Session #1470 An Experimental Mathematics Course for Middle and High School Mathematics Teachers Abhijit Nagchaudhuri1/ Daniel M. Seaton 2 University of Maryland Eastern Shore AbstractToo often mathematics content instruction for classroom teachers tends to be abstract anddevoid of practical applications. However, simple devices and computer software,especially Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software can help integrate physics andengineering applications into a mathematics class without loss of focus. In this paper
experiences and course goals/delivery mechanisms, respectively, in terms of this objective-based matrix. A first attempt to implement an on-line methodology was made with limitedsuccess. The lessons learned shed light on the challenges and opportunities for scaling up aprocess that would allow efficient and widespread program assessment, across many disciplinesof study, to facilitate academic advising and curricular improvement.I. Origins of General Education Assessment at Penn StateAssessment of the general education program at Penn State has long been of interest at theUniversity, owing to its prominence as a substantial component of the curriculum and degreerequirements. The need for comprehensive assessment was articulated most specifically over
skills and knowledge needed todesign and test the hypotheses and perform data collection and analysis of biologically-basedengineering problems are introduced. Technical communication skills (oral presentation andtechnical paper writing) are an integral part of the class. The emphasis of the course program isto deliver an understanding of the “process” of investigating a problem using the scientificmethod to biomedical engineers, and not focusing on the “correct” answer. The laboratory classprovides hands-on experience in proper laboratory use, experimental design, methodologies, andas well as building communication skills that are needed for careers in the various biomedicalengineering fields.IntroductionStarting a new biomedical engineering
enjoyment. This paper first presents a description of Project-Interactions and the methods used. Wethen continue into the results of the project, presenting the final projects that each of the childrenhave built. Here, we just provide an overview of the outcomes; we later discuss several of theprojects in greater detail. From this, we move into how this will drive our future research.Methods Project Interaction consisted of five, one-hour workshops for each of the groupsparticipating. There were four groups; two consisting of 10 children and two that consisted of 10sets of a child and a guardian. There were two separate head teachers, who had jointly worked ina pilot workshop and with similar curriculums. These two teachers were each
the ROBOLAB software. During the institute, a group of 28 K-12teachers spent 2 weeks at UTA learning how they could integrate Lego® Mindstorm products,which are controlled by the ROBOLAB software, into their classrooms. Each K-12 teacherreceived a Lego® Mindstorm kit and the ROBOLAB software. Approximately ½ of theteachers had previous experience using ROBOLAB in their classrooms. One goal of theinstitute is to provide a way to integrate technology into K-12 classrooms in a manner thatincorporates extensive active learning. The Lego Mindstorm framework provides an extensivehands-on environment for accomplishing this goal. The incorporation of hands-on, activelearning techniques like this have been shown in the past to provide a tremendously
Gulf- Southwest Annual Meeting, Austin, TX, April 1-2, 1993. 8. M. E. Parten, "Digital Signal Processing in a Junior Electrical Engineering Design Laboratory,” Proceedings of ASEE 1992 Annual Conference, Toledo, Ohio, June 1992. 9. M. E. Parten, "Design and Research in Project Laboratories,” Proceedings of Engineering Education: Curriculum Innovation and Integration, Engineering Foundation Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, January 1992. 10. M. E. Parten, "Design in the Electrical Engineering Laboratory," 1988 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, March 17-18, 1988 11. Abby Suelflow, NASA Plant Control System Final Report, TTU ECE December, 2004 12. Tim Jou, NASA Plant
An Online Homework Generation and Assessment Tool for Linear Systems Yong Yang, M.S., Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Andrew Bennett, Ph.D., Department of Mathematics Steve Warren, Ph.D., Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USAAbstractOf the students enrolled in upper-level Electrical & Computer Engineering (EECE) courses atKansas State University (KSU), a percentage consistently struggles with concepts from earliercalculus and differential equations courses. This raises issues regarding how much mathematicalknowledge students retain and
