Engineering Design as Hearing

Abstract

Over the last 15 years, design has become an integral part of engineering programs in Canada. This integration has meant that the closed problem/solution set preferred by science and mathematics has had to make space for the open-ended problem/solution set demanded by design. Integration has been challenging as these two problem/solution sets differ in significant ways. Closed sets teach correctness; open sets teach importance. Drawing on the documentary film, "Hear and Now", learning to design is explored through the metaphor of learning to hear, where hearing is suddenly acquired through cochlear implants. As the new hearer must make sense of a world filled with unfamiliar sounds, selectively listening to some while not hearing (ignoring) others, students of design, inundated with information, must distinguish between what is important and what is not. The metaphor can serve as a learning aid for students, or provide insight to possible ways of teaching design.