Homework Ideas
http://hal.lamar.edu/~ie_dept/underdown/intro_eng/ENGR_1101.HTM
Engineering
1. Take a poll, ask 5 practicing engineers you know (or don't know) how they define engineering.
2. Pick a favorite item or product. Without doing any research, brainstorm about it making a list of all the engineering work that has gone into it. Include as much as you can from its conceptualization to it reaching your ownership (without going off on related tangents).
3. One of the most important tasks of all engineers is to consider many different possible (and even seemingly impossible) outcomes and plan for them. Consider the task of environmental engineers that get called into action with an oil spill or other contamination. Make a list of 5 "contingent" engineering areas that may be related to your product.
4. Do some research on one aspect of the engineering work of the item or product you chose for Number 2. Write up a brief description of the work/processes involved.
Example for instructors:
· How M&M's are made:
· How mp3.files are made (and work): http://www.howstuffworks.com/mp3.htm
5. Find a product advertisement with a complicated "features list" in which you aren't really sure what is meant by these "features". Do some research and provide a short explanation of what each "feature" would mean to the owner (e.g. 32 Mb means less than an hour of MP3 play time for a personal MP3 player), an then give an analysis of how important you think the feature is (e.g. an hour isn't very much, but the product is cheap). The final result of your analysis should be a "product review" worthy of publish in your school or local newspaper.
Note to the instructor: For small classes, this could potentially turn into a "class project" where students design a "product review" format (rating system, categories, etc.), and then submit it to the school newspaper as a weekly column.
6. Albert Einstein said "you do not really understand something … until you can explain it to your grandmother." Pick one of the engineering disciplines and write out how you would explain it to someone who isn't familiar with it.
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