Rainbow Sculpture: Analysis of a Hands-on Case Study for an Introductory Engineering Course

The Rainbow Sculpture is a man-made achievement that exemplifies how engineering and art can function concertedly.This sculpture, which now stands in Stockholm Harbor, is a visual icon that required the work of experts in many fields to complete.This paper discusses how this piece of art was utilized to teach freshmen engineers about engineering problem solving; in addition to functionality, it was emphasized that aesthetics, creativity, and imagination are important parts of design.Surveys taken at the completion of the course indicated that student interest in this project was very high.In the interest of providing long-term retention of fundamental skills, several inductive learning techniques were employed.By maintaining student interest, we hope that the skills they learn from this experience will stay with them throughout their engineering careers.