The CDIO approach in a FabLab activity for engineering education promotion

Abstract

Abstract : "The number of FabLabs has been steadily increasing over the last few years. Their main objectives are to sensitize its public on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education through the digital manufacturing chain of an object and to allow the large public to make their own objects. Through, the increasing popularization of these advanced technologies, it becomes more difficult to establish the makers from the engineers. The thinness of this distinction may have, in some cases, a negative impact on the promotion of engineering education. In actual engineering projects, a rigorous approach is usually followed such as the CDIO method. Meanwhile, the design rules pursued by the makers are not necessarily as systematic as the ones followed by the engineers. In order to present this distinction to high school students, this paper illustrates the usage of a CDIO approach within the framework of a FabLab activity to promote engineering education. The proposed week-long activity concerns a personal loudspeaker construction using the resources and capabilities of a FabLab. Furthermore, due to a precise number of turns in the windings, the manual construction of the speaker remains a considerably laborious task. To solve this issue, the students are made responsible for proposing an innovative solution- by applying a CDIO approach. This solution must lead to the design of a machine-tool manufacture dedicated to a loudspeaker production."