Designing CDIO Capstone Projects: A Systems Thinking Approach

E. Alarcón, E. Bou, A. Camps, R. Bragós, A. Oliveras, J. Pegueroles, et al, et al (2013). Designing CDIO Capstone Projects: A Systems Thinking Approach. 9.

2013 9th International CDIO Conference, MIT, USA

m4a1_alarcon_145.pdf

Given the all-pervasiveness of Systems thinking -which consists of thinking about things as systems- as a way of reasoning, in this work we will describe its application to make an interpretation of how to conceive and design a final year CDIO capstone course. Both the student teamwork structure as well as the complex engineering system itself addressed in the project are described in terms of entities, links, form and function, thereby pointing out their formal and functional interaction. The ultimate goal of the Systems thinking perspective is, given the necessary ingredients, to try maximizing the chances of the emergence of a fruitful capstone course, namely a culminating project that yields a set of students qualified to CDIO complex engineering systems.

Proceedings of the 9th International CDIO Conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 9 – 13, 2013.

Authors (New):

Eduard Alarcón

Elisenda Bou

Adriano Camps

Ramon Bragós

Albert Oliveras

Josep Pegueroles

Elisa Sayrol

Ferran Marqués

Pages:

Affiliations:

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

Keywords:

systems thinking

collaborative systems thinking

Capstone projects

Teamwork

engineering curriculum

Year:

2013

Reference:

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Designing CDIO Capstone Projects: A Systems Thinking Approach

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