Make And Test Projects In Engineering Design: Creativity, Engagement And Learning

This is a book about the invention and testing of ideas. By describing how to generate engaging problem situations for engineering students to solve it inspires original currents of thought.Make-and-test (MaT) is a practical way of testing ideas that challenges the validity of the ideas themselves and the manufacturing skills of the participants. Much of the project work described makes use of such simple materials as balsa wood and candle wax with the occasional appearance of the more exotic: fibre-glass-epoxy composites, for example; the properties and uses of these are examined in depth. All of the inventions described are intended to be well within the range of ingenuity and skills of first- and second-year engineering undergraduates. They can also be useful in stimulating the problem-solving skills of professional engineering and architectural designers so that everyday design questions and more one-off and personal undertakings such as the periodic design challenges offered by professional engineering societies can be interpreted more creatively. The major part of the book is devoted to case examples based on the author's twenty-five years of experience in supervising MaT work but there are many opportunities and exercises throughout the text to explore new MaT projects.In essence, Make and Test Projects in Engineering Design encapsulates the experience of engineering design from the uncertainty of "Can I tackle this problem?" to the joyous "Aha!" when a solution is discovered. An invaluable teaching tool and resource for the engineering educator and all those planning and conducting make and test projects, this is the first book that formalises an important aspect of early learning in engineering design.

ANDREW EMERY SAMUELProfessorial Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, AustraliaSeptember 14, 1934 (Ujpest) – December 3, 2007 (Melbourne)Professor Andrew Samuel, a pioneer of engineering design research, prolific author and respected educator, passed away on December 3 2007.Andrew was born in turbulent times in Hungary on September 14, 1934 to a middle class family. In 1944, as a ten year old, he demonstrated his courage and strong will by not wearing the yellow star decreed to identify all Jewish citizens. For twelve months, he lived among strangers and survived that which took the lives of so many. His mother and older brother both perished in Auschwitz.He came to Australia with his father to start a new life in 1949. Very quickly, Andrew exhibited his high intelligence, quickly gaining a lifelong mastery of the English language in addition to his earlier fluency in German and his native Hungarian. His obvious practical skills led to a trade apprenticeship with the General Motors (Holden)automotive company in Melbourne and Andrew became an expert toolmaker. However, his keen intellect and questing mind were not satisfied: he studied at night school and won a scholarship to the University of Melbourne where he graduated Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) with honours in 1959.In the 1960’s, his career combined graduate research with practical experience in industry. During the five years from 1963 to 1967, Andrew held responsible design/project engineer positions at Altona Petrochemicals, Massey Ferguson and Australian Paper Manufacturers. He gained his Master’s degree in 1963 in the field of Fluid Mechanics and his Ph.D. followed in 1973, studying “The Development of Turbulent Boundary Layers in Adverse Pressure Gradients.” This latter thesis provided benchmark data for many later theoretical and experimental investigations. Andrew’s thesis had been passed by the examiners twelve months earlier, but he delayed acceptance of the degree until his wife, Eva, had also passed her examination and was ready to receive her Ph.D. (in chemistry). The award of Ph.D.’s to husband and wife at the same ceremony was a unique and significant event, both for the Samuel familyand for the university community in Melbourne.Andrew returned to the University of Melbourne as a lecturer in 1969, and quickly entered into an ongoing and productive partnership with Dr. William (Bill) Lewis in the field of engineering design.His unique combination of talents finely honed practical and experimental skills, together with a highly developed capacity for creative, abstract thought established him as a leader in his chosen area of academic expertise. Andrew’s record in teaching, research, and innovative industry/university programmes led to his promotion to senior lecturer (1974), reader (1989), and professor (2002).In the 1980’s, Andrew established and, until his retirement led, an important and successful research programme in Kinematic Design and Robotics. He formed a productive academic relationship with the late Kenneth Hunt and was consistently successful in attracting high quality researchers and in attracting research funding from industry and from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the national researchfundingagency. In 1995, Andrew was awarded the degree of Doctor of Engineering by examination for his thesis titled, “Significant Publications in Engineering Design, Robot Kinematics and Engineering Education.” This rare honour marked a significant achievement, as the University of Melbourne has awarded only 15 higher doctorates of this type in the past 100 years.Andrew was an active member of the Australian National Committee for the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms from the 1980s and chaired the committee between 1999 and 2003.Andrew was a stalwart of the biennial International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED) . Either he or a close colleague from the Melbourne Design Group has attended every ICED c