crankyoldman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
crankyoldman) wrote2010-04-29 04:34 pm
crankyoldman) wrote2010-04-29 04:34 pm
Entry tags:
Let Me Educate You!
So, I wanted to do some stuff for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
three_weeks_for_dw, but since work is MAD BUSY and I've been entering lots of data into spreadsheets (if my job is anything it is extremely varying work, because we are a small company, so sometimes I have grunt work, but so does everyone) I'm just going to do a couple entries here and there!
Since I'm currently designing some teaching points for our game (that are used outside of the game narrative and just using the mechanics), I thought, "hey, how about I talk about some things I'm trying to help teach kids". This particular project is very dear to me, because it's teaching engineering skills in particular. So I'm going to talk about the very fundamental basis of engineering work here. I'm sure a lot of you, since you're somewhere near or above my age have a good grasp, but I like explaining things. XD
The main difference between engineers and scientists is that engineers fudge a lot more. No really, we do. Science is about answering questions based on data; engineering is about solving problems based on data. It may sound like exactly the same thing, but it's really not. And it's easy to confuse the two because science and engineering often use a common vocabulary; a chemist and a chemical engineer both have to know what the elements are and organic reactions and the like. A physicist and a mechanical engineer will both understand statics. In fact, engineers are closer to artists in mindset than to scientists.
It's all about application.
During my college education, they stealthily drilled into my head the fundamentals of problem solving. And there are fundamentals. No matter how weird or strange the problem, if it's going to be solved, you will attack it the same way, over and over again. Oftentimes what trips people up is they don't realize this, their tools are inadequate, or they forget to follow a method and freak out. The company we're partnering with for my game uses a 9 step problem solving method, but I think that's a fucking lot to remember. So I always use about 4, which is kind of how my Thermodynamics homework was formatted. I took that class a couple times, so I remember. XD So here goes.
Identify the Givens
"Givens" is a term that betrays my years of doing complex word problems. Givens are quite simple, really. It's the information you have starting out. Say, for instance, you're trying to put up a wall-mounted bookshelf. You are given: the fact you want it on the wall, how you may want it to look, and the free time you have to put it up. Time is a very important factor that is oftentimes forgotten. If you don't have the time to solve a problem in one sitting, you may have to account for that.
Givens are also the problem statement itself. In school, this is easily laid out. But in the real world, this is often the most tricky, or at very least internalized somewhat. A problem like, 3 +2 = ? is rather simply put, but how do you figure out what you're trying to solve when someone comes up to you with a gizmo that's broken? Well, "it's broken" is a problem. So is "the cheese smells funny" and "Suzy and Billy hate each other". And back to the shelf example, your problem is that you have a shelf that needs to be on the wall, but isn't.
The biggest task is separating the useful information from the trivial. Not all information is good information. Knowing that your shelf is black doesn't help you put it up on the wall.
So to run it down, Givens are:
- What information you have
- What you are trying to fix/solve
Make Assumptions
I know, "when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me". But it's a very vital step in problem solving! Assumptions can simplify a problem and make it more manageable than tackling it head on. The problem lies in making BAD assumptions. If you're going to assume something, it should be for a reason.
One example of an assumption is something that I used in a lot of my airplane dynamics problems. It's called the "flat earth assumption". In finding a frame of reference for all the crazy math, you assume that the earth is flat, quite literally. Now, we all know that the earth is curved. But the math for that is kind of really crazy and totally not worth doing if say, you're just trying to find the groundspeed of a plane. So we fudge it, because the curve of the earth is so slight compared to how far the plane it's going it is basically flat.
Back to the shelf. A good assumption is that gravity will pull it down unless you're holding it there, or it's nailed in. This may mean that you may need an assistant to do this job. Or if you've got really good balance and strength, you'd do it yourself. But a good assumption is you'll need help.
Basically, Assumptions are:
- Rules (gravity pulls you towards the earth, no white pants after Labor Day)
- Simplifications (oranges and apples are both fruit so they are likely to taste good in a smoothie together)
Identify the Tools
Tools are most easily visualized in the physical world. Hammers, wrenches, weird little kitchen gizmos... very obvious things that are made for a specific purpose. Sure, sometimes they can have unintended uses (hammers can be used on nails, but they can also be used for murder! D:), but for the most part their purpose is pretty clear. People get tripped up with tools if they are tools for things that are unfamiliar to them.
For instance, my mother is very good working with her hands. If something is broken, she knows the tool to fix it, or can at least improvise it MacGuyver style. But you ask her to look up something on google, and she's at a loss. The majority of school is showing students tools, how they work, and making them familiar with them. Sometimes the focus is too much on the tool and not enough on how to use it (mathematics comes to mind here).
