The Decomposition/Recomposition Design Behavior of Student and Professional Engineers

This paper describes empirical research on the engineering design process as carried out by student and professional engineers. The use of design strategies plays a significant role in engineering design, and a commonly used strategy is decomposition/recomposition. This research studies design decomposition and recomposition strategies in the context of teams. This research differs from previous studies investigating design thinking in that it explores parameters combining the FBS ontology with levels of abstraction while designing. It provides richer information about different design thinking patterns between engineering students and professionals. The results of this research indicate significant differences between students and professionals in terms of their decomposition/recomposition behavior. These differences are described quantitatively. By examining these differences we can better understand engineering design thinking, and this understanding can be applied to improving engineering design education.