Why should I use virtual product dissection in my classroom?

Product dissection has traditionally been conducted in engineering classrooms using physical models and physically taking them apart. While physical product dissection helps students to learn about how products work and helps them draw inspiration from products for design tasks, there are also drawbacks to using it in the classroom. Two of the most important drawbacks are cost and waste. When products are dissected physically, they are typically destroyed in the process, creating enormous amounts of waste. While Virtual (CAD) models are more expensive than physical models upfront, they can be used an unlimited number of times after they have been created, defraying some of the costs of deploying product dissection in an educational setting. This website focuses on the use of virtual product dissection, where students can take apart any product from our library using the free SolidWorks eDrawings Viewer. These materials were developed using insights from research conducted in engineering education. To learn more about the research conducted visit our research page.