Component 2 Designing a Solution - Key Terms

Term

Definition

Alternatives

A possible or existing solution to a problem, different from existing solutions.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

1. A private, non-profit organization that coordinates the development and use of voluntary consensus standards in the United States. 2. The acronym for the America National Standards Institute.

American Standard Testing Methods (ASTM)

American Standard Testing Methods (ASTM): A testing method that defines the way a test is performed. The result of the test may be used to assess compliance with a specification. The ASTM is an international standards-developing organization that develops and publishes voluntary technical standards using a consensus process for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services.

Analysis

A systematic examination of a problem or complex entity in order to provide new information from what is already known.

Artifact

Handmade object or other result of human activity such as a design or document.

Assembly

A group of machine or handmade parts that fit together to form a self-contained unit.

Assessment

An evaluation technique for technology that requires analyzing benefits and risks, understanding the trade-offs, and then determining the best action to take in order to ensure that the desired positive outcomes outweigh the negative consequences.

Bias

Inclination or prejudice in favor of a particular person, thing, or viewpoint.

Brainstorming

A group technique for solving problems, generating ideas, and stimulating creative thinking through unrestrained spontaneous participation in discussion.

By-product

Something produced in the making of something else; a secondary result; a side effect.

Calibrate

To check, adjust, or determine by comparison with a standard.

Chain of Events Pattern

A pattern used in informative speeches where information is presented in a pattern of development directly related to a series of steps, each one dependent on the previous step.

Change Order

Documentation of a change to a design after the design has been finalized.

Competition

1. Open market rivalry in which every seller tries to get what other sellers are seeking at the same time – sales, profit, and market share – by offering the best practicable combination of price, quality, and service. 2. Contests used to show or expose work to different forms of evaluation and comparisons to alternate solutions.

Concept

A general idea, thought, or understanding.

Conceptual

Of, or relating to, concepts or mental conception.

Conclusion

A judgment or decision reached after deliberation. The outcome or result of an act or process.

Consequence

An effect that naturally follows and is caused by a previous action or condition; referred to as an outcome.

Construction

The systematic act or process of building, erecting, or constructing buildings, roads, or other structures.

Control

An arrangement of chemical, electronic, electrical, and mechanical components that commands or directs the management of a system.

Control Group

In a multiple group experiment, the control group is the group which is tested without any modifications.  The control group exists to validate the changes which may occur in other groups that are tested using a proposed hypothesis.

Convention

A technique, practice, or procedure that is established by usage and widely accepted.

Custom Production

A type of production in which products are designed and built to meet the specific needs and wants of an individual.

Data Element

An individual value or bit of information.

Data Set

A group of individual values or bits of information that are related in some way or have some common characteristic or attribute.

Decision Making

The act of examining several possible behaviors and selecting from them the one most likely to accomplish the individual’s or group’s intention. Cognitive process, such as reasoning, planning, and judgment are involved.

Decision Matrix

A graphical tool consisting of columns and rows that is used to compare alternatives while considering a list of specifications and constraints.

Dependent Variable

In research, variables that are a consequence of or dependent upon some outside condition. 

Design Brief

A written plan that identifies a problem to be solved, its criteria, and its constraints. The design brief is used to encourage thinking of all aspects of a problem before attempting a solution.

Design Principle

Design rules regarding rhythm, balance, proportion, variety, emphasis, and harmony, used to evaluate existing designs and guide the design process.

Designer

A person who designs any of a variety of things. This usually implies the task of creating drawings or in some ways uses visual cues to organize his or her work.

Detailed Sketches

Sketches that communicate the information needed to build a model of a product or structure.

Displays of Work

Public exhibits of work to allow others to learn about a project and to receive peer evaluation.

Downcycling

Recycling of a material to a lower grade of physical or commercial value.

Ecological Design

A method of design that is environmentally benign and economically viable.

Efficient

Operating or performing in an effective and competent manner with a minimum of wasted time, energy, or waste products.

Emphasis

Special importance, value, or prominence given to something.

Energy

The ability to do work. Energy is one of the basic resources used by a technological system.

Engineering Change Order

An order that specifies the change to a design or engineered project.

Ergonomics

The study of the problems of people in adjusting to their environment; esp., the science that seeks to adapt work or working conditions to the worker.esp., the science that seeks to adapt work or working conditions to the worker.

Evaluate

To form an idea of the amount or value of; assess.

Evaluation

The collection and processing of information and data in order to determine the significance, worth, or condition of something, usually by careful appraisal and study and to provide direction for improvements.

Evolution

A gradual development.

Experimentation

1. The act of conducting a controlled test or investigation. 2. The act of trying out a new procedure, idea, or activity.

Extrapolate

The process of extending a graph of collected data points beyond its end to predict an outcome, in lieu of actually performing the experiment at the extrapolated value.