This website features work from the completion of Phase 1 of the SCALES Project.
We are currently seeking partnerships for Phase 2.
Content Knowledge
Idea Generation and Concept Evaluation
Now that your design problem has been clearly defined and the specifications have been set out, it is time to concentrate on thinking of solutions.
Build-It Module Wrap Up
Build-It modules are hands-on opportunities to learn how to use a variety hand tools, machine tools and prototyping equipment in project-based training sessions. You choose which module to take based on your interest in the project / skills taught, and are encouraged to coordinate with your teams to gain a variety of experiences that you can then share with each other.
Discussion Questions 1
Write short answers to the following questions and submit them.
Design@MIT
Consider the objects and products you encounter every day while at MIT—all of these were designed. When looking at a design, it’s important to be critical, but in a constructive manner. It’s also important to recognize that there are very few instances where a design is totally great or totally terrible; there are typically good parts of a poor design, and vice versa.
Take a picture of two very different objects or products, one that you believe is a relatively bad design, and one that is a relatively good design. Discuss the pros and cons of each design, and why you have come to your overall “good” or “bad” conclusion. Also discuss what trade-offs and constraints the designers likely faced in developing these products, and how these challenges were managed.
OPT Production Game Assignment
Your assignment is to schedule a small job-shop with the objective to maximize your cash after two weeks. You start with $1500 and you must pay a fixed operating cost of $2500 at the end of each week. There are no loans available and you go out of business if you run out of cash.
Contracts and Procurement
Problem set on forecasting from the course D-Lab: Supply Chains.
Inventory Models
Problem set on forecasting from the course D-Lab: Supply Chains.
Process Analysis
Problem set on forecasting from the course D-Lab: Supply Chains.
From Cancer Cells to String Theory: Communicating Complex Material
After completing the readings for this session, please write what you think did and did not work about the communication used.
Science in the Blogosphere
Identify a science blog of your choice from the Discover Magazine “stable” of blogs available at: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/, follow it for at least three days during the week preceding this class, and write a short critical review of it. What is the blog trying to do, and how well is it doing it? Come to class prepared to give a short (2 minute) review of your chosen blog.
