Conference Session

FPD8 -- Introductory Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George List, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

AC 2007-1478: INTRODUCING CIVIL ENGINEERING ANALYSIS THROUGHPROGRAMMINGGeorge List, North Carolina State University George List is Head of the Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department at NC State University Page 12.961.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Introducing Civil Engineering Analysis through ProgrammingAbstractThis paper describes a course in computer programming that is being offered to freshmen andsophomores in civil engineering at NC State. Visual Basic (VBA in Excel) and MATLAB arebeing used as the programming languages. Much of the learning occurs through

Conference Session

FPD4 -- Hands-on & Real-World Studies

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Menicucci, Montana State University; James Duffy, Montana State University; Betsy Palmer, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

2002, 198.2. Hesketh R.P., Slater C.S., Farrell S., and Carney M. Fluidized Bed Polymer Coating Experiment, Chemical Engineering Education, Spring 2002, 138.3. Hesketh R.P., Wake-Up to Engineering, Chemical Engineering Education, Summer 1996, 210.4. Bransford J., Brown A.L., and Cocking R.R., eds., How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, National Academy Press, 2000.5. NSF, New Formulas for America’s Workforce: Girls in Science and Engineering, NSF 03-208, 2003, Arlington, VA: NSF.6. Felder R.M. and Rousseau R.W., Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes – Third Edition, John Wiley and Sons, 2000

Conference Session

FPD11 -- Multidisciplinary Experiences

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kauser Jahan, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

-competition in which teams of participants built a robot and competed in head-to-headcompetitions to achieve a given goal. Figure 1: Teachers building bridges using Jenga™ Blocks Figure 2: Teachers building Lego™ RobotsThe “Hands on the Human Body” clinic module focused on comparison of the human body withengineered systems. When most people think of engineering, the human body usually is not thefirst thing that comes to mind, but the systems of the body can be used to demonstrateengineering principles from all of the major disciplines. Simple experiments using the humanmuscles were used to demonstrate the concepts of levers and force balances which are verycommon in Physics. Blood pressure monitors and the

Conference Session

FPD2 -- Highlighting First-Year Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jean Kampe, Virginia Tech; Whitney Edmister, Virginia Tech; Matthew Stimpson, Virginia Tech; Brad Matanin, Virginia Tech; Amanda Martin, Virginia Tech; Cory Brozina, Virginia Tech; Bevlee Watford, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

produce notable gains in these areas.3 The implementations ofHypatia and Galileo were done with these expected outcomes in mind, particularly persistence. Itis recognized that first-to-second year attrition in engineering programs is most severe, and thatintervention at the freshman level is paramount to increasing persistence to graduation inengineering degree programs.9-11 Thus, freshman living-learning communities for engineeringstudents seem to offer a very viable means to improve retention in engineering, especially atinstitutions that require, or strongly encourage, on-campus residence for freshman students. Assessment of the Hypatia and Galileo living-learning communities includes longitudinaltracking of cumulative grade point

Conference Session

FPD2 -- Highlighting First-Year Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Burton, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

students are most likely to drop out of the system if they becomedisengaged with the learning process. It is the responsibility and challenge of the first yearlecturer not only to teach them the subject matter but also to motivate students, to instill inthem a love of the subject, to confirm in the students’ minds that the choice they made is theright one, to provide opportunities to cement their learning and also to ensure, at every step ofthe way, that students are assisted to make the transition from secondary to tertiary studies.Freshmen and sophomore engineering classes at RMIT University have traditionally beenvery large, due to the existence of a common first and second year for a total of six programs.Enrollment in a single class has been

Conference Session

FPD11 -- Multidisciplinary Experiences

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John-David Yoder, Ohio Northern University; Beverly Jaeger, Northeastern University; John K. Estell, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

AC 2007-1599: ONE-MINUTE ENGINEER, NTH GENERATION: EXPANSION TOA SMALL PRIVATE UNIVERSITYJohn-David Yoder, Ohio Northern University JOHN-DAVID YODER is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at ONU. His Doctorate is from the University of Notre Dame. Research interests include education, controls, robotics, and information processing. Prior to teaching, he ran a small consulting and R&D company and served as proposal engineering supervisor for GROB Systems, Inc.Beverly Jaeger, Northeastern University Beverly Jaeger, PhD is a member of Northeastern University’s Gateway Team, a selected group of full-time faculty expressly devoted to the first-year Engineering Program at Northeastern

Conference Session

FPD2 -- Highlighting First-Year Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Schimmels, Marquette University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

