Teaching engineering design and graphics to a freshman class presents the challenge of balancing prescribed lessons vs. open-ended questions. Given that few students have experience with the design process, and fewer still have formalized designs using CAD software, the teaching process is often one of demonstration. Given time constraints there is rarely time to visit the topics of verification or the practice of design iteration. We present a model for teaching freshmen design that incorporates documenting the idea, formalizing the design, and model simulation for verification and improvement. Most courses of this type, especially at the freshmen level, focus primarily on the first two elements. Using a common symbolic modelling and visualization software package, students import their CAD model designs for testing and immediate verification. This closing of the design loop makes the material more engaging for students of all disciplines and allows the instructor to go much further in the design discussion. Student work and feedback will be presented along with suggestions of how this process could apply to other engineering courses.
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