In fact, between this and assumptions, this is where people get the most frustrated. So you get your assistant to hold the shelves to the wall while you nail it in. What if the hammer slips? What if there is a stud in that part of the wall and the nail bends and won't go in?
Well, the problem solving method isn't linear! When a tool doesn't work, you go back to the beginning. Maybe the problem is a stud in the wall. So, you go back and add this fact to your givens. You adjust where your shelf will go to account for this fact, and try again.
Failure with a tool is almost as valuable as success with one. Because it illuminates more of what's going on.
Tools are then:
- Things with a specific use (a hammer, an equation, a shoe)
- Things that may not have a specific use that can be used anyway (duct tape, paperclips, MacGuyver)
Arrive at the Solution
So you've got all your info. You've laid out your parts. You know that you need a monkey wrench and a kazoo. Now do it! Sometimes this is as simple as assembling the shelf. Other times it's doing pages and pages of math calculations. Sometimes you'll discover there is no right answer or any answer at all!
Whenever you reach a point of satisfactory results, that's a solution. Sometimes it'll be temporary, like duct taping the strap that broke on your backpack. Some will be quick and some will take godawful amounts of time. But the point is; you're done with that problem.
Whether you're right or not... well. XD
I know this sounds like a lot of common sense, but this is learned behavior for the most part (there are a few "natural" problem solvers, but they are not as common as you'd think, and usually they are naturals for specific sorts of problems). If you're lucky, you barely notice learning it. If you're not, then you probably had to do a lot of math. XD
And while this method will work on a majority of problems, it fails pretty spectacularly when relating to people. People cannot be "solved" quite so easily. Believe me, I have tried.
But the tl;dr version:
Identify the Givens
- What am I trying to solve?
- What do I know to be true?
- What don't I know to be true?
Make Assumptions
- What rules should I follow?
- Can I look at this in a simpler way?
Identify the Tools
- What can I use to solve this?
- Do I have everything? If not, where can I get it?
- Do I need more information?
Arrive at the Solution
- Is this the result I wanted?
- Is the result good enough?
- Does it work?
Now I'm going to go home and apply this to sewing on a zipper for the first time. XD
If there are any other subjects related engineering, science, gaming, or education that you'd like me to ramble about, explain, or given an opinion of, feel free to let me know. If I have no idea about something, I'll opt out, unless it's quick research or I can find something I know that is close. XD I like rambling about these things and don't often have the opportunity to outside of work, or a bar.
three_weeks_for_dw, but since work is MAD BUSY and I've been entering lots of data into spreadsheets (if my job is anything it is extremely varying work, because we are a small company, so sometimes I have grunt work, but so does everyone) I'm just going to do a couple entries here and there!Since I'm currently designing some teaching points for our game (that are used outside of the game narrative and just using the mechanics), I thought, "hey, how about I talk about some things I'm trying to help teach kids". This particular project is very dear to me, because it's teaching engineering skills in particular. So I'm going to talk about the very fundamental basis of engineering work here. I'm sure a lot of you, since you're somewhere near or above my age have a good grasp, but I like explaining things. XD
The main difference between engineers and scientists is that engineers fudge a lot more. No really, we do. Science is about answering questions based on data; engineering is about solving problems based on data. It may sound like exactly the same thing, but it's really not. And it's easy to confuse the two because science and engineering often use a common vocabulary; a chemist and a chemical engineer both have to know what the elements are and organic reactions and the like. A physicist and a mechanical engineer will both understand statics. In fact, engineers are closer to artists in mindset than to scientists.
It's all about application.
During my college education, they stealthily drilled into my head the fundamentals of problem solving. And there are fundamentals. No matter how weird or strange the problem, if it's going to be solved, you will attack it the same way, over and over again. Oftentimes what trips people up is they don't realize this, their tools are inadequate, or they forget to follow a method and freak out. The company we're partnering with for my game uses a 9 step problem solving method, but I think that's a fucking lot to remember. So I always use about 4, which is kind of how my Thermodynamics homework was formatted. I took that class a couple times, so I remember. XD So here goes.
Identify the Givens
"Givens" is a term that betrays my years of doing complex word problems. Givens are quite simple, really. It's the information you have starting out. Say, for instance, you're trying to put up a wall-mounted bookshelf. You are given: the fact you want it on the wall, how you may want it to look, and the free time you have to put it up. Time is a very important factor that is oftentimes forgotten. If you don't have the time to solve a problem in one sitting, you may have to account for that.
