Teaching about discovery and invention in engineering

Described in this paper is a course offered at George Mason University on t he topics of discovery and invention for graduate engineering students. Man y of these students are pursuing research on Various strategies for enhanci ng discovery and inventive processes in various fields of engineering. Offe ring courses on the processes of discovery and invention presents a distinc t challenge to any instructor, because the literature on these topics is so vast and comes from so many different disciplines. The topics described in this paper involve issues we believe to be the most crucial for students s eeking a thorough understanding of the major lines of thought on discovery and invention. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.