Industry design of a complex product has always required a cross-disciplinary team of experts. Is it possible to mimic these teams in academia when training the design engineers of the future, and what disciplinary skills will they possess? The exceptional collaboration potential provided by the internet means industry experts can work as a team, and at the same time, reside anywhere in the world. What are the capabilities of teamwork when the team members may never see each other for real? Though a physical prototype is sometimes required, most prototypes are designed and created in the virtual world using 3D modelling. The model can be tested, checked for accuracy, have materials applied, and be created parametrically which allows the product's geometry to be reset to different sizes by the designer. Collaboration, effective communication, and 3D modelling make it possible to design intricate and complex designs remotely. While we rightly congratulate ourselves on the complexity of modern design and how clever we have become, we must not lose sight of past achievements. Design has become more complex in this modern age, but it would be incorrect to say that complex design did not exist in times past. Before the internet, aircraft were built, global communication systems existed, men went to the moon. What can we learn, if anything, by looking at the methods used to design complex products in the past? How can we apply what we learnt from the past to the future?

Teachers in schools, tutors in colleges, and lecturers in universities are all required to have specific teaching qualifications. As part of the qualification, it is normal to study tried and tested pedological theories. Some examples are Bloom’s Taxonomy, Constructivism, and Experiential Learning. This paper identifies a gap in the information and knowledge required of student design engineers studying on a full-time course, when compared to part-time students. To redress this gap, it is suggested that no new theories are required but just a new method of applying an old theory, the application of Bloom’s Taxonomy in reverse alongside reverse engineering. An example of applying this method to a class of design engineers in their final year of a BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering is provided.

After reviewing the main environmental areas of concern today, this paper will focus on waste management within the area of sustainability. For many years, as part of the design process, physical prototypes were a necessary. This was in order to prove a design's functionality and safety. They were expensive, time consuming and, by todays standards wastful. Often, once production began, they were scrapped. The necessity of a physical prototype outweighed all environmental considerations. In the 21st century, with the growth in Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), physical prototypes have nearly been replaced with virtual prototypes. The evidence is overwhelming as to the benfits of virtual prototypes to designers, designs and the environment. This paper will research and identify an area where physical prototypes are still beneficial, that of educating design engineers. A survey of mechanical engineering students over 5 years will identify a significant difference in the basic engineering knowledge of full-time engineering students when compared with their part-time colleagues. The use of physical prototypes can help reduce this difference. This paper argues that physical prototypes, under certain conditions, can reduce waste and still be sustainable.