9412787 Koen During a four month research visit to Japan, Professor Koen will work with Professor Yasutaka Shimizu, Director of the Center for Research and Development of Educational Technology (CRADLE), Tokyo Institute of Technology, to investigate the use of engineering heuristics in engineering design and engineering design education in Japan. An heuristic is defined as anything that provides a plausible aid or direction in the solution of a problem but is in the final analysis unjustified, incapable of justification, and potentially fallible. A convenient, informal near-synonym for heuristic is the engineering concept of rule-of-thumb. Japanese engineers are among the most effective in the world. This project seeks to validate the use of heuristics in Japan, to evaluate the acceptance and recognition of heuristics in that country, to find examples of heuristics used in engineering design in Japan, to determine the ease of discovering heuristics in a different culture and, finally, to demonstrate the use of design heuristics in a course of artificial intelligence. The results of this research have the potential for radically changing the way engineering design is taught and practiced. ***
