Teach hierarchical task analysis using Requirement Cards to sort through 100 requirements engineers have created for a robot cleaning up a nuclear disaster.

  • Requirement Cards are similar to Class Responsibility Collaboration Cards (CRC cards); however, these should be used in situations when you are not working with objects.
  • The basic assignment is as follows:
    • There is a robot tasked with cleaning up a nuclear disaster. A team of engineers created 100 requirements for this job. The responsibility of your team (4-5 students) is to sort out these cards and figure out how the robot will function. But there is a catch, you have to sort these cards in silence, without using words.
    • Cards contain statements like "The robot needs to go forwards and backwards," and "The robot needs to take the temperature of the atmosphere."
    • Get the Robot Requirement Card Content.
  • This is a great way to introduce hierarchical task analysis, you talk with your students about taking the whole system (100 cards) and breaking it about into bite sized pieces (Topic specific piles of cards: robot movements, room safety, etc.).
  • Additionally, forcing the teams to be silent ensures that you don’t have one member dominating the discourse, that all team members must listen and participate more equally.