Abstract
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.
Highlights
Engineering design is a goal-oriented process to solve complex problems that involve technical, economic, social and environmental dimensions (Pahl et al 2007)
A two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with repeated measure was performed to compare the number of solutions generated by first-year and senior students, with and without dimensions of sustainability
The interdisciplinary study reported in this paper explores how engineering students cognitively produce solutions to engineering design problems and cognitively manage added dimensions of sustainability
Summary
Engineering design is a goal-oriented process to solve complex problems that involve technical, economic, social and environmental dimensions (Pahl et al 2007). No matter the technique or process, some form of idea generation or concept generation is involved Designing is a reflective process (Schön 1983), based on an iteration of problem formulation, idea generation and evaluation of the proposed concepts to formalize design solutions. It relies on a set of cognitive processes that promote an alternation of divergent and convergent thinking (Goldschmidt 2016), and of problem and solution space exploration (Maher & Poon 1996; Dorst & Cross 2001). As design problems are considered ill-structured (Simon 1973), the proposal and evaluation of multiple concepts is a way to reframe and structure the problem space and begin the design process again
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
