Teaching Design to Freshmen: Style and Content

Abstract This paper describe a freshman course in engineering design that stresses the open‐ended and ill‐structured nature of design in a project‐based context. The projects are chosen in part for their social context and utility. The projects are supplemented by lectures on design methodology and other topics related to engineering practice. Among the deliverables required of the students are proposals, progress reports, and written and oral presentations—the latter to an external design jury as part of a design competition.