Curriculum design seems to be one of the major challenges. It’s a strong idea- incorporating many disciplines in the way that, for example, creating a computer game does. In either case, who teaches this at the university level?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=bicycle+science

100kg? 100kg? Did anybody notice he said 100 kg?

I think the the first year of a CS degree should be to design and build a bridge across a bottomless gorge and then have the students walk their own construction. I would imagine the students that graduated such a program would be less likely to suggest multi-tier clusters of trendy products as enterprise solutions, and just solve the problem. (probably with Lisp or Perl)

I guess having the engineering inept fall to their deaths instead of nursing them though their degree is a little extreme. Possibly another discipline/faculty would set up some safety nets, or maybe McDonald’s or Burger King would just catch them before they hit the ground.

Project- oriented teaching is proven effective, but seems to be difficult from an adminstrative point of view. As with so many good ideas, the stumbling block is managerial.

From the High School teachers I have met, none of them could teach any part of that project. They wouldn’t understand it. Its about time we got Physicists to teach Physics, Mathmaticians to teach Math, and Engineers to teach Engineering.

Dana

PSssshhhh…’buzzard suit’

I like the idea. In general I am in favor of ways of integrated coursework and work/study from high school through college. Another approach would be to build several different things as individuals and teams over four year.

The build (but not design) part of your comment is being taken care of by Bikes not Bombs (Jamaica Plain, MA), which as you might expect can really use some donations right now.

building a bike sounds like fun but would take about 1 year to go from no knowledge of anything to a complete bike, not four. at the crappy public high school i went to, the shop class guys actually did learn a lot of cool shit, like how to design model airplanes , machine parts to hot-rod out their cars, etc.

I am a mathematician at heart and an engineer by trade, thus I would also like to believe that it is important for people to learn math and science. Most people i know who suck at calculus are actually doing quite well, usually much better than I am. Once they get to the proper age, my daughters will be allowed to do their calculus homework only after they have put in their five hours a day on the tennis court. One venus william’s worth of endorsements in the family is all I need.

Not a bad idea, but the kids would probably be more motivated if the project involved making a complex bong, or maybe some kind of very advanced sex toy.