Engineers are, in general, poor atconsidering human factors in our designs. Human factorsare an important aspect of engineering design that mustbe introduced and nurtured in all engineers, but is achallenging problem. We have undertaken a case study ofa past capstone design project to evaluate how humanfactors were considered. This paper will present a casestudy of this project’s application of human factors.Our work hopes to identify what influenced anincreased consideration of human factors, which led tothe success of this project. A combination of diversifiedbackgrounds may have played a significant factor in thedesign process, but there were, however, likely otherfactors that impacted the team’s performance. Ourultimate goal is to use the information gained from thiscase study to develop training and design tools toincrease usability of other projects.
Decisions must be made at the age of 16 and 17 that can have long-lasting effects. High school students are asked to select a specific degree, a university, and sometimes even a specific discipline with very little basis for making the decision. The EXPLORE program was piloted at Dalhousie University in the Summer of 2014 and 2015 to help girls in high school make an informed decision about whether or not to pursue an engineering degree. 10 students signed up each summer to EXPLORE engineering design in a compressed 2-week schedule where they participated in 3 short design projects, culminating in a major project for a client from the community. The girls developed documentation, presentation, leadership, and teamwork skills. They learned CAD software, practiced 3-D printing, and were exposed to robotic programming. They built and tested a design for a community partner and defended the design to a room of people. The students were introduced to visualization techniques, the engineering design process, log books, and other essential components that they would only otherwise encounter during their first year in an engineering program. This paper will document the elements of the course that help the girls make an informed decision about whether or not to pursue engineering from two perspectives: the instructors' and the student's.
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