Class notes (Sep 30)

As I promised, I'm uploading the photos of our last class.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Also I want to highlight the similarities of our work with Tosin's group (figs 1 & 4), doing a parallel between well-structured problem and a real engineering problem, from two different author perspective.

Koen states, as I see it, about engineering problem solving, from a method point of view. Jonassen also is focused in problem solving, but explaining what an engineering problem should be. Looking the method of problem solving, or the characteristics of the problem itself, I can found some interesting parallels...

Koen	Jonassen	Reflection
Change: Deciding which path to take from point A to point B	Some times there are many goals, or conflict goals Problems can be solved in many different ways	For both, there are many paths, starting points and goals. For me, engineering is very complex, specially when is social engineering.
Resources: Creating a new world with available resources	Most constrains are non-engineering (like time or money) "Knowledge exists not only in the heads of learners, but also in the conversations and social relations among collaborators" pg.144	I see constrains as part of the resources, and some times engaging ones. For example, the right part of Tosin's group cardboard was "empty" (showing an ill-stuctured problem) but its size was the constraint, when designing a problem.
Best: Finding an optimal solution, in response of people's needs	Encounter unanticipated problems and more than one solution Is a group construction, for people's (client) needs.	I think engineering is always looking people's needs. It could be in terms of society, individuals, even ourselves. Always looking for a result (engineers as doers, as Figueiredo explained).
Uncertainty: Identifying the absence of all the information	"Probably the biggest challenge that we see in some of these projects is dealing with incomplete information" pg.142	The complexity of engineering problems leads to huge amounts of information, always incomplete as both authors said. Angela puts this idea in one sentence: "where does uncertainty comes from?"