The importance of having engineering students proficient in visual literacy has long been recogni... more The importance of having engineering students proficient in visual literacy has long been recognized. Within this objetive, the role of freehand drawing is paramount. It is therefore important to reinforce its practise for engineering communication and visual thinking support. This paper reports the findings of a research project aimed at studying the visual literacy skills of engineering students and the use of freehand drawing for this purpose. This exploratory study focuses on visualization and its externalization by freehand drawing. An empirical study was conducted with 66 engineering students from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain). Its skills for expressing visualized images by freehand drawing and its tendency to use drawings for problem solving were evaluated. The findings of the study indicate that students generally lack skills in expressing ideas by freehand drawing, additionally they do not tend to apply drawing when finding solutions to given problems. Considering the importance of freehand drawing to reinforce visual literacy, the implementation of its practice is encouraged in order to have students competent in thinking and communicating through these means.
ABSTRACT Creativity is an important subject in many areas, regarding design. Engineering Designer... more ABSTRACT Creativity is an important subject in many areas, regarding design. Engineering Designers has to face several design problems, since concept ideation to detail as well as manufacturing. A creative strategy will easily solve most of engineering design problems. Visual thinking is important mean for a creative practice on engineering design. There are several studies and methods for creativity and engineering design. However, creativity and engineering remains as an open question. Engineering professionals do not apply creativity as it is desired. A survey study confirmed this lack of creativity in the engineering design processes. One of these causes can be allocated into the educational phase of engineers. Current engineering educational programs are replacing subjects where creativity is fostered. One case is the use of Computer Aided Design for tasks later performed by sketches. Sketching is a visual thinking tool considered as paramount for designers and a proven tool for creative work. Engineering students does not often work with sketches and uses computer aided design tools instead. In this paper we study several creative learning approaches from various perspectives and then we propose an implementation model into the engineering academic programs. In the first part we will discuss the open question of creativity on engineering. Need of creativity as well as different creative approaches are shown. In the second part we will show a survey study made on some engineering professionals. In the third part we will analyse this question focusing on the educational stage and in the fourth part a proposal is made according to visual thinking to implement creativity on engineering education.
Sketching is understood as a key factor for creative expression, one the most effective visual th... more Sketching is understood as a key factor for creative expression, one the most effective visual thinking tools and so applied for design. Is considered the principal approach by which design engineers externalize their concepts and where the drawings provide visual clues for refinement and revision. Engineering Design researchers as well as professionals agrees the value of sketching to enhance visual thinking and so creativity, but sketching presence in engineering education is so few. There is a decrease in class hours for graphical subjects in current engineering curricula. Moreover, these even pays more attention to metric geometry and CAD training, and so sketching practice is almost totally displaced by modern computer-aided tools. Our appreciation is that sketching is not valued as a powerful visual thinking tool and seen as an old drawing method, replaced by new computer drafting interfaces. We studied how sketching is valued at engineering schools by students and educators, about their opinions related on the importance of sketching, how they see as a creative tool and how they apply for courses, for teaching and for learning. It is very important that engineering colleges give students the value of sketching, as well of foster its use, to train the future design engineer “not only in the standard drafting skills, but additionally in the ability to represent concepts that are more abstract and best represented as sketches”. To foster creative problem solving, engineering schools should offer formal courses in sketching and drawing in support of design projects: teaching basic techniques in freehand sketching would help them generate quicker and more effective external visualizations of their ideas, and thus foster their creativity.
The importance of having engineering students proficient in visual literacy has long been recogni... more The importance of having engineering students proficient in visual literacy has long been recognized. Within this objetive, the role of freehand drawing is paramount. It is therefore important to reinforce its practise for engineering communication and visual thinking support. This paper reports the findings of a research project aimed at studying the visual literacy skills of engineering students and the use of freehand drawing for this purpose. This exploratory study focuses on visualization and its externalization by freehand drawing. An empirical study was conducted with 66 engineering students from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain). Its skills for expressing visualized images by freehand drawing and its tendency to use drawings for problem solving were evaluated. The findings of the study indicate that students generally lack skills in expressing ideas by freehand drawing, additionally they do not tend to apply drawing when finding solutions to given problems. Considering the importance of freehand drawing to reinforce visual literacy, the implementation of its practice is encouraged in order to have students competent in thinking and communicating through these means.
ABSTRACT Creativity is an important subject in many areas, regarding design. Engineering Designer... more ABSTRACT Creativity is an important subject in many areas, regarding design. Engineering Designers has to face several design problems, since concept ideation to detail as well as manufacturing. A creative strategy will easily solve most of engineering design problems. Visual thinking is important mean for a creative practice on engineering design. There are several studies and methods for creativity and engineering design. However, creativity and engineering remains as an open question. Engineering professionals do not apply creativity as it is desired. A survey study confirmed this lack of creativity in the engineering design processes. One of these causes can be allocated into the educational phase of engineers. Current engineering educational programs are replacing subjects where creativity is fostered. One case is the use of Computer Aided Design for tasks later performed by sketches. Sketching is a visual thinking tool considered as paramount for designers and a proven tool for creative work. Engineering students does not often work with sketches and uses computer aided design tools instead. In this paper we study several creative learning approaches from various perspectives and then we propose an implementation model into the engineering academic programs. In the first part we will discuss the open question of creativity on engineering. Need of creativity as well as different creative approaches are shown. In the second part we will show a survey study made on some engineering professionals. In the third part we will analyse this question focusing on the educational stage and in the fourth part a proposal is made according to visual thinking to implement creativity on engineering education.
