Held: Monday, 3 February 2014

Back to Outline 06 - Stone Tools (Discussion). On to Outline 08 - Engineering (2).

Summary

Today we begin to read one engineer's perspective on technology.

Related Pages

• Questions on the reading: Petroski, Chapters 1-7
• EBoard (Source) (HTML) (PDF)

Overview

• Background about Petroski.
• Small group work.
• Overview of the text.
• Discussion.

Administrivia

• I've started sending you grades on questions, along with occasional requests to redo.
  
  • Note: Since the first few weeks were learning experiences, I'm moving all grades lower than a check to a check.
  • My goal is that the lowest grade anyone gets is a Good/Check. Hence, if you get below a Good/Check, I'll ask for a redo.
  • When you work from something as long as Petroski, please provide a bit more context.
• I should be distributing the next set of readings on Wednesday.
• Note takers:
  • Monday: LG and CC
  • Wednesday: PG and JV (okay?)
  • On Wednesday, we'll make plans for the next three weeks. We'll also use a different format - five main things to remember.
• Today's class: We'll start with (belated) introductions.
• Extra credit:
  • Convocation: "Putin and Pussy Riot", Noon, Wednesday, 5 February JRC 101.
  • Basketball Saturday
  • Others?

Background

• About Petroski
• Why read Petroski?

Small Group Work

• Choose a group of three to four students. We should have four groups.
• Task 1: Look at the big picture
  • What is Petroski's primary thesis/claim/goal for the book?
• Task 2: I will assign chapters to each group. Your goal is to identify a few aspects of the chapter:
  • What is the thesis/point of the chapter?
  • How does the thesis contribute to Petroski's broader goal?
  • How does Petroski argue for this chapter's thesis?
  • What else should we take out of this chapter?

• Task 3: The questions below come from you folks and from my previous class. Each group gets assigned one question to answer and gets to pick one question to answer. You may have to go to the Interweb to answer Q's.

  1. On p. 14, Petroski says "If ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, if all that has come to be human races before the fetus floating in its own prehistory, then the child playing relives the evolution of structural engineering in its blocks." What does this mean?

  2. Why does Petroski use so many metaphors in describing engineering? Is he making a point? What goal is he accomplishing?

  3. Petroski notes that "One thing the fairy tale implicitly teaches us as children is to live in a world of seemingly capricious structural failure and success without anxiety." (p. 18). Petroski reiterates how we learn as children to accept the risks we take using everyday technology, and as an engineer who creates said technologies he seems sure that that mentality is necessary so that progress (or even ordinary daily life) can continue. However, how does that mentality damage our society, should we be taught to both value technology but also be scared of it? Or do we/you agree that it is better to blindly accept a possible disaster rather then be frozen with fear?

  4. What is the difference between an architect and an engineer? They both involve designing aspects, but what separates the two?

  5. In Chapter 2 (Falling Down is a Part of Growing Up), Petroski's words echo that of Florman's "tragic view." One example of a "technological fix" might be the mass dampers (such as one installed at Taipei 101) to help counteract the sway of the ever-growing skyscrapers. What others can you think of? Do find such fixes a form of appropriate growth, or do they raise concerns? How might we address those concerns?

  6. Why does Petroski reproduce "The Deacon's Masterpiece" on pp. 35-39?

  7. Petroski outlines the ways that we are introduced to the world of engineering at a young age. How has young people’s exposure to technological innovation and engineering changed over time? Would children during the age of stone tools, or of a century ago, have different exposures to engineering as modern day children? How might these differences impact the rest of society?

  8. What do the small poems or songs have to do with the paragraphs he wrote about the growing of children?

Petroski

• What are Petroski's main theses in this book?
• How do the individual chapters serve the broader purpose of the book?

Further Discussion Questions