challenge for the instructor is to find relevant water service learning projects that can bedone by a group of senior civil and environmental engineering students in a one-semester labcourse. One source of potential projects is the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System(NPDES) Phase II Stormwater Rule because one of the minimum control measures is publicinvolvement. Therefore, the Phase II Rule provides an added incentive for towns that operatesmall MS4s to integrate undergraduate environmental engineering projects into their stormwatermanagement plan.This paper gives a brief description of the benefits of service learning and also providesbackground information on the NPDES Phase II program requirements and how it is beingimplemented in
2427 Lessons Learned and Best Practices for using an Analytic Strategy Approach for the Creation of Virtual Laboratories for Distance Learning in Engineering Technology Anthony W. Dean, Carol L. Considine, and Gary R. Crossman Department of Engineering Technology Old Dominion University Norfolk, Virginia 23529AbstractThis paper describes the use of an Analytic Strategy Approach used in the development of aVirtual Automation and Controls Lab in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Program of
Conf., Salt Lake City.2. MUPEC 2004 conference website, www.rose-hulman.edu/MUPEC2004/RICHARD A. LAYTONRichard Layton received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1995 and is currently an AssistantProfessor of Mechanical Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. His interests include student teambuilding and laboratory curriculum development. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Layton worked for twelve years Page 10.1373.10in consulting engineering, culminating as a group head and a project manager. Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition
alsogives the student a head start for success in courses that come later in the curriculum with the expectationthat early exposure to various topics in engineering will lead to improved student success and retention.The course has a heavy emphasis on laboratory activities with an equally strong focus on ‘just-in-time’theory. The learning platform of the course is a magnetic ball levitator, and the course prepares thestudents to be able to design and construct the levitator system by the end of the semester. Theengineering topics have been selected in a way that they are central to accomplishing the project goal, andthe laboratory exercises provide them with the hands-on experience necessary to complete the project.The course has been offered six
presented in the frame ofMechanical Engineering and Industrial Design curriculums. Innovation as suggested is the creationof a new product-market-technology-organisation-combination (PMTO-combination) consisting ofthree key elements: 1) Innovation is a process and should be managed as such, 2) the result is atleast one new element in the company’s PMTO-combinations. 3) The extent to which theinnovation is new may range from incremental, small step innovation, through synthetic innovation,i.e. the creative recombination of existing techniques, ideas or methods, to discontinuous, radical,quantum-leap innovation. Often new means: new, somewhere on the continuum. The company inthis case - a very small business - wanted just an aluminium
.” • “Fears will often be rationalized in terms of economic arguments or in term or attributing problems to some other groups. In all these cases one must consider the possibility that what the person is really saying is that he is feeling threatened and /or does not see how to get there from here hence he tends to resist on an emotional level and develop rationalizations for the resistance … Unless the norm itself is changed, only those innovations that faculty members have invented Page 10.158.9 or selected for themselves will be genuinely integrated into the curriculum.” “Proceedings
engineers from industry towork with manufacturing faculty and students in both education and research. TheCenter has successfully developed an organization that can be responsive to bothacademic needs for process and to corporate needs for agility. The Education StrategicPlan integrates curriculum, culture and outreach. This paper provides an overview ofeach of the elements of this comprehensive effort.IntroductionThe vision for the Education Strategic Plan of the Engineering Research Center forReconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (ERC/RMS) was driven by the desire to give theUM manufacturing curriculum and outreach activities an identity which would capitalizeon the uniqueness of the ERC/RMS research challenge. Typical courses onmanufacturing
Creation of an Assessment Plan for a Project Based Electrical Engineering Program Stacy S. Wilson, Mark E. Cambron Western Kentucky UniversityAbstract A joint program in Electrical Engineering has been created with Western KentuckyUniversity (WKU) and the University of Louisville (UofL). The program resides at WKU withUofL faculty delivering 16-24 hours into the curriculum through distance learning methods. Thefocus of the new EE program is a project-based curriculum. The mission of the new program isto build a foundation of knowledge in electrical engineering by integrating a variety of projectexperiences at every level throughout
