Design and drafting are subjects long taught in technology education, and subjects that retain high status in the profession. Admittedly, since the initial publication of Standards for Technological Literacy in 2000, design has taken on a larger role and meaning in the technology education profession. However, design continues to be delivered…

The ability to print a 3-D object may sound like science fiction, but it has been around in some form since the 1980s. Also called rapid prototyping or additive manufacturing, the idea is to take a design from a computer file and forge it into an object, often in flat cross-sections that can be assembled into a larger whole. While the printer on…

Reflective of current trends in industry, engineering design professionals are expected to have knowledge of 3D modeling software. Responding to this need, engineering curricula seek to effectively prepare students for the workforce by requiring instruction in the use of 3D parametric solid modeling. Recent literature contains many examples that…

Close to a decade ago, John Hersey High School (JHHS) in Arlington Heights, Illinois, made a transition from a traditional classroom-based pre-engineering program. The new program is geared towards helping students understand the entire manufacturing process. Previously, a JHHS student would design a project in computer-aided design (CAD) software…

In this paper, a short introductory course to introduce field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based digital control of dc/dc switching power converters is presented. Digital control based on specific hardware has been at the leading edge of low-medium power dc/dc switching converters in recent years. Besides industry's interest in this topic, from…

The functionality of web 2.0 technologies has caused academics to rethink their development of teaching and learning methods and approaches. The editable, open access nature of web 2.0 encourages the innovative collaboration of ideas, the creation of equitable visual and tactile learning environments, and opportunity for academics to develop…

This quasi-experimental study investigated the application of visual literacy skills in the form of parametric modeling software in relation to traditional forms of sketching. The study included two groups of high school technical design students. The control and experimental groups involved in the study consisted of two randomly selected groups…

A synchronous blend of online learning and "face-to-face" teaching is becoming a feasible instructional approach in higher education with the advent of technology. Although this learning mode is not new in higher education, little research has been done to contextualise social presence experiences in which effects of interactions were…

This study examined pedagogical aspects of virtual designing. It focused on how an industrial design teacher organised a university course in plastic product design and how the teacher guided student teams' design processes in a virtual design studio. The model of Learning by Collaborative Design was used as a pedagogical and analytical framework.…

Engineering graphics has historically been viewed as a challenging course to teach as students struggle to grasp and understand the fundamental concepts and then to master their proper application. The emergence of stable, fast, affordable 3D parametric modeling platforms such as CATIA, Pro-E, and AutoCAD while providing several pedagogical…

The internal design thinking behaviour of designers in the concept development has been an important issue of cognitive psychology. In this study, the design thinking process designers have in applying digital media and traditional paper in the early concept development stage was explored. Special focus was made on the structure and procedure of…

Critical thinking (CT) is a metacognitive process, consisting of a number of sub-skills and dispositions, that, when used appropriately, increases the chances of producing a logical solution to a problem or a valid conclusion to an argument. CT has been identified as a fundamental learning objective of third-level education; however, students…

Nowadays, computer aided design (CAD) is widely used by designers. Would children learn to draw more easily and more efficiently if they were taught with computerised tools? To answer this question, we made an experiment designed to compare two methods for children to do the same drawing: the classical "pen and paper" method and a CAD…

The need for assistive technology--technology that assists persons with disabilities--is great. At no time has there been a greater need to provide assistive technologies than to assist the thousands of military veterans returning home from the Middle East with a range of physical and mental disabilities. Mobility impairment is a significant…

The present article examines how practices of computer-supported collaborative designing may be implemented in an elementary classroom. We present a case study in which 12-year-old students engaged in architectural design under the guidance of their teacher and a professional designer. The students were engaged in all aspects of design processes,…