In Chapter 1, “Consumer Concerns,” students explored criteria and constraints, and how
they affect the design of products. In Chapter 2, “Diversity in Technology,” students will focus on
how criteria and constraints affect the end product. They will think about why products with the
same goal would have similar or different designs. They will think about what causes more or
less diversity among the designs for a product.
In the Engage activity, One Problem, Different Designs, students will look at different products
that have the same purpose. They will create a Venn diagram to show what is similar between
the products and what is different. In the Explore activity, Designing with Shapes, students
will look at how different criteria and constraints affect the diversity of their designs for a work
of art and a living room of furniture. After their work in the activity, they will reflect on how
criteria limited the diversity of their designs. The Explain activity, Ideas That Fly, has students
create airplane designs based on criteria and constraints. They will read about how criteria and
constraints affect the diversity of designs.
In the Elaborate activity, Human Factors as a Design Constraint, students will focus on human
factors as one design constraint. They will role-play young engineers while dividing human
factors into physical, mental, and behavioral characteristics. In the Evaluate activity, Sharing
about Design Diversity, students will create a presentation to share what they have learned
about how criteria and constraints affect the diversity of designs.
Students may harbor misconceptions about the material they will be studying in this chapter.
Some of these misconceptions are listed in this section. Do not take time to go through them
as a list of lecture topics for your students, but rather use them to inform your teaching as
they emerge. Many activities included in this chapter work to expose misconceptions and help
students develop better mental models:
There is no reason for the diversity of designs. Some students may feel that the diversity
in designs occurs simply because different manufacturers made the product or that
a company wanted to make something different. It is important for students to realize
that designs are based on criteria and constraints. Some manufacturers have different
criteria and constraints that they must adhere to. Furthermore, different decisions have
been made related to the criteria and constraints. All these facets lead to diversity of
designs.
Human factors are limited or relate only to preferences. Students may think of human
factors as “what appeals to people.” For example, when students were studying
paper towels in the last chapter, attractiveness was one of the criteria for the paper
towels. Students should realize that human factors also relate to physical, mental, and
behavioral characteristics. Many of these are factors that are beyond the control of
humans, such as hand size or muscle strength. For a product to be used by the target
consumer, it needs to fit any constraints that the target consumer might have.
People who are physically disabled are not able to do many tasks. The extent of this
misconception will depend on your students’ experience with people who are physically
disabled. Some students may think that people who have physical disabilities are not
able to do many tasks, whereas other students may realize that often there are not many
limitations. Technology can help expand the limits of people who are physically disabled.
Diversity in designs can also help people who are physically disabled. For example,
some people with limited use of their legs are able to drive using a hand control on the
steering wheel. This is a different kind of design; however, it expands the limits to allow
people with limited use of their legs to drive.
For most activities in the chapter, you will need only 24 hours of advance notice for
preparations. The following two investigations might require additional preparation time:
- Engage: For the collection of materials
- Explore: For preparation of shapes
See the Advance Preparation sections in Engage and Explore for details on the necessary preparations.
