R³ + D³ = A Learning Tool for Science and Engineering

Abstract

The public benefits from a basic understanding not just of science but of engineering. However, people understand the scientific method better than the engineering approach, although they sense that the two are different. Simple memory tools could help teachers and students not only understand but remember and appreciate the different uses of the two approaches in understanding our world and in changing it. Checkland's concise description of the scientific method using three key words of reduce, repeat, and refute is proposed as a tool for remembering key components of the scientific method. A similar memory tool for the engineering approach could help teachers and students understand and remember the basic differences between and the appropriate uses of the two approaches. A three-word memory tool is proposed: determine, develop, and deploy. Our purpose is to elicit reaction to the conceptual learning tools proposed.