AC 2007-1866: EXPLICIT DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING SKILLS ANDCHARACTERISTICS IN THE FRESHMAN YEARJoseph Schimmels, Marquette University Dr. Schimmels is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Marquette University. In 1981, he obtained a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Marquette University. He worked as a reservoir engineer at Exxon Production Research Company in Houston, TX from 1981 to 1987. He then obtained MS and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University in 1988 and 1991, respectively. In 2003, Dr. Schimmels was awarded the Lafferty Endowed Professorship in Engineering Pedagogy at Marquette. Since then he has been working toward

Conference Session

FPD7 -- Service Learning

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Paul Pagano, Western Michigan University; Amanda Rossman, Western Michigan University; Kendall Vasilnek, Western Michigan University; Betsy Aller, Western Michigan University; Edmund Tsang, Western Michigan University; Andrew Kline, Western Michigan University; Edward Brabandt, Western Michigan University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

AC 2007-2550: FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE AND BEYOND: USING THEENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS TO SUPPORT LEARNING ANDENGINEERING SKILL DEVELOPMENTPaul Pagano, Western Michigan University Paul Pagano is a second-year student in Civil Engineering at Western Michigan University. He is active in the student ASCE chapter, assists student teams in the Student Projects Lab, and plans to gain his professional engineers license and employment in a geotechnical engineering firm after graduation.Amanda Rossman, Western Michigan University Amanda Rossman is a second-year student in Civil and Construction Engineering at Western Michigan University. She serves as a tutor to first-year, at-risk students, and is

Conference Session

FPD12 -- Novel Approaches to First Year Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Rowe, Vanderbilt University; Stacy Klein-Gardner

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

computing and problem solving methods so they willcontinue to use these methods in upper-level engineering courses. Ultimately, these students willpersist with a greater ability to communicate their work at all levels leading to more successfulengineering graduates.References.1. Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.), How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999.2. Klein SS and Geist, MJ. The Effect of a Bioengineering Unit Across High School Contexts: An Investigation Page 12.125.10 in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Domains. Accepted to: New Directions in

Conference Session

FPD3 -- Professional Issues for First-Year Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Light, University of Washington; Russell Korte, University Of Minnesota; Ken Yasuhara, University of Washington; Deborah Kilgore, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

., Moreno, M., Shuman, L. J., and Atman, C. J., Gender and Ethnicity Differences in Freshmen Engineering Student Attitudes: A cross-Institutional Study. Journal of Engineering Education, 2001: p. 477-488.7. Besterfield-Sacre, M., Atman, C. J., and Shuman, L. J., Characteristics of Freshman Engineering Students: Models for Determining Student Attrition in Engineering. Journal of Engineering Education, 1997: p. 139- 148.8. Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., and Tarule, J. M., Women's Ways of Knowing The Development of Self, voice, and Mind. 1986: Basic Books, Inc. 256.9. Seymour, E. and Hewitt, N. M., Talking About Leaving Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences. 1997, Boulder: Westview

Conference Session

FPD9 -- Teaching Methods & Technology

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John K. Estell, Ohio Northern University; Beverly Jaeger, Northeastern University; Richard Whalen, SUSAN FREEMAN, and BEVERLY JAEGER are members of; Susan Freeman, Northeastern University; John-David Yoder, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

used in new ways and (2) identifying whether theyhave the potential to teach in engineering design like the Tower of Straws.Finally, in terms of collecting supplementary feedback, a couple of exam questions were posed atNU which provided an excellent opportunity for further discussion on the learning value of thetower-building experience. The students were asked: Name 2 objectives [your professor] mayhave had in mind by having you participate in the Tower-Building challenge. In other words,what were some of the embedded lessons in this activity? Among the responses that were alreadyseen in the survey, a particular concept emerged: “The effect of team size” was a recurringresponse as teams ranged from two to seven people in some cases. A quote

Conference Session

FPD11 -- Multidisciplinary Experiences

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mehrube Mehrubeoglu, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi; Lifford McLauchlan, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

. Proposed MethodBecause introductory courses affect student retention and success significantly, it is paramount todevelop and implement new and novel teaching techniques that capture student interest, keeptheir attention, and ensure their active participation in the learning process. With this in mind, amulti-week collaborative project model has been developed to engage students from twodifferent universities, one with freshman engineering (Texas A&M University – Kingsville,TAMUK) and the other with engineering technology (Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi,TAMUCC), classes. The purpose of this project model is to create cooperative tasks amongstudents from different classes and universities in an effort to emphasize team and

Conference Session

FPD3 -- Professional Issues for First