"Mechanical Dissection" is an approach to teaching students about engineering concepts and design principles by having them explore the engineered products around them. This exploration involves having students work in small teams to disassemble and reassemble machines. This exploration leads to insight on materials, function, design alternatives, human factors and manufacturing.

Much of this work was sponored by the Synthesis Coalition. The home to much of this activity is the Center for Design Research at Stanford.

Sheri Sheppard
Mechanical Engineering
Stanford University

More Information:

Students curious about how things work can download courseware.

Interested instructors can find more information on the following topics:

• ABC Philosophy
• Dissection Labs
• Assessment Activities
• Dissection Book
• Dissection Courses at Stanford
• Activities at Other Schools
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Document Format:

Please note that all papers available on this site are in portable document format (pdf), so they can be viewed on virtually any platfrom. Use of these documents requires you to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader application which is available free of charge at Adobe's web site.