WHEN GOOD INTENTIONS FAIL

The disproportionate attention students paid to institutional and organizational constraints, such as grades, while working on a realistic first-year design project interfered with their learning about engineering design practices and led them to fudge results. Educators should create a project timeline that facilitates student time management but also allows for flexibility within and across design phases; promote an iterative approach to design by allowing students to make changes and redesign throughout the process; and align project requirements with the intended learning outcomes.