The impact of excessive focus on performance during engineering design process on creativity

• Autores: Yasemin Tekmen Araci, Blair Kuys
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 35, no. 6 (Parte A), 2019, págs. 1618-1629
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Creativity is considered to be a central requirement for engineering practice. Many studies have previously pointed differentcreativity blockers and the challenges of enhancing creativity in engineering education. However, there has been limited study onthe relation of product performance (functionality) and product creativity in an engineering design education context. The purposeof this research is to ask how focus on product performance affect product creativity during the engineering design process. Weseek to better understand the different levels of emphasis on performance and creativity during the engineering design process andtheir mutual relationship. To address this, a qualitative investigation was adopted in two engineering disciplines—one traditional inmechanical engineering and one relatively new in product design engineering. The main data collection methods were classroomobservations and interviews with the students and instructors. 8 instructors and 8 students were interviewed. Learning materials ofeach studied unit such as unit outlines, project briefs and assessment rubrics were also analysed allowing for triangulation to beachieved. The findings show that the excessive focus on product performance during the engineering design process trivialises anddiminishes the role of creativity. To enhance creativity in engineering education this study advocates challenging students withopen-ended design problems, valuing the design process in addition to the design product, and allowing assessment for creativity;not purely performance. Our findings indicate that in addition to product performance, engineering instructors should emphasiseproduct creativity in engineering design problem solving process. Future work is needed to understand the applicability of ourresults.