Engineering_Intuition

Enhancement of Engineering Intuition through Problem-Based Learning

Dr. Christakis Papageorgiou, NIDays 2015, Beirut, Lebanon

Contents

• Engineering Intuition.

• Success stories in Engineering Innovation.

• Learning and Doing Engineering.

• Desirable Learning Environment for Engineering.

• Learning and Doing Electronics.

• Conclusions.

04/04/2015 NIDays 2015, Beirut, Lebanon 2

Engineering Intuition in Education


Intuition vs Rational Reasoning


• Merriam-Webster: `a natural ability or power that makes it possible to know something without any proof or evidence: a feeling that guides a person to act a certain way without fully understanding why’

• The Free Dictionary: `knowledge or belief obtained neither by reason nor by perception, instinctive knowledge or belief, a hunch or unjustified belief’

Deductive Reasoning,

Mathematical Proof, inference

Intuition, Instinct, Hunch,

Imagination

Adversaries or Complementary Powers of Acquiring and Applying Knowledge?

Success stories: First Controlled Human Flight, 1903


• U.S. patent, `…invention of a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying machine's surfaces…’, Orville and Wilbur Wright.

• Invention of three-axis control, which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. (fundamental breakthrough, INNOVATION)

• Using a small, homebuilt wind tunnel, the Wrights also collected more accurate data than any before. (Aerodynamics experimentation and mathematical analysis)

• Gained the mechanical skills essential for their success by working for years in their shop with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other machinery. (Practical manufacturing skills)

• Their work with bicycles in particular, influenced their belief that an unstable vehicle like a flying machine could be controlled and balanced after continuous practice (BELIEF, INTUITION creating their DRIVING FORCE for experimentation and further analysis)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_dynamics_(aircraft)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_tunnel

Success stories: Fly-ball Governor, 1788


• James Watt patented (INNOVATION) a form of governor in 1788 to control the speed of his steam engine, and James Clerk Maxwell in 1868 described "component motions" associated with these governors that lead to a decrease in a disturbance or the amplitude of an oscillation. (Stability Analysis using Differential Equations, 80 years later)

• `…whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.’

• ‘…Watt began to experiment with steam, though he had never seen an operating steam engine. He tried constructing a model…’

• `…Understanding of the steam engine was in a very primitive state, for the science of thermodynamics would not be formalized for nearly another 100 years.’

Did ENGINEERING INTUITION (coupled

with experimentation

and prototype modeling) help?

Success stories: Negative feedback Amplifier, 1927


• US Patent 2,102,671 "Wave Translation System", which was issued to Bell Laboratories in 1937, covering the negative feedback amplifier. (Harold Black)

• `…he got his inspiration to invent the negative feedback amplifier when he was travelingfrom New Jersey to New York City by taking a ferry to cross the Hudson River in August 1927.’

• ‘…One reason for the delay (Patent) was that the concept was so contrary to established beliefs that the Patent Office initially did not believe it would work.’

• `…The Nyquist stability criterion developed by Harry Nyquist (1932) of Bell Laboratories is used to study the stability of feedback amplifiers.’ (Mathematical Analysis lagging Inspiration by 5 years)

Did ENGINEERING INTUITION (fuelled by

imagination and inspiration contrary to

established beliefs) help?

Learning and Doing Engineering – Balance Reasoning and Intuition

Intuition can only be enhanced while complementing deductive reasoning processes


Playing and having fun

Communication and creative expression

LEARNING AND DOING

ENGINEERINGMathematical

Analysis

Deductive Reasoning

ExperimentationModeling and prototyping

Practical manufacturing

skills

Software modeling and

simulation

Learning Environment for Engineering


• Problem – Based Learning: Simulate the Learning Environment of the numerous success stories of theoretical and applied innovation in Engineering throughout the centuries.

• Creation and adoption of Engineering Problems (Artificial and Natural) in Design, Analysis, Experimentation, Simulation, Manufacturing, Prototyping to cover the required Learning Outcomes within a field of Engineering.

• Learning starts with the Formulation of an Engineering Problem (e.g. in Electronics): • Design a PID controller using operational amplifiers to control…• Design a Low-Pass filter using … to …• Given the power electronics circuit, test it and measure its efficiency…• Build a simulation model of a half-wave rectifier circuit using …• Implement an algorithm using PLCs to control …• Implement a control algorithm on an embedded platform to control…• Implement a communications system to control remotely…

Learning Basic Electronics


• Problem: Design and test a passive RC filter (Design, Application of Electrical Laws,Analogy between electrical and fluid systems to enhance intuition)



• Problem: Design and test a passive RC filter (Build the circuit)



• Problem: Design and test a passive RC filter (Test and analyze the circuit, Critically evaluate the theory-experiment gap)



• Problem: Build and test a half-wave rectifier circuit (Design and analyze the circuit)



• Problem: Build and test a half-wave rectifier circuit (Build the circuit)



• Problem: Build and test a half-wave rectifier circuit (Test and analyze the circuit, Critically evaluate the theory-experiment gap)

Learning more advanced Electronics


• Problem: Apply frequency response analysis for active filters (Bode diagram)

Learning more advanced Electronics


• Problem: Implementing Control Algorithms on an Embedded Platform

Recipe for Enhancing Engineering Intuition


• Step 1: Provide a problem to the student, such that the student can only use a limited amount of analysis tools and a limited amount information. (Theoretical knowledge is always an approximation to Reality)

• Step 2: Motivate the student to acquire more information or evaluate the theory through prototype modeling, software simulation and experimentation. (Application of Practical Skills to enhance knowledge)

• Step 3: Motivate the student to assess the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical experience. (Critical Comparison between Theory and Experimental observations)

• Step 4: Motivate the student to provide an explanation for the difference between the theoretical analysis and the experimental results. (Intuition)

…the student will naturally resort to her/his INTUITION initially, rather than a formal analytical reasoning. Being on the edge of their theoretical knowledge, they will allow INTUITION to become the driving force for further enhancement of knowledge.

Recipe for Enhancing Engineering Intuition


Theoretical analysis and

design

Practical testing and

experimentation

LEARNINGCritical evaluation

of theory-experiment gap

ENGINEERING INTUITION

Conclusions


• Engineering Learning Problem: Create or Adopt a Problem, and combine the activities of theoretical analysis, experimentation and critical evaluation of the theory-

experiment gap. Allow INTUITION to provide the driving and adhesive force for implementing successive iterations in minimizing this gap.


Acknowledgements:

• John Leek (Faculty, BP Electronics Major)• David Krause (Faculty, BP Electronics Major)• Conor Sheedy (Faculty, BP Electronics Major)

THANK YOUQuestions?

Engineering_Intuition

Documents

Transcript of Engineering_Intuition