Introducing Memo Writing and a Design Process: A Five-week Simulator Project

S. Scott Moor

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Conference: 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: June 10, 2012
Start Date: June 10, 2012
End Date: June 13, 2012
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: FPD VI: Presenting "All the Best" of the First-year Programs Division
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs
Page Count: 17
Page Numbers: 25.845.1 - 25.845.17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--21602
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/21602
Download Count: 369

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S. Scott Moor Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne

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Scott Moor is an Associate Professor of engineering and Coordinator of First-year Engineering at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne. He received a B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering from MIT. After more than a decade in industry, he returned to academia at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and an M.A. in statistics. He is a registered Professional Chemical Engineer in California. His research interests include engineering education with an emphasis on developing and testing educational materials and learning spaces that stimulate serious play.

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Abstract

Introducing Memo Writing and a Design Process - A Four-Week Simulator ProjectAn introductory activity was developed where students carry out a project using an online paperairplane flight simulator. Over several weeks they are walked through stages of a simple designprocess and introduced to writing different portions of a technical memo report. This allowsthem to develop initial background in both a disciplined design process and in documenting adesign process.Writing can be used to help our students develop their thinking and their discipline. Brent andFelder1 note that “The process of writing and thinking are fundamentally and powerfully linked.”For more than twenty five years the Writing-Across-the-Curriculum pedagogical movement hasexplored and developed ways to use writing with in various courses throughout the curriculum.They have also included longer Writing-in-the-Disciplines approaches such as this case of designreports where students are specifically learning the writing conventions of their particulardiscipline.2Elbow3 argues that it is often particularly helpful to assign low stakes writing, using assignmentswhere the level of critique and the grading weight are low. He notes that “Writing feels like aninherently high stakes activity.”4 The particularly assignment sequence presented here allowsthis type of lower stakes writing to take place.The carrying out and documenting a design process are naturally linked. They are a commonactivity for first year students. It is important to for these students to begin to develop somediscipline in their design and particularly to understand the importance of the initial problemformulation stages of a project. Atman, et. al.4 have observed that one of the key differencesbetween inexperienced student designers and experienced professional designers is the amountof time and care spent in the project scoping phase.The strategy for this project is to move students through a project and a writing processconsisting of manageable segments and clear guidelines. Throughout there is a focus on creatingfigures and tables to present the basic story and then using narrative to connect and explain thesevisual items. Class time includes significant time spent on small group activities. Students areintroduced to the design process from the text by Voland.5 They work through both in-classroomactivities and homework assignments in problem familiarization, problem definition, strategydevelopment and presentation, presenting results with graphs and tables, and preparingconclusions and recommendations. Students are provided with specific forms and guidelines tohelp them develop good practices. Rubrics are used to make the specific requirements clear andto assess student progress.This paper includes presentation of the classroom activities, the out of class assignments, andrubrics used for this project.References:1. Brent, R. and R. Felder, “Writing Assignments – Pathways to Connections, Clarity, Creativity,” College Teaching 40(1), 43-47 (1992).2. Romberger, J., “Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the Disciplines,” Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL), http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/WAC/, (2000) accessed December 2006.3. Elbow, P., “High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing,” New Directions in Teaching and Learning, 69, p 5-13, (Spring 1997).4. Atman, C. J., R. S. Adams, M. E. Cardella, J. Turns, S. Mosborg, and J. Saleem, “Engineering Design Process: A Comparison of Students and Expert Practitioners,” Journal of Engineering Education, 96(4), October 2007.5. Voland, G., Engineering By Design, 2nd Ed., Pearson Prentice Hall (2004).

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Moor, S. S. (2012, June), Introducing Memo Writing and a Design Process: A Five-week Simulator Project Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21602

TY - CPAPER
AB - Introducing Memo Writing and a Design Process - A Four-Week Simulator ProjectAn introductory activity was developed where students carry out a project using an online paperairplane flight simulator. Over several weeks they are walked through stages of a simple designprocess and introduced to writing different portions of a technical memo report. This allowsthem to develop initial background in both a disciplined design process and in documenting adesign process.Writing can be used to help our students develop their thinking and their discipline. Brent andFelder1 note that “The process of writing and thinking are fundamentally and powerfully linked.”For more than twenty five years the Writing-Across-the-Curriculum pedagogical movement hasexplored and developed ways to use writing with in various courses throughout the curriculum.They have also included longer Writing-in-the-Disciplines approaches such as this case of designreports where students are specifically learning the writing conventions of their particulardiscipline.2Elbow3 argues that it is often particularly helpful to assign low stakes writing, using assignmentswhere the level of critique and the grading weight are low. He notes that “Writing feels like aninherently high stakes activity.”4 The particularly assignment sequence presented here allowsthis type of lower stakes writing to take place.The carrying out and documenting a design process are naturally linked. They are a commonactivity for first year students. It is important to for these students to begin to develop somediscipline in their design and particularly to understand the importance of the initial problemformulation stages of a project. Atman, et. al.4 have observed that one of the key differencesbetween inexperienced student designers and experienced professional designers is the amountof time and care spent in the project scoping phase.The strategy for this project is to move students through a project and a writing processconsisting of manageable segments and clear guidelines. Throughout there is a focus on creatingfigures and tables to present the basic story and then using narrative to connect and explain thesevisual items. Class time includes significant time spent on small group activities. Students areintroduced to the design process from the text by Voland.5 They work through both in-classroomactivities and homework assignments in problem familiarization, problem definition, strategydevelopment and presentation, presenting results with graphs and tables, and preparingconclusions and recommendations. Students are provided with specific forms and guidelines tohelp them develop good practices. Rubrics are used to make the specific requirements clear andto assess student progress.This paper includes presentation of the classroom activities, the out of class assignments, andrubrics used for this project.References:1. Brent, R. and R. Felder, “Writing Assignments – Pathways to Connections, Clarity, Creativity,” College Teaching 40(1), 43-47 (1992).2. Romberger, J., “Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the Disciplines,” Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL), http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/WAC/, (2000) accessed December 2006.3. Elbow, P., “High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing,” New Directions in Teaching and Learning, 69, p 5-13, (Spring 1997).4. Atman, C. J., R. S. Adams, M. E. Cardella, J. Turns, S. Mosborg, and J. Saleem, “Engineering Design Process: A Comparison of Students and Expert Practitioners,” Journal of Engineering Education, 96(4), October 2007.5. Voland, G., Engineering By Design, 2nd Ed., Pearson Prentice Hall (2004).
AU - S. Scott Moor
CY - San Antonio, Texas
DA - 2012/06/10
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Introducing Memo Writing and a Design Process: A Five-week Simulator Project
UR - https://peer.asee.org/21602
DO - 10.18260/1-2--21602
ER -