My dissertation is a qualitative design-based research study that explores Singaporean elementary school students’ documentation and reflection practices in a maker learning environment. In this work, I build upon literature from Constructionism, Metacognition, and formative assessment methods. I investigate the following research questions regarding student-driven documentation of maker processes: 1. How might artifact documentation and organization, as a mode of formative assessment, provide new insights to students and teachers in complex making/construction processes? 2. How could artifact documentation embedded in a collaborative tool contribute to students' identification and reflection of new knowledge gained during their making process? Over the course of two and a half years, I developed prototypes of the CoCreator App, informed by constructionist pedagogy and metacognitive practices. Then, I implemented the CoCreator App prototypes in two schools and an afterschool makerspace in Singapore, where students and teachers used it as their technology-facilitated process for documentation. Through analysis of students’ and teachers’ interviews, observations and field notes of classroom sessions, I reveal opportunities for thoughtful design of documentation tools that advance and challenge the theoretical underpinnings of Constructionism and Metacognition, and cater to elementary school students’ learning and reflection. My design recommendations include: multimodal choices of documentation, integration with students’ routines and workflows, organization of artifacts to achieve a balance between multimodality and integration with routines. Finally, I end with a note about the essential role that teachers play in engaging with students’ artifacts and nurturing a culture of documentation in the classroom, to inch closer to helping students develop intrinsic motivation towards student-driven formative assessment.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The use of multiobjective optimization in identifying systems that account for changes in customer needs, operating environments, system design concepts, and analysis models over time is generally not explored. Providing solutions that anticipate, account for, and allow for these changes over time is a significant challenge to manufacturers and design engineers. Products that adapt to these changes through the addition and/or subtraction of modules can reduce production costs through product commonality, and cater to customization and adaptation. In terms of identifying sets of non-dominated designs, these changes result in the concept of dynamic Pareto frontiers, or dynamic s-Pareto frontiers when sets of system concepts are simultaneously evaluated over time. In this dissertation, a five-step optimization-based design method identifying a set of optimal adaptive product designs that satisfy the predicted changes by moving from one location on the dynamic s-Pareto frontier to another through the addition of a module and/or through reconfiguration is developed. Development of this five-step method was separated into four phases. The first two phases of developments respectively focus on Pareto and s-Pareto cases, where changes in concepts, models, and environments that would effect the Pareto/s-Pareto frontier are ignored due to limitations in traditional optimization problem formulations. To overcome these limitations, and allow for these changes, the third phase of developments presents a generic optimization formulation capable of identifying a dynamic s-Pareto frontier, while the fourth phase adapts the phase three method to incorporate this new dynamic optimization formulation. Example implementations of the four phases of developments were respectively provided through the design of a modular UAV, a hurricane and flood resistant modular residential structure, a simple aircraft design example inspired by the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, and a modular truss system. Noting that modular products only represent one approach for dealing with changes in preferences, environments, models, and concepts, the final research contribution connects the presented method with parallel research developments in collaborative product design and design principles identification, followed by two case study implementations of this unifying design approach in the development of a modular irrigation pump and a modular plywood cart for developing countries.

No description available.

Given  the  necessity  to  achieve  vertical  integration  in  complex  NPD  projects,  this  study  offers  a perspective  on  the  implication  of  customers  and  suppliers  involvement  under  technological uncertainty.  The  purpose  of  this  work  is  to  use  SoSE  in  order  to  develop  a  framework  that  may support Marine system design in NPD under technological uncertainty. It has been assumed that it is possible to achieve the Pareto optimum with respect to the key variables influencing the success of the NPD process; furthermore, this study will explore the possibility to tackle the goal misalignment between Customer, Suppliers and OEMs interacting in an evolving scenario and to offer a decisional ground  for  the  mitigation  of  such  misalignment.  Concluding,  the  purpose  of  this  study  has  been expanded by answering three research questions on how Technological uncertainty influences NPD in  Marine  System  Design,  what  alternative  frameworks  can  be  used  to  structure  such  designs  and how System of Systems Engineering can be used to build such alternatives.  The structure of the model built in this report is based on the concepts related to Enterprise System of Systems Engineering (SoSE), Agency Costs and Transaction Costs theories. The analysis is based on a  case  study  where  a  propulsion  system  has  to  be  developed  in  order  to  meet  the  incumbent environmental deadline imposed by the Policy maker, while taking into account future adaptations.     Basing  on  the  results,  the  largest  misalignments  pertain  to  the  Value dimension,  where  the  actors prioritized different features depending on their different positioning of the actors in the value chain, leading to an increase of the Agency costs in the NPD. On the other hand, the possibilities to share the  knowledge,  to  split  the  costs  over  the  involved  parties  and  to  reduce  the  Transaction  costs represent  the  main  advantages  perceived  from  the  actors.  An  integrative type  of  structure  of  the collaboration  within  the  actors,  for  instance  establishing  a  Joint  venture  or  through  Integrated development, would reduce the misalignments.  Finally,  ABB  can  use  SoSE  in  order  to  manage  its  internal  R&D  process  and  the  involvement  of customers  and  suppliers.  In  general,  SoS  can  help  OEMs  in  dealing  with  uncertainty  thanks  to  the concept  of  fluid  boundaries.  As  a  consequence,  the  integrated  system  will  benefit  of  greater flexibility while complying with the requirements given by the customers and the suppliers.

Many systems in use today do not fulfill their expectations when operating, and are in a non-operating state much of the time due to maintenance. The accomplishment of maintenance often turns out to be costly and may significantly influence performance and the competitive position of a factory. In response to maintenance problems in the industrial environment, "Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)" is rapidly becoming the reliable, efficient, and cost-effective approach to maintaining the system to be operated at the full capacity with high productivity and low production cost. "Overall Equipment Effectiveness (DEE)" has been developed to measure the effectiveness of a given maintenance approach. It involves all of the operation and maintenance parameters required to measure the overall operating condition of the factory and its equipment. Measuring in terms of the DEE assists in identifying the production losses experienced in a factory, and aids in planning possible countermeasures to eliminate those losses. The concept of TPM and the steps involved in TPM implementation is introduced. A specific measure of TPM effectiveness, DEE, is defined, employed, and the results are analyzed. A computerized DEE model is developed to facilitate the measurement and evaluation process. The countermeasures necessary to eliminate the losses defined in TPM are also discussed. Application of GEE measurement and evaluation is illustrated through a case study assuming a hypothetical factory environment A cost-effectiveness analysis in terms of the total product cost and the resultant DEE value is also illustrated through the case study. The application of these methods for continuous factory improvement is the objective. / Ph. D.

No description available.