“Engineering Exploration” or EngE 1024) in GE curriculum with particularreference to programming instruction, which constitutes about one-third of the course. Inconsultation with faculty members from CS and other engineering departments, the EngE facultydecided to introduce an object-oriented programming language called Alice into EngE 1024. Page 10.748.1 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering EducationThis is the FIRST large scale deployment of Alice (1250 engineering freshmen used it in fall2004) as
model for the integration of Machine Learning into the undergraduate curriculum of those engineering and science disciplines mentioned above. The goal is increased exposure to Machine Learning technology for a wider range of students in science and engineering than is currently available. Our approach of integrating Machine Learning research into the curriculum involves two components. The first component is the incorporation of Machine Learning modules into the first two years of the curriculum with the goal of sparking student interest in the field. The second is the development of new upper level Machine Learning courses for advanced undergraduate students. In the past, we have reported on our experiences of introducing
in scope and in more depth. The faculty believe thecourse is on track with the broader needs of industry today for engineering technologists withinterdisciplinary skills to design, build, and maintain products requiring the integration ofelectronics, computer, and mechanical technologies.Summary This paper describes the development work of an interdisciplinary course in control systemsdesigned to be taken jointly by mechanical engineering technology (MET) and electronicsengineering technology (EET) students. This course focuses on the interdisciplinary nature ofcontrol systems and represents a departure from the traditional approach of teaching a separatecontrol systems course to each engineering technology discipline. Certain controls
framework will be integrated within an existing course curriculum, itis essential that the motivating examples and learning product requirements be relevant to the Page 10.181.6course content. In the case of the graduate course, applications will have a hydrologic focus. Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering EducationMore flexibility is available for the undergraduate course, which may include students from allcivil engineering specialty areas. Within the current working implementation plan, there are
industry simulation. Students wereorganized into teams or “companies” that had to develop a proposal to win a contract from“NASA” for development of a colony on Mars. Lectures were given by interdisciplinary facultyfrom throughout the university, industry, and the NASA community on the engineeringdisciplines needed to develop their subsystems and the engineering management and proposalskills needed to design, integrate, and draft a proposal to win an engineering contract. Thiscourse allowed students to use innovative design principles to solve complex problems andstrengthen this with engineering management and business skills. The Team DeveloperTMshowed a positive impact of the course on the student’s behavior and activities in the four areasof
. We envision that such an approach could be tailored for each student in much the sameway that one can set up “search alerts” on news websites such that an email is received when anew article contains specified keywords. Another implication is that, while the study authors hadnot been conceptualizing email as an “instructional technology”, our students clearly were. Infuture work it may be valuable to explicitly integrate email into our scaffold model and to posequestions specifically about its use in aiding learning of statistics. Student learning of statistics may be further enhanced if greater emphasis was placed on“community building” in developing the BlackBoard® sites. Both email and discussion boardfeatures could be better used for
, and the credit hours of each course. This approachgenerates performance profiles for all courses and aids in the identification of their strengths andweakness and of the whole program. The matrix method becomes an integral part of acontinuous improvement plan.IntroductionThe goals of an educational program and the characteristics of the program graduates have beenanalyzed and annotated extensively. However, meaningful and quantified assessment of aprogram and or its courses has been a challenge to educational programs for a long time (Rogers2004). The Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) and the Technology AccreditationCommission (TAC) of ABET has listed in their TC2K criteria, the desired attributes of programgraduates as outcomes (a
Page 10.1289.2 “Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Copyright 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”solutions in a global and social context [9]. However, further research is required to fullysupport these findings.Shuman, Besterfield-Sacre and McGourty have reviewed a number of the exemplary programsdesigned to give students an international exposure [10]. We note a few of these below. Theprototype model for integrating international experience into an engineering education is theUniversity of Rhode Island’s (URI) International Engineering Program in which studentscombine an undergraduate engineering degree with a degree in languages
