We anticipate that this approach will be highly engaging to first-year undergraduate engineering students and will help engineering instructors understand how engineers-in-training learn to become engineers.

scholarly journals Cognitive differences among first-year and senior engineering students when generating design solutions with and without additional dimensions of sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mo Hu ◽  
Tripp Shealy ◽  
Julie Milovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Brain Region ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Number Of Solutions ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Design Solutions ◽  
The Brain

Abstract The research presented in this paper explores how engineering students cognitively manage concept generation and measures the effects of additional dimensions of sustainability on design cognition. Twelve first-year and eight senior engineering students generated solutions to 10 design problems. Half of the problems included additional dimensions of sustainability. The number of unique design solutions students developed and their neurocognitive activation were measured. Without additional requirements for sustainability, first-year students generated significantly more solutions than senior engineering students. First-year students recruited higher cortical activation in the brain region generally associated with cognitive flexibility, and divergent and convergent thinking. Senior engineering students recruited higher activation in the brain region generally associated with uncertainty processing and self-reflection. When additional dimensions of sustainability were present, first-year students produced fewer solutions. Senior engineering students generated a similar number of solutions. Senior engineering students required less cortical activation to generate a similar number of solutions. The varying patterns of cortical activation and different number of solutions between first-year and senior engineering students begin to highlight cognitive differences in how students manage and retrieve information in their brain during design. Students’ ability to manage complex requirements like sustainability may improve with education.

An Experimental Investigation of Analogy Formation Using the Engineering-to-Biology Thesaurus

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Glier ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams ◽  
Julie S. Linsey
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Investigation ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Simple Design ◽  
Experimental Examination ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
Lay Reader ◽  
Design Inspiration

Identifying applicable biological systems for engineering design remains a persistent challenge for bioinspired design. Previous researchers have proposed an Engineering-to-Biology thesaurus that allows designers to identify biological keywords that are functionally similar to terms in the Functional Basis. This work presents an experimental examination of the effectiveness of the Engineering-to-Biology thesaurus. A group of 100 mechanical engineering students are presented with a simple design problem: to create a device to remove the husk and silk from ears of corn. The participants read passages drawn from a large biology corpus with keywords from the Engineering-to-Biology thesaurus and indicate which passages prompt some idea for solving the design problem. The analysis of student responses indicates that students’ level of design training is not a significant factor in the number of analogies they found in the passages and that some non-random criteria is used to identify passages as useful for idea generation. Passages that rarely offer participants ideas can be reasonably well classified as either being too technical for a lay-reader to understand or lacking information on a biological system. Passages that typically offer ideas cannot be so easily classified. Finally, keywords from the Engineering-to-Biology thesaurus are examined to find that keywords very specific to biology and those that are very common words with multiple meanings are rarely contained in sentences that offer strong design inspiration.

Does Using Different Concept Generation Techniques Change the Design Cognition of Design Students?

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Gero ◽  
Hao Jiang ◽  
Christopher B. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Protocol Analysis ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Design Cognition ◽  
Land Grant University ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Generation Technique ◽  
Coding Scheme

This paper presents the preliminary results of protocol studies to determine the effects of teaching different concept generation techniques to engineering students on their design cognition. Twenty-two mechanical engineering students were given instructions in the three concept generation techniques of brainstorming, morphological analysis and TRIZ as part of their undergraduate education at a large land grant university. After the instruction for each concept generation technique, the students were formed into the same teams of two. Each team was given the same set of three design tasks, one for each concept generation technique, while their verbalization and gestures were videoed as they designed for a period of 45 minutes. Students’ design cognition was examined by protocol analysis using the FBS ontologically-based coding scheme. Preliminary results indicate that statistically significant differences in students’ design cognition were observed when using different concept generation techniques.

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