Givens are also the problem statement itself. In school, this is easily laid out. But in the real world, this is often the most tricky, or at very least internalized somewhat. A problem like, 3 +2 = ? is rather simply put, but how do you figure out what you're trying to solve when someone comes up to you with a gizmo that's broken? Well, "it's broken" is a problem. So is "the cheese smells funny" and "Suzy and Billy hate each other". And back to the shelf example, your problem is that you have a shelf that needs to be on the wall, but isn't.
The biggest task is separating the useful information from the trivial. Not all information is good information. Knowing that your shelf is black doesn't help you put it up on the wall.
So to run it down, Givens are:
- What information you have
- What you are trying to fix/solve
Make Assumptions
I know, "when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me". But it's a very vital step in problem solving! Assumptions can simplify a problem and make it more manageable than tackling it head on. The problem lies in making BAD assumptions. If you're going to assume something, it should be for a reason.
One example of an assumption is something that I used in a lot of my airplane dynamics problems. It's called the "flat earth assumption". In finding a frame of reference for all the crazy math, you assume that the earth is flat, quite literally. Now, we all know that the earth is curved. But the math for that is kind of really crazy and totally not worth doing if say, you're just trying to find the groundspeed of a plane. So we fudge it, because the curve of the earth is so slight compared to how far the plane it's going it is basically flat.
Back to the shelf. A good assumption is that gravity will pull it down unless you're holding it there, or it's nailed in. This may mean that you may need an assistant to do this job. Or if you've got really good balance and strength, you'd do it yourself. But a good assumption is you'll need help.
Basically, Assumptions are:
- Rules (gravity pulls you towards the earth, no white pants after Labor Day)
- Simplifications (oranges and apples are both fruit so they are likely to taste good in a smoothie together)
Identify the Tools
Tools are most easily visualized in the physical world. Hammers, wrenches, weird little kitchen gizmos... very obvious things that are made for a specific purpose. Sure, sometimes they can have unintended uses (hammers can be used on nails, but they can also be used for murder! D:), but for the most part their purpose is pretty clear. People get tripped up with tools if they are tools for things that are unfamiliar to them.
For instance, my mother is very good working with her hands. If something is broken, she knows the tool to fix it, or can at least improvise it MacGuyver style. But you ask her to look up something on google, and she's at a loss. The majority of school is showing students tools, how they work, and making them familiar with them. Sometimes the focus is too much on the tool and not enough on how to use it (mathematics comes to mind here).
In fact, between this and assumptions, this is where people get the most frustrated. So you get your assistant to hold the shelves to the wall while you nail it in. What if the hammer slips? What if there is a stud in that part of the wall and the nail bends and won't go in?
Well, the problem solving method isn't linear! When a tool doesn't work, you go back to the beginning. Maybe the problem is a stud in the wall. So, you go back and add this fact to your givens. You adjust where your shelf will go to account for this fact, and try again.
Failure with a tool is almost as valuable as success with one. Because it illuminates more of what's going on.
Tools are then:
- Things with a specific use (a hammer, an equation, a shoe)
- Things that may not have a specific use that can be used anyway (duct tape, paperclips, MacGuyver)
Arrive at the Solution
So you've got all your info. You've laid out your parts. You know that you need a monkey wrench and a kazoo. Now do it! Sometimes this is as simple as assembling the shelf. Other times it's doing pages and pages of math calculations. Sometimes you'll discover there is no right answer or any answer at all!
Whenever you reach a point of satisfactory results, that's a solution. Sometimes it'll be temporary, like duct taping the strap that broke on your backpack. Some will be quick and some will take godawful amounts of time. But the point is; you're done with that problem.
Whether you're right or not... well. XD
I know this sounds like a lot of common sense, but this is learned behavior for the most part (there are a few "natural" problem solvers, but they are not as common as you'd think, and usually they are naturals for specific sorts of problems). If you're lucky, you barely notice learning it. If you're not, then you probably had to do a lot of math. XD
And while this method will work on a majority of problems, it fails pretty spectacularly when relating to people. People cannot be "solved" quite so easily. Believe me, I have tried.
But the tl;dr version:
Identify the Givens
- What am I trying to solve?
- What do I know to be true?
- What don't I know to be true?
Make Assumptions
- What rules should I follow?
- Can I look at this in a simpler way?
Identify the Tools
- What can I use to solve this?
- Do I have everything? If not, where can I get it?
- Do I need more information?
Arrive at the Solution
- Is this the result I wanted?
- Is the result good enough?
- Does it work?
Now I'm going to go home and apply this to sewing on a zipper for the first time. XD
If there are any other subjects related engineering, science, gaming, or education that you'd like me to ramble about, explain, or given an opinion of, feel free to let me know. If I have no idea about something, I'll opt out, unless it's quick research or I can find something I know that is close. XD I like rambling about these things and don't often have the opportunity to outside of work, or a bar.