Sketching is understood as a key factor for creative expression, one the most effective visual th... more Sketching is understood as a key factor for creative expression, one the most effective visual thinking tools and so applied for design. Is considered the principal approach by which design engineers externalize their concepts and where the drawings provide visual clues for refinement and revision. Engineering Design researchers as well as professionals agrees the value of sketching to enhance visual thinking and so creativity, but sketching presence in engineering education is so few. There is a decrease in class hours for graphical subjects in current engineering curricula. Moreover, these even pays more attention to metric geometry and CAD training, and so sketching practice is almost totally displaced by modern computer-aided tools. Our appreciation is that sketching is not valued as a powerful visual thinking tool and seen as an old drawing method, replaced by new computer drafting interfaces. We studied how sketching is valued at engineering schools by students and educators, about their opinions related on the importance of sketching, how they see as a creative tool and how they apply for courses, for teaching and for learning. It is very important that engineering colleges give students the value of sketching, as well of foster its use, to train the future design engineer “not only in the standard drafting skills, but additionally in the ability to represent concepts that are more abstract and best represented as sketches”. To foster creative problem solving, engineering schools should offer formal courses in sketching and drawing in support of design projects: teaching basic techniques in freehand sketching would help them generate quicker and more effective external visualizations of their ideas, and thus foster their creativity.
Sketching is understood as a key factor for creative expression, one the most effective visual th... more Sketching is understood as a key factor for creative expression, one the most effective visual thinking tools and so applied for design. Is considered the principal approach by which design engineers externalize their concepts and where the drawings provide visual clues for refinement and revision. Engineering Design researchers as well as professionals agrees the value of sketching to enhance visual thinking and so creativity, but sketching presence in engineering education is so few.
There is a decrease in class hours for graphical subjects in current engineering curricula. Moreover, these even pays more attention to metric geometry and CAD training, and so sketching practice is almost totally displaced by modern computer-aided tools. Our appreciation is that sketching is not valued as a powerful visual thinking tool and seen as an old drawing method, replaced by new computer drafting interfaces. We studied how sketching is valued at engineering schools by students and educators, about their opinions related on the importance of sketching, how they see as a creative tool and how they apply for courses, for teaching and for learning.
It is very important that engineering colleges give students the value of sketching, as well of foster its use, to train the future design engineer “not only in the standard drafting skills, but additionally in the ability to represent concepts that are more abstract and best represented as sketches”. To foster creative problem solving, engineering schools should offer formal courses in sketching and drawing in support of design projects: teaching basic techniques in freehand sketching would help them generate quicker and more effective external visualizations of their ideas, and thus foster their creativity.
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This paper reports the findings of a research project aimed at studying the visual literacy skills of engineering students and the use of freehand drawing for this purpose.
This exploratory study focuses on visualization and its externalization by freehand drawing. An empirical study was conducted with 66 engineering students from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain). Its skills for expressing visualized images by freehand drawing and its tendency to use drawings for problem solving were evaluated.
The findings of the study indicate that students generally lack skills in expressing ideas by freehand drawing, additionally they do not tend to apply drawing when finding solutions to given problems. Considering the importance of freehand drawing to reinforce visual literacy, the implementation of its practice is encouraged in order to have students competent in thinking and communicating through these means.
This paper reports the findings of a research project aimed at studying the visual literacy skills of engineering students and the use of freehand drawing for this purpose.
This exploratory study focuses on visualization and its externalization by freehand drawing. An empirical study was conducted with 66 engineering students from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain). Its skills for expressing visualized images by freehand drawing and its tendency to use drawings for problem solving were evaluated.
The findings of the study indicate that students generally lack skills in expressing ideas by freehand drawing, additionally they do not tend to apply drawing when finding solutions to given problems. Considering the importance of freehand drawing to reinforce visual literacy, the implementation of its practice is encouraged in order to have students competent in thinking and communicating through these means.
There is a decrease in class hours for graphical subjects in current engineering curricula. Moreover, these even pays more attention to metric geometry and CAD training, and so sketching practice is almost totally displaced by modern computer-aided tools. Our appreciation is that sketching is not valued as a powerful visual thinking tool and seen as an old drawing method, replaced by new computer drafting interfaces. We studied how sketching is valued at engineering schools by students and educators, about their opinions related on the importance of sketching, how they see as a creative tool and how they apply for courses, for teaching and for learning.
It is very important that engineering colleges give students the value of sketching, as well of foster its use, to train the future design engineer “not only in the standard drafting skills, but additionally in the ability to represent concepts that are more abstract and best represented as sketches”. To foster creative problem solving, engineering schools should offer formal courses in sketching and drawing in support of design projects: teaching basic techniques in freehand sketching would help them generate quicker and more effective external visualizations of their ideas, and thus foster their creativity.