NASA Engineering Design Model
To the left is the Engineering Design Model created by NASA.This model exemplifies the fact that a design can always be improved upon. This is a continuous circle, never finishing at an exact "end product". I very much believe that engineering design is like this. There is no set end, and a design can always be improved upon, always be further iterated upon to have a better end product. This experience was driven home in Praxis I where we designed a product to get the last drop of soap out of a soap bottle and all throughout the course, we repeatedly found ways to refine our solution. This belief of continous iteration was reinforced in Praxis 2. My team worked on helping Seniors with Anomic Aphasia improve their communication abilities. Our final design of a card game based approach had been refined numerous times. Each time, a slightly better product came out and in the end was a large contributing reason as to why I enjoyed the Showcase and believe that it went well.
A problem I have with this model is that it infers that during the entire cycle, there is only one part that incorporates convergence and divergence (steps 3-6). I believe during the entire time, there should be an element of diverging and converging in each step. For example, I believe that during the building of the model or prototype, one should also have an element of trying prototypes with different variations, rather than being locked into one prototype.
[3] NASA Engineering Design Model
Reference:
[3] NASA. "Engineering Design Process", (NASA),[online] Feb 2008,
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/plantgrowth/reference/Eng_Design_5-12.html#.U0rYivldXTp (Accessed: April 13, 2014).