General Information

Development of this course was supported by a joint award from the National Science Foundation, the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1992. One purpose of the award was to simulate collaborative learning experiences among students and faculty from a variety of backgrounds. A major objective of our proposal was to prepare modules for dissemination and use in other courses; each module would involve students in an actual invention or design activity supplemented by readings, discussion and reflections on the problem-solving process. Therefore, the course is a kind of continuing experiment, offered every spring since 1992 with different modules and activities. We are grateful to the Lemelson Foundation for supporting a number of these changes, and for encouraging our students to take their invention ideas beyond the classroom. We will be trying a number of ways of assessing how well the materials are working, and will ask for your assistance in this endeavor.

Texts and Other Supplies

• Gorman, M. E., Tweney, R. D., Gooding, D. C., & Kincannon, A. (Eds.). (2005). Scientific and technological thinking. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (Recommended)
• Norman, Donald (1993) Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine. NY: Addison-Wesley.
• Additional readings will be made available, the majority of which are on the web and are linked off the syllabus.

In addition to these texts, you will each be allowed to spend no more than $20 for materials in any one module. We can sometimes help you find supplementary funding, and also consultants and space to work--but you will need to show initiative.

 Goals

1. To improve your understanding of how scientists and inventors operate in a global and social context..
2. To improve your understanding of how social and ethical issues can impact the invention and discovery process.
3. To understand scientific and technological thinking by inventing and by doing readings about invention and creativity.
4. To help you appreciate differing perspectives by learning how to work together on teams.
5. To improve your communication skills.

Objectives

In addition to specific information in readings and cases, we would like you to learn at least some of the following:

• Successful styles or methods of invention and design
• That innovation is an iterative process
• How to keep an invention notebook
• How to reflect on, and improve, individual and group problem-solving processes
• How to present and defend both the group's product and the process by which it was created
• Societal and ethical dimensions of invention and design, especially regarding sharing of intellectual property

Resource Page

As a supplement to the course syllabus, there is also a TCC315 Resource Page containing all of the class links and other relevant links and resources that may prove useful throughout the semester. Here you will find extensive information on invention & design as well as information regarding the two Active Learning Module projects. These links are continually being updated--please let us know when you encounter dead ones!