satisfaction and interest in engineering. Moreover, these papers discussed the creation of an entirely new course at the University of Nevada, Reno and reinforced for us that our focus on an existing course is a more viable and more easily adopted option.We proposed a hierarchy for methods of integrating engineering and education. Although engineering and education faculty at universities typically do not work closely together, there has been a plethora of activities in which the engineering field has reached out to the K-12 classroom. These are nicely summarized by Sullivan8 and include engineering student presentations/demonstrations in the classroom, summer camps for students, summer workshops for K-12 educators, etc. All of these
which canoverwhelm network administrators. Security systems are traditionally often layered in a top-down manner. Abstract models could enable administrators to focus upon relevant details whilstfiltering out non-essential details. Such models could also be used in a top-down fashion thuspermitting the control of complexity via recursive decomposition. There are currently manysecurity models used in industry and for teaching students about network security. These modelsare not only restricted to confidentiality, authentication, data integrity, non-repudiation, andaccess control, but also take into account physical and human aspects that can effect security. Amodel based upon Finite State Machines (FSM) and called a state model is proposed as an
of these research challenges, five faculty at four universities—PennState University (PSU), University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR), Bucknell University, and VirginiaTech—are collaborating on medium-sized Information Technology Research (ITR) Grant fromthe National Science Foundation to develop an information technology infrastructure to supportproduct platform planning and customization5. We recognize that this is a relatively newdevelopment in engineering design that is typically not part of the undergraduate education;therefore, we see an intrinsic relationship between the need for integrating the development ofresearch directly with educational enhancements to teach students about these concepts.The remainder of this paper describes an inter
., “Teaching Professional, Ethical and Legal Aspects of Engineering to Undergraduate Students,” Proceedings, 1993 ASEE Conference, ASEE, 1993.4. O’Clock, P., and M. Okleshen, “A Comparison of Ethical Perceptions of Business and Engineering Majors,” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 12, 1993.5. Eisen, A., and R.M. Berry, “The Absent Professor: Why We Don’t Teach Research Ethics and What to Do about It,” American Journal of Bioethics, vol. 2, no. 4, 2002.6. Steneck, N.H., “Designing Teaching and Assessment Tools for an Integrated Engineering Ethics Curriculum,” Proceedings, 1999 ASEE Conference, ASEE, 1999.7. Napper, S.A., and P.N. Hale, Jr., “Teaching of Ethics in Biomedical Engineering,” IEEE Engineering in Medicine and
a summer or at least one semester)10. The experiential workplace for usis where students are working when on an internship or participating in a cooperative educationprogram.Engineering experiential education programs, such as cooperative education and internships,present the best place to directly observe and measure students developing and demonstratingcompetencies while engaged in the practice of engineering at the professional level.Measurements made by employers of student competencies present the best opportunity forfeedback and curricular change with a cycle time that can address rapidly changing employerneeds and expectations. Engineering experiential education must be well integrated into thecurricular quality management process
to each other or to the instructor, or solicit assistancewhen needed.Many of our students are taking DE courses for the first time while some of them have some DE Page 10.844.9experiences. In order to prepare all students to be successful in Internet-based DE courses, a Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Educationdecision was made to require new students to take an introductory course that exposes them tothe various Internet tools used in the curriculum. This course covers many technologies
COURSE REVIEW IN THE ASSESMENT PROCESS Mark E. Cambron and Stacy Wilson Department of Engineering Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY 42101AbstractA joint program in Electrical Engineering has been created with Western Kentucky University(WKU) and the University of Louisville (UofL). The program resides at WKU with UofLfaculty delivering 16-24 hours into the curriculum through distance learning methods. The focusof the new EE program is a project-based curriculum. WKU’s Electrical Engineering Programhas developed an assessment plan to insure a systematic pursuit of improvement. A