Implementation of Concrete to Abstract Teaching in an Engineering Design Module

Proceedings of International Conference on Advanced Design Research and Education (ICADRE14)

Year: 2014
Editor: Edwin Koh, Victor Shim, Tan Woei Wan, Ian Gibson, Andi S. Putra
Author: Putra , Andi Sudjana; Li , Yongfeng
Institution: [1] National University of Singapore, Singapore, [2] Hill-Rom Services Pte Ltd, Singapore
Section: Design Education
Page(s): 062-066
DOI number: 10.3850/978-981-09-1348-9_045
ISBN: 978-981-09-1348-9

Abstract

Engineering undergraduate education since World War II has been based on an engineering science model, where a solid foundation of mathematics and science (i.e., abstract) are taught first for about half of the curriculum, and then only followed by engineering (i.e., concrete) in the remaining half of the curriculum. This approach has manifested into well-established curricula in engineering education institutions around the globe. In this paper, we introduce an application of the reversal, concrete-to-abstract teaching, in an engineering design module. One of the aims of this approach is to strengthen student’s comprehension of the engineering principle.

Keywords: Design Education