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Improving Engineering Student Professional Communication through Mini-Laboratory Reports

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Conference

ASEE Southeast Section Conference

Location

Arlington, Virginia

Publication Date

March 12, 2023

Start Date

March 12, 2023

End Date

March 14, 2023

Conference Session

Communications and Ethics

Tagged Topic

Professional Engineering Education Papers

Page Count

8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--45015

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/45015

Download Count

118

Paper Authors

biography

Amy Renee Holdegraver Mississippi State University

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Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student

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biography

Morgan Green Mississippi State University

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Morgan Green is an Instructor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Mississippi State University. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Engineering Education, where her research is focused on the development and assessment of professional skills in mechanical engineering students. Other areas of interest and research are engineering education outreach and the application of hands-on learning in engineering students. She is the founder and Director of Project ENspire, an engineering outreach event for 4th and 5th grade girls now in its eighth year.

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Abstract

A junior/senior-level course in the mechanical engineering department at a regional university has a laboratory component, and a portion of the curriculum includes a focus on professional communication. For many students, this course is the first one requiring a document outlining experimental procedures and results. This study looks at student performance on a full laboratory report over three semesters. In the first semester, the only preparation given was a review of the components of a full laboratory report. In the second semester, half of the prior laboratory post-lab assignments were converted from question/response format to mini-lab reports. A full laboratory report followed later in the semester. After student feedback, in the third semester the remaining post-lab assignments were converted to mini-lab reports. The performance on the full laboratory report will be evaluated, and student feedback on how the mini-lab reports prepared them for the full laboratory report will be presented.

Holdegraver, A. R., & Green, M. (2023, March), Improving Engineering Student Professional Communication through Mini-Laboratory Reports Paper presented at ASEE Southeast Section Conference, Arlington, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--45015

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