Human-Centered Engineering Design - Lesson 03 - Abductive Reasoning and Problem Definition
Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Other
Publication Date
Winter 1-15-2025
Department
Thayer School of Engineering
Abstract
Purpose and audience. This is the third lesson in a series, “Human-Centered Engineering Design.” These lessons are intended to be integrated into introductory courses on engineering design at the undergraduate level, across any engineering discipline. They are designed to function either as a sequence or as stand alone lessons to fill an existing gap in a course.
This third lesson, abductive reasoning and problem definition, is meant to be a first introduction to synthesizing qualitative research methods into potential needs and towards the definition of a problem that, if addressed, would meet identified needs. The lesson accomplishes this by moving quickly through the introduction of three methods: gallery tours, affinity mapping, and Point-of-View problem frame statements. As a whole, these methods serve as an experience of abductive reasoning the core logic with which designers reason about the world. This lesson is primarily experiential, with short slide presentations interspersed to introduce each technique as well as a closing lecturette that recaps the methods and introduces abductive reasoning.
This lesson is designed to follow the previous one on empathy and needfinding, but it can be used as a stand-alone lesson as the instructor chooses. The lesson begins with pre-prepared notes from observations and ethnographic interviews about carrying devices. Links to our materials are included here.
This lesson series was funded by a Dartmouth Library’s Open Education Initiative grant. All materials have a Creative Commons license–they are free to use and adapt for non-commercial purposes with attribution to the authors and Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.
Structure at a glance:
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Warm-up: “I see _______, which makes me wonder _______” - 5 minutes
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Activity #1: Gallery Tours - 20 minutes
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Activity #2: Affinity Maps - 10 minutes
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Activity #3: Needs and POV Statements - 15 minutes
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Presentation - 7 minutes
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Questions and discussion - 3 minutes (or more if time allows in your class)
Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation
Steinhauer, Rafe; Magdalena Gomez, Sara; Coffey, Virginia; and Mensi, Grace, "Human-Centered Engineering Design - Lesson 03 - Abductive Reasoning and Problem Definition" (2025). Other Faculty Materials. 19.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/faculty_other/19
