Leading architectural firms in professional practice are expanding their range of design possibilities using digital design strategies. A digital design strategy enables architects to make informed decisions and better handle the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline, while dealing with various complexities, uncertainties and an infinite…

CAD (Computer Aided Design) has now become an integral part of Technology Education. The recent introduction of highly sophisticated, low-cost CAD software and CAM hardware capable of running on desktop computers has accelerated this trend. There is now quite widespread introduction of solid modeling CAD software into secondary schools but how…

Describes the first-year Introduction to Design course at Iowa State University which incorporates design for manufacturing and concurrent engineering principles into the curriculum. Autodesk Inventor was used as the primary CAD tool for parametric solid modeling. Test results show that student spatial visualization skills were dramatically…

The focus of this article is on how computer graphics can be integrated throughout the engineering graphics curriculum to increase visual perceptual skills. Visual perception is defined, the need to develop it is described, and methods which engineering graphics educators can use to develop it are outlined. (KR)

Described is a course that offers students the opportunity to learn the graphics language of computers in conjunction with the traditional engineering design graphics concepts. The course objectives, course description, course administration, and advantages to using the dual approach are included. (KR)