Educating Generative Designers in Engineering

在NSF加速发现计划的支持下，该项目旨在重新设想本科工程教育，包括生成设计。 生成式设计是一种变革性的设计技术，它使用开放式人工智能算法来解决工程问题。 生成式设计软件可以从先入为主的想法或过去的解决方案中解放出来。 因此，它允许探索更广泛的潜在解决方案，目标是与人类工程师合作达成最佳解决方案。 拟议项目将支持开发用于教学和学习生成设计的开源教育工具。 这些工具将基于现有的计算机辅助设计和工程软件，并将包括一套项目模块，以指导学生通过真实的设计问题。 该软件和相关的设计问题将在13个机构，包括社区学院，历史上的黑人学院和大学，文科学院和公立大学的学生进行试点测试。 来自这些试点的信息将被反复使用，以完善软件和教学方法。 该项目代表了人工智能在工程中的一种新应用，可以提高未来工程人员的创造力和生产力。 这个项目的总体目标是促进本科阶段生成设计的教学和学习。 为了实现这一目标，阿肯色州大学、伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校、俄勒冈州州立大学和康科德联盟将合作定义、实施和传播用于本科课程的生成设计工具和项目。 从三个角度的研究问题将推动该项目：1）理论的角度：什么是生成设计思维的基本要素，学生必须获得，使他们能够有效地在工程中的人类技术前沿工作？2)实际观点：从学生在生成式设计思维方面的收获来看，课程和材料能在多大程度上和以何种方式支持生成式设计的学习？（3）情感视角：从学生对工程的兴趣和自我效能感的变化看，人工智能在多大程度上、以何种方式影响工程师的专业形成？ 为了回答这些问题，将进行整合工程设计，计算机科学，学习科学和劳动力发展的观点和知识的跨学科研究。 该项目将涉及全国13个机构的1 000多名学生。 该研究将包括来自人口统计调查，问卷调查，自我效能测量，设计报告，屏幕播放视频，课堂观察和参与者访谈的数据。 该项目开发的材料将是开源的，包括一个用于教学和学习生成设计的开源工具，以及一套基于项目的学习模块，指导使用该工具解决建筑工程和能源工程中的真实设计问题。 该项目的成果有望使学生掌握在当代工程实践中使用人工智能方法所需的基本技能和心态。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from NSF's Accelerating Discovery program, this project aims to re-envision undergraduate engineering education to include generative design. Generative design is a transformative design technology that uses open-ended artificial intelligence algorithms to arrive at solutions for engineering problems. Generative design software can be freed from preconceived ideas or past solutions. As a result, it allows exploration of a wider variety of potential solutions, with the goal of arriving at an optimal solution in partnership with the human engineer. The proposed project will support the development of open-source educational tools for teaching and learning generative design. These tools will be based on existing computer-assisted design and engineering software, and will include a set of project modules to guide students through authentic design problems. The software and associated design problems will be pilot tested by students at thirteen institutions, including community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, liberal arts colleges, and public universities. Information from these pilots will be used iteratively to refine the software and teaching approach. This project represents a novel application of artificial intelligence to engineering that could augment the creativity and productivity of the engineering workforce of the future. The overall goal of this project is to facilitate the teaching and learning of generative design at the undergraduate level. To accomplish this goal, the University of Arkansas, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Oregon State University, and the Concord Consortium will collaborate to define, implement, and disseminate generative design tools and projects for use in undergraduate courses. Research questions from three perspectives will drive the project: 1) Theoretical perspective: What are the essential elements of generative design thinking that students must acquire so they can work effectively at the human-technology frontier in engineering? 2) Practical perspective: To what extent and in what ways can the curriculum and materials support the learning of generative design as indicated by students' gains in generative design thinking? and 3) Affective perspective: To what extent and in what ways can artificial intelligence affect the professional formation of engineers as indicated by the changes of students' interest and self-efficacy in engineering? To answer these questions, interdisciplinary research that integrates the perspectives and knowledge in engineering design, computer science, learning science, and workforce development will be conducted. The project will involve more than 1,000 students at 13 institutions around the country. The research will include data from demographic surveys, questionnaires, self-efficacy measures, design reports, screencast videos, classroom observations, and participant interviews. The materials developed by the project will be open source, including an open-source tool for teaching and learning generative design and a set of project-based learning modules that guide use of the tool to solve authentic design problems in architectural engineering and energy engineering. The products of this project are expected to equip students with essential skills and mindsets needed to master using artificial intelligence approaches in contemporary engineering practices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.