2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Traditionally, an introductory Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Modeling course involves students learning by drafting models and exercises primarily from textbooks. Whereas this method has been used for a long time and has been very effective in its intended purpose, it does not provide students with entrepreneurial and other professional skills that are increasingly becoming essential for engineers in industry. An interdisciplinary approach that integrates an entrepreneurial mindset, bio-inspired design, and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) could potentially provide students with skills they need to face the challenges in the job market and become creative thinkers and problem solvers upon graduation. In this study, an interdisciplinary approach was incorporated in the curriculum that involved students identifying problems in existing products to create new solutions. This involved dissection of an existing product, carrying out functional decomposition to understand the functional relationships between component parts, identifying gaps in the design, and bridging gaps in the designs by either improving the design or coming up with a new design. Given that students carried out these activities in groups, they developed teamwork skills, improved their communication skills, and enhanced their critical thinking skills. A photovoice reflection survey and a set of open-ended questions were used to evaluate the outcomes. Results showed that students were more motivated to learn the course and became more engaged with the projects they were involved in. These results also showed that employing an interdisciplinary approach to teaching an introductory CAD modeling course can have a positive impact on the students’ learning experience.