Resources Conservation Service
Did you ever feel like a problem was impossible to solve? What did you do? Many real-world problems appear impossible, sometimes because one solution pleases some people and an opposite solution satisfies others. A problem with no clear-cut answer can be frustrating.
Engineers often feel the same way. But they find ways to move forward, even when it seems impossible to provide answers that make everyone happy. (See figure 3-4.) Engineers use skills you know something about. They test how things work. They also break down big problems into smaller ones. Finally, they determine what solutions are possible. How do engineers determine those possible solutions? Does that knowledge help them deal with competing constraints? In this Engage activity, When Solutions Seem Impossible, you will think about how you could use testing to solve a seemingly impossible problem.
-
Form a team of two and select one of the two roles from the following script. You will read aloud your role and act out the scene as portrayed in the acting notes in brackets.
Scene Script
BURT: How am I supposed to get this done? [frustration; drinks from paper cup, crumples it tightly, and throws it into waste basket]
JANEL: Another impossible problem to solve? [speaks sympathetically; gets a drink of water]
BURT: Yeah. Clean up that spilled oil fast, but do it efficiently. [rolls eyes then furrows brow]
JANEL: And the impossible part? [smirk]
BURT: It’s like the boss wants a powerful and fast race car that gets great gas mileage. Those constraints generally drive the car design in different directions. [worried expression]
JANEL: Let me guess. You’re saying the race car is like recovering the oil really fast. So that means great gas mileage is like cleaning up the oil efficiently. [matter of fact tone]
BURT: Bingo! He wants performance and efficiency. Those are competing constraints.
JANEL: So what are you going to do?
BURT: Well first, I was thinking of . . . [Burt’s cell phone rings; he looks at the caller ID.] I’ve got to get this. It’s the boss again.
-
Switch roles. Read through the scene again. Try to understand your new character’s feelings and thoughts. Think about why cleaning up oil seems difficult.
Activity Overview
In the Engage activity, When Solutions Seem Impossible, students read a dialogue between two engineers who meet at the water cooler. One engineer feels he has been given an impossible assignment involving an oil spill. The dialogue exposes the problem and its competing constraints, but does not answer the dilemma. Students share their reactions to this dialogue, thus revealing their prior thinking about constraints. They should see how different constraints can lead to very different solutions.
Before You Teach
Background Information
Sometimes a solution to a problem evades us at first. It seems impossible, especially if there are competing constraints. Doing one thing prevents the other from happening. Yet the boss wants both. How do we solve problems like that? Giving up isn’t the solution. The first step is often to recognize that some constraints are competing. As soon as we realize this, we acknowledge that the solution will be a compromise between the competing constraints. That makes the solution a range of choices, not one clear answer.
Materials
none
As You Teach
Outcomes and Indicators of Success
By the end of this activity, students will begin identifying the effect of competing constraints on problem solutions.
They will show how they identify these effects by
- finding them in the sample dialogue
- describing a set of competing constraints from another situation.
Strategies
Getting Started
Begin the chapter by having students look at the chapter organizer. They should read the key ideas, linking questions, and major concepts for the chapter. Then have students read the introduction to the activity. Ask them to think about a situation that felt impossible. For example, parents might think that if the amount of time students spend texting goes up, the time students have to do homework goes down. Next, ask students to try to identify with Burt in the dialogue as he, too, seems to be in an impossible situation.
Process and Procedure
In Step 1, have teams actually act out the dialogue. Emphasize the importance of addressing the stage notes. This helps actors empathize with the characters. Often, empathy increases self-motivation and enhances long-term memory.
Have students switch roles so they can improve their performance and empathize with each character.