Thoughts on freshman engineering design experiences

This paper looks at how engineering programs around the United States are revising freshman year curriculum to include engineering design. New and revised courses give students exposure to the creative nature of engineering through design projects, hands-on laboratories and/or open-ended problem solving. We begin by defining engineering design, engineering design education, and the qualities expected of design engineers. Then we develop a framework for viewing, interpreting, and categorizing the various approaches to exposing freshman-level students the key design qualities. Specific examples of courses that span the framework of approaches are sited. The ideas presented here are a result of reviewing numerous ''educational experiments'' that are going an around the US, many of which were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). A spectrum of approaches to integrating engineering design ideas, skills, and knowledge into this first year of an undergraduate degree has been considered.