Doing engineering design: Reflections on the active learning experience

A structural design exercise has provided students with an effective experience of designing to meet a specific need. The brief is that students design a structure to support a 30N load midway between two tables placed a metre apart, using only balsa wood, A4 copying paper and balsa cement. It is run as a competitive exercise, with the lightest structure that holds the load gaining maximum marks - a clear, unambiguous and objective criterion that gives students immediate feedback. The first part of the paper concentrates on the experience of running the exercise over the years, of how the students have coped with the open-ended nature and demonstrates the variety of solutions that have been presented. The second part of the paper is reflective, and concerns the student learning experiences and how this develops their design abilities, their experience of the real world and their self-motivation as learners.