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problem genome

For instructors

Teach with the collection

The problems listed here are real and open, and each comes from an expert source. Each write-up suggests where a student team could start. Some carry a flag saying we want a better source. Each brief is already an assignment sheet: the problem, why it matters, what’s been tried and why it hasn’t worked, what would unlock progress, and entry points sized for a semester.

The assignment recipe

  1. Teams pick a problem. Send students to the finder (guided: field, kind of challenge, semester fit) or all problems (browse every problem as a drawn card). A shortlist travels in the link, so students can send you their three candidates.
  2. First deliverable: argue with the brief. Before designing anything, have the team re-state the problem in their own words and question its genes. Is the binding constraint what the card says it is? The “what’s been tried” section can serve as a related-work assignment, since its claims carry their sources.
  3. Scope to the semester-fit line. Each brief names how far a team should get: frame and propose, prove a concept, build a prototype, or contribute research. Grade against that. Don’t grade against solving the problem.

What it costs in class time

Choosing a problem: one homework or half a session with the finder.

Can two teams take the same problem?

Yes. These are open problems with no answer key. Two teams that start from the same brief will part ways at the first design decision, and comparing where they parted makes a good class discussion. If you would rather spread teams out, each brief lists structural cousins, which are problems in other fields that are stuck the same way.

What your class gets back

  • Problems that come with an account of why past attempts failed, so students do not start from a blank page.
  • A citable problem definition: every brief has a cite this problem block, so student reports can reference the problem the way they’d reference a paper.
  • A way for good student work to count. If a team finds a problem the collection misses, they can bring it to us. Accepted problems are published as briefs, with credit if they want it.

How the collection is built and checked: about the project. Questions about running it in your course: designdartmouth@gmail.com.