Abstract:

Sketching is understood as a key factor for creative expression, the most effective visual thinking tools and so applied for design. It is considered the principal approach by which design engineers externalize their concepts and where the drawings provide visual clues for refinement and revision. Engineering Design researchers as well as professionals agrees the value of sketching to enhance visual thinking and so creativity, but sketching presence in engineering education is so few. Even it is being displaced by computer-aided tools, as it means it is wrongly seen as an old drafting technique. Results means a lack of spatial abilities and problem-solving skills.

There is a decrease on class hours for graphical subjects in current engineering curricula. Moreover, Graphical subjects even pays more attention to metric geometry and CAD training, and so sketching practice is almost totally displaced by modern computer-aided tools. The feeling is that sketching is not valued as a powerful visual thinking tool and seen as an old drawing method, replaced by new computer drafting interfaces. We studied how sketching is valued at engineering schools by students and educators, about their opinions related on the importance of sketching, how they see as a creative tool and how they apply for courses, for teaching and learning.

It is very important that engineering colleges give students the value of sketching, as well of foster its use, to train the future design engineer “not only in the standard drafting skills, but additionally in the ability to represent concepts that are more abstract and best represented as sketches”. To foster creative problem solving, engineering schools should offer formal courses in sketching and drawing in support of design projects: teaching basic techniques in freehand sketching would help them generate quicker and more effective external visualizations of their ideas, and thus foster their creativity.

Keywords:

Sketching, engineering design, visual thinking, engineering education, creativity.