Upper level engineering design instruction using a product archaeology paradigm

Historically, the teaching of design theory in an engineering curriculum was relegated to a senior capstone design experience. Presently, however, engineering design concepts and courses can be found through the entirety of most engineering programs. Educators have recognized that engineering design provides a foundational platform that can be used to develop educational strategies for a wide array of engineering science principles. More recently, educators have found that product archaeology provides an effective platform to develop scalable learning materials, strategies, and educational innovations across these design courses. In this paper, we focus on the upper level design experience and present a set of innovative strategies aimed at teaching design in a global perspective. Moreover, this approach facilitates meeting the challenging requirements of ABET's Outcome h. The effectiveness of the strategies is assessed using a benchmark national survey on the Engineer of 2020. Results demonstrate a significant increase in student perception across a number of skill and knowledge areas, which are critical to the next generation of engineers.