Often academics talk about engineering judgement and ask their students to use their engineering judgement in arriving at a solution. But how do you understand it? measure it? learn and transfer it?
In my opinion, I think its that judgement you make based on your experience and knowledge as an engineer. I think an engineer would see things different to an educator, so it's the way you would do or judge something from an engineering perspective. Hope this helps.
Best regard,
Debra
https://www.researchgate.net/search.Search.html?type=publication&query=engineering%20judgement&tabViewId=57176ef6cbd5c2183850de17&previous=researcher
https://www.researchgate.net/topic/engineering?ev=tp_pst_dtl_xkey
Thank you Debra. When I said to my students "use your engineering judgement" , I remember someone asking "sir, what do you mean by engineering judgement?". I did realise that we probably, as academics and researchers, have different definitions to what it is and how it is acquired.
Messaoud,
I suspect that this judgement, as Debra indicated, is borne of a long period of exposure to materials and processes. Yes, I have to thank my early exposure to Meccano for much of my rather modest ability to design things - it's a weird combination of analytical insight (estimating the thickness of a cantilever, knowing the cube-dependence on beam thickness...) mixed with a visceral 'feel' for how much torque I should put on this screw before the thread starts to strip.
This judgement, I think, can only be taught be having your students make and break things. Lots of things. Take them regularly to a machine shop, give them things to make, and break their designs to destruction - noting what fails first and *how*.
James,
I totally agree with you. Luckily, in my institution we pride ourselves to put in lab work and solving practical problems at the heart of educating students. I agree with you and Debra, that judgement comes with a long journey with experimenting with solving engineering problems, we learn through success but may be more through failure!
I am just intrigued by the process and I am not sure how much we instil in our students by he end of their course? and could we do more??
Messaoud,
I think that one has to be realistic in what one can hope to pass on. A first degree is a step along a long road - and one can, I think, only show that there is much more to learn.
Competence in an discipline such as engineering takes years; mastery, a lifetime. It sounds as though you have the right mindset, and regular exposure to real world problems is a sound approach.
Well stated James. I feel anyone from the new grad engineer to the old-timer certainly has the right to make a decision based on engineering judgment (EJ) - but it really boils down to the ability to provide what we phrased as applying "good" or "solid" or "appropriate" engineering judgment....
As you pointed out, making mistakes enhances the ability to makes such decisions...However LEARNING from mistakes is the relevant factor. In my 36 years I've used engineering judgment most often to allow my team to eliminate iterations in order to meet timelines - always informing management of this in design reviews. For new designs, I've needed to apply EJ to margin performance predictions provided by our design tools (specifically CFD) to provide input for Monte Carlo analyses used to assess program risk.
IN short, the ability to provide "good" EJ does come with experience (and learning from mistakes), however lacking a strong knowledge of engineering fundamentals even the most experienced engineer will take inordinate risks applying EJ. I think to ask a student to provide EJ may be a stretch - better to explain the concept and teach ways to learn from applying first order principles and learning from mistakes.
I think engineering judgement as with any other judgement is dependent on individual's intuition, intuition on the other hand comes with depth and breadth of understanding and experience of a subject matter of which judgement is expected.
What we can teach in university that help student to develop better judgement and intuition are the relevant soft skills such as team work, leadership and critical thinking skills. The only way this can be achieved is through Problem Based Learning/ Activity Led Learning. In Coventry University we deliver soft skills through Integrated projects where students work in inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary teams to solve some engineering problems.
Thank you Abdullahi. I like the word "intuition", and it is true not all students/graduates would possess it and may need years of experience to acquire such a quality.
my colleagues and I define engineering judgment as: "the ability to recognize and/or predict, through a combination of intuition, insight and experience, the probable outcome of an analysis, design or process." We believe we can provide experiences to help develop judgment through active learning as Abdullahi Ahmed suggests. We have found particular value in using inquiry-based learning methods which require students to make predictions based on previous experience. Check out our recent paper on the topic which we recently presented at the ASEE annual conference - we'd appreciate any feedback.
Conference Paper Accelerating the Development of Engineering Judgment in Stud...
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