Physical prototyping rationale in design student projects: an analysis based on the concept of purposeful prototyping

Abstract Prototyping constitutes a major theme of design education and an integral part engineering academic courses. Physical prototypes the model building process, in particular, have been proved to boost students’ creativity resourcefulness assist better evaluation concepts. However, usage has still not explored depth with aim being transformed into educational guidelines. This paper presents investigation reasoning behind prototyping activities based on concept Purposeful Prototyping, developed authors’ previous work. is performed by identifying instances prototype use projects discovering which types purposes they apply what extent, as well studying relationships between purposes, early stages, performance project planning. The analysis results shows that can support learning objectives acting scheduling tool highlights contribution early-stage performance. It also confirmed limited scope prevents them from gaining prototyping’s maximum benefits require strategic guidelines tailored their needs. A new, improved list proposed study’s results.