SUMMARY OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING ACTIVITY

From the cooperative learning activity, I learnt that as a engineer, we must inform the public or client about the project or product truthfully without hiding anything. Code of Professional Conduct state that a registered engineer shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner. If not, our ignorant action will cause a negative effect to public or our client. As an example, we can refer to DC 10 Cargo Door case. This engineering failure caused a crash that killed all 346 people onboard. All 346 people had died just because the cargo had its door blown off at 10 000 feet. This disaster can be prevent if the responsible engineer inform about the serious design flaws at cargo door to the public or report it to the government. Even the engineers pressed the matter through normal channel to the highest level within both companies, but did not take it any further. If they are insists with their decision, maybe they can prevent this disaster.

                Another lesson that I learnt is we must be faithful and straightforward in our duties. We are prohibited to take any bribe from other parties. We also must prevent our self from involved in any situation that can lead to conflict of interest such as give a tender to our siblings company. For example, in DC 10 Cargo Door case, three inspectors at Long Beach plant certified that Ship 29 had been modified to fix the problem. We can safely assumed that the three inspectors had accepted bribes because each of then affixed a stamp to the Ship’s paper confirming the modification even in fact, the modification had not been made. If the inspectors be faithful and straightforward with their duties, they can prevent this disaster from happened.  

                I also learnt that the impact of engineering solutions on society. Every engineering solution has its own positive and negative effect to surrounding and also to us, human. General example of the impact of engineering solutions is using CFC’s as coolants. Even they had been chosen due to their excellent heat capacity but in the mean time they can cause destruction of the ozone layer. Another example of impact of engineering solutions is the nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant is choosing as an alternative due to its low emission of carbon dioxide. However, in the mean time, it can be dangerous to us because if the leakage happens, the radiation will occur.  The poor engineering problem solving is maybe caused by poor at critical and independent thinking. Another reason is maybe because the engineer did not have enough knowledge about the engineering problem. Another reason is maybe the engineer is not experienced enough to deal with the problem. The solution to the poor engineering solutions is enhanced the engineer to improve their self by studying the case study that related. Another solution is the engineer must practice to think creatively and out of the box so that they can create creative solutions that will have zero negative effect to the environment.

                As a conclusion, this cooperative learning activity had give lots of benefits to me. From this activity, I learnt about major engineering failures that I had not known before. I also learnt the code of professional conduct as a engineer. These codes are very important to me in the future when I need to deal with the real engineering life. I also learnt that every engineering solution has its own positive and negative effect to surrounding and also to us, human.  I also learn how to cooperate with others in a short time.