Approaches to teaching CAD (CAM and CAE), based on learning science principles. Part 1

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From my experience of education across a wide range of contexts, what is clear to me is that the way that we teach - and therefore how students learn - CAD is often very poor. University undergraduates are mostly given PDF tutorials to plough through and expected to ‘get it learned’ while school students might have a lesson or two per half term where they mostly follow their teacher in parrot-fashion which they quickly forget. 

Furthermore, the choice of software is mostly dictated by the lecturer or teacher and is based on their personal preference, experience and expertise despite paradigm changing updates in the last few years, like the move to cloud, SaaS and the ubiquity of tablet devices. 

Designing a schema or curriculum for CAD is an interwoven balance of developing (1) a skillset (2) a toolset and (3) a mindset. The ultimate goal therefore will be that students are confident in applying CAD skills in creative ways, using the software and hardware at their disposal, to solve problems they define. 

So, as a starting point, what are some of the learning science principles we can try to understand to design “better” curricula and lessons to teach and learn CAD?

1. CAD vocabulary
2. Dual coding
3. The Forgetting Curve
4. Flow
5. Retrieval practice 
6. Interleaving 
7. Cognitive load theory
8. Metacognition

1. Vocabulary : 

CAD has its own specialist vocabulary, some of which is colloquial, and the terms often help explain the function e.g. sweep - but much of it is highly specialized and incomprehensible for the lay-person. Like any technical terminology, being able to use it facilitates the user being able to ask the question they need help with e.g. “how do I add a chamfer to that edge” as opposed to “how can I add the 45 degree slope the all the corner-sides of that shape?” 

Furthermore, many of the key terms have a linked icons and these need to be committed to working memory alongside their name:

The naming conventions can also be different, even within software owned by the same company: e.g. a work plane (Tinkercad) vs plane (Fusion 350)

Some terminology will remain as abstract concepts until the link is made to its real life meaning e.g. extrude which can be usefully linked to common processes like squeezing toothpaste from a tube or playing with the Play-Doh Factory toy.

Pasta being extruded 

https://images.app.goo.gl/4W9ji2euWwJAjA629

Toothpaste being extruded 

https://images.app.goo.gl/fAjHb2xknS4ruLqj7

By putting the technical vocabulary of CAD at the heart of the teaching and learning process you can lay the foundations for mastering CAD, and also becoming a member of that community, with the ability to collaborate using the shared vocabulary. 

As the nascent technology of Generative Pre-trained Transformers e.g. Chat GTP, StableDiffusion and DALL·E become mainstream, the ability to use a technical vocabulary may become a vital skill in prompting AIs like Point-E or DreamFusion which generated this design from the prompt “a wide angle zoomed out DSLR photo of A red dragon dressed in a tuxedo and playing chess. The chess pieces are fashioned after robots”

Strategies:

• Develop a glossary with meanings and icons
• Use quizzing tools like Quizlet or Quizizz : https://quizlet.com/496396365/fusion-360-vocabulary-part-1-diagram/ 
• Use the timeline in a completed design and ask students to identify the name of the icon and jot down what they think it does 

1. Dual coding 

Dual coding is an approach that recognises the reliance on, and limitations of, teachers or instructors using spoken instructions or visual images which students have to “decode”. By carefully planning sessions of learning using linked visual and verbal formats teachers can create powerful links that embed concepts through an “encoding process” — otherwise known as learning. 

Strategies:

• cut the amount of content on a page, slide or on-screen
• chunk information into small sections 
• use clear headings, using technical vocabulary 
• use simplified diagrams to stimulate connections and reinforce demonstrations 
• keep it all simple, aligned and neatly ordered

1. The Forgetting Curve

The concept of the “forgetting curve” is that learners will forget an average of 90% of what they have learned within the first month. The temptation when learning hugely complex CAD tools is to gallop through tutorials to get to the advanced tools as quickly as possible. This means that fundamentals can be quickly forgotten, including the development of key physical capabilities, like mouse control.

This means that instructional sessions need to be planned to be spaced and to revisit prior sessions. So for example the second session learning Fusion 360 could include an introductory activity to navigate the workspace, to identify tools and features used in the first session. Once learners are secure they can move onto new content. 

https://images.app.goo.gl/TJ7zSRQnkn67BcC29 

Strategies:

• Start your planning at the end – where do you want your learners to be / what do you want them to be able to confidently do in X weeks? 
• Plan for spaced learning : chunk the information over periods of time and include regular opportunities to retrieve the previously learned information in a variety of formats such as solving problems, completing quizzes, demonstrating a capability. 
• Offer opportunities for learners to access materials when they want it and how they need it. For example, creating a PDF may be easy to create but hard to access effectively on a mobile device or a series of looping gifs may provide the visual reinforcement that a video does not.
• Have materials ready to stretch and challenge on demand - learners, particularly with CAD, will progress at astonishingly different rates so pacing needs to be individualized.  

1. Flow

“A person is in a state of flow when they are totally immersed in a task. When a person is “in flow,” they may not notice time passing, think about why they are doing the task, or judge their efforts. Instead, they remain completely focused” (link).

When teaching students who have been in a flow state will say things like “wow, that went quickly.” To try to facilitate a flow state activities and session need to be planned to achieve a careful balance of  challenge vs skills (capability)

https://images.app.goo.gl/sP3n9PdvYKLcTpmF6 

The task is perceived to be too difficult students may disengage from it, while if it is too easy they may get bored and distracted. By way of an example, asking a student in the foothills of learning CAD to design a full combustion engine is certainly too ambitious, while asking an undergraduate to repeatedly create a dice may not be sufficiently challenging. 

Likewise, if they do not have the skillset to access the task,or their capability is beyond the task then engagement will likely be poor.

The art of task-design therefore is to create challenges to keep the challenge increasing, matched to developing a skill set.

Strategies:

• Start at the end - what do you want the students to be able to confidently do in X weeks e.g. 2D sketch using constraints, extrude (cut), chamfer, loft.
• Think about the level of ambiguity in the task. A task to design a chess set will be mostly well understood and learners will likely have a strong concept of the context, whereas a task to design a new personal transportation device is highly open-ended and students will have to make high-level decisions as well as retrieving and applying their skillset.
• The type and complexity of challenge will change over time as learner capability builds.
• Investigate “classic” design challenges and see how you can adapt them to meet the needs of your cohort and curriculum ambitions e.g. an articulating desk lamp (but only using xyz)