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Professional Development of Student Engineers Using Design Thinking
Author(s) -
Hahn Heidi Ann,
Meirose Lia C.,
Turman Haley B.,
Lawdensky Valerie J.,
Mohr Hannah D.,
Zimmerman Sandra J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2018.00480.x
Subject(s) - brainstorming , outreach , design thinking , new product development , work (physics) , engineering management , computer science , critical thinking , product (mathematics) , mathematics education , engineering , psychology , management , mechanical engineering , geometry , mathematics , human–computer interaction , artificial intelligence , political science , law , economics
Future Female Leaders in Engineering (FFLIE) Program participants at Los Alamos National Laboratory were tasked to provide a design solution that would help the Bradbury Science Museum meet its educational outreach mission, using the principles and practices of Design Thinking (DT). The DT project aimed to improve the students’ skills in the areas of project planning, problem definition, qualitative data collection and organization, problem solving, and product life cycle planning to prepare them for leadership roles on future technical projects. The instructional content used in the program is summarized at the outset of each section of the paper. How the students implemented the phases of Design Thinking and the resulting products are also described, using excerpts from the final project report they prepared. Throughout the project, the design team learned how to effectively brainstorm, communicate with others, gather needed information through interviews, analyze the information, and work as a team to finalize ideas. Prototyping and testing showed that the design solution they proposed is feasible and should help students in the targeted grade levels develop an interest in science.