I am studying “VLSI design G” at University Of South Australia. Its a course offered to engineeering graduates / postgraduates and its course co-ordinator Dr Mahfuz Aziz organised a workshop on “Project Based Learning”. Our course is designed keeping in mind the design aspects of electronic devices like transistor and CMOS. The course is designed in such a way that the theoretical knowledge gained in class is complemented by the Practical work in Laboratory. We are more concerned about the design aspect of CMOS and CMOS based circuits (sequential as well as combinational) than the actual physics behind its operation.
According to our course co-ordinator the main problem faced by electronics design students today is their inability of learn independently. And in the present context when technology is changing rapidly and electronic design getting obsolete with every passing year the ability to learn independently and quickly is important for every design engineer. You can be faced with with a new problem on a completely different platform for a sophisticated processor architecture. As a working professional probability of that happening is very high because whatever we are being taught in university now is a rehashed version of CMOS technology used 7 to 8 years ago. Add 2 years of your postgraduate study and 2 years of technical experience. By the time we’ll reach pinnacle of our professional career what we have in our head will be a historical knowledge of tehniques prevalent 12 years ago. We’ll be historical masterpieces. This is inevitable and true. And is scary!
The solution is adaptation, flexible thinking, independent learning...etc..etc qualities that are needed in order to be up-to-date with the current times and being ready to face problems. George Polya the Mathematician (...philosopher) would have called it the “GENERIC SKILLS”.
The excerpt below is a set of guidlines for solving problems in Mathematics. These steps or directions have been applied in many other disciplines from Physics to Nursing. I got this from the Learning Advisor at our uni Andrea Duff.
1.Understanding the problem
a) You have to understand the problem
b) What is the unknown? What are the data? What is the condition?
c) Is it possible to satisfy the condition? Is the condition sufficient to determine the
unknown ? Or is it insufficient? Or redundant? Or contradictory?
d) Draw a figure Introduce suitable notation.
e) Separate the various parts of the condition. Can you write them down?
2. Devising a plan
a) Find the connection between the data and the unknown. You may be obliged to consider
d) Draw a figure Introduce suitable notation.
e) Separate the various parts of the condition. Can you write them down?
2. Devising a plan
a) Find the connection between the data and the unknown. You may be obliged to consider
auxillary problem.
b) Have you seen it before? Or was it the same problem with a different form?
c) Do you know a related problem?
d) Look at the unknown!
e) Heres a problem related to yours and solved before. Could you use it?
f) Could you restate the problem?
g) If you cannot solve the problem try to solve a related problem.
h) Did you use all the data? Did you use the whole condition? Have you taken into account all
b) Have you seen it before? Or was it the same problem with a different form?
c) Do you know a related problem?
d) Look at the unknown!
e) Heres a problem related to yours and solved before. Could you use it?
f) Could you restate the problem?
g) If you cannot solve the problem try to solve a related problem.
h) Did you use all the data? Did you use the whole condition? Have you taken into account all
essential notions involved in the problem?
3. Carrying out the plan
a) Carry out your plan
b) Carrying out your plan of solution, check at each step. Can you prove its correctness?
4. Looking back
a) Examine the solution obtained
b) Can you check the result ? Can you check the argument?
c) Can you derive the solution differrntly? Can you see it at a glance?
d) Can you use the result , or method , for some other problem?
What Polya gives is the itemised display of what goes in neurons of brain cells in a couple of nano seconds after we encountering a problem. The way we approach it might be in totally different order. George Polya at his philosophical best solved problems in Physics, Math and Nursing. But what about my MEMs assignment due next week, Can i get a room in the city next semester? And what about the VLSI Project 6? Will these guidlines help, lets see.....
3. Carrying out the plan
a) Carry out your plan
b) Carrying out your plan of solution, check at each step. Can you prove its correctness?
4. Looking back
a) Examine the solution obtained
b) Can you check the result ? Can you check the argument?
c) Can you derive the solution differrntly? Can you see it at a glance?
d) Can you use the result , or method , for some other problem?
What Polya gives is the itemised display of what goes in neurons of brain cells in a couple of nano seconds after we encountering a problem. The way we approach it might be in totally different order. George Polya at his philosophical best solved problems in Physics, Math and Nursing. But what about my MEMs assignment due next week, Can i get a room in the city next semester? And what about the VLSI Project 6? Will these guidlines help, lets see.....
REFERENCES
Alfeld, P 1996, G Polya, How to solve it, University of Utah, viewed 16March 2006,
Polya, G 1957, How to solve it, 2nd Edition, Princeton University Press, Princeton
Polya, G 1957, How to solve it, 2nd Edition, Princeton University Press, Princeton
