MMS Technological Design Framework

1.    Clarify the Design Problem

·        specifications are the requirements for the final product.

                                          i.     performance: things it does.

                                         ii.     output: things it makes.

·        constraints: the limits put on the design or materials.

 

2.    Research and Investigate the Problem

 

·        What are the needs?

·        What other products/solutions are out there?

·        What materials and techniques are available?

 

3.    Generate Alternative Designs

 

·        Brainstorming: a method for coming up with new raw ideas.

 

4.    Choose and Justify the Optimal Solution

 

·        List the strengths and weaknesses of the alternative designs.

 

5.    Develop the Prototype

 

·        Drawings and models are used to work out design problems.

·        A scale model is a model made at a different size.

·        A prototype is a full-scale or regular sized working model.

 

6.    Test and Evaluate the Design Solution

 

·        Develop one or more tests to assess the performance of the design.

                                          i.     Define your variables.

                                         ii.     Tests must match the design specifications

·        Tests may suggest changes to make to the design.

 

7.    Redesign the Solution

 

·        Make any design changes suggested by the tests

 

·       Re-Enter the Design Cycle at Any Step in the Cycle.


 

Technology Vocabulary:

Aesthetics: the study of how things looks affect people

Controls: a device that adjusts the operation of a system

Ergonomics: the science of making things work better for people.

Ethics: having to do with right and wrong.

Feedback: information about the performance of a system that is used to adjust it.

Functionality: the ability o a product to perform its intended purpose/task.

Informed Design: a method of making choices and revising them as often as is necessary to arrive at the best definition of a problem and its solution

Innovation: an improvement on a device or product

Invention: a new device or product

Maintainability: the ability of something to be repaired and maintained.

Optimization: the process of choosing the options that make a system work at its best.

Process: a series of steps.

Quality: the excellence of a product.

Requirements: the features that define the performance of a system.

Resources: any supply, service, or support.

System: a group of inter-related parts that work together.

Technological Literacy: an understanding of how technological processes work and how products are made.

Technologist: designs or maintains products, structures, and systems. They look for ways to make the human world easier to live in.

Technology: the creation of goods and services for human use.

Trade-Offs: an exchange of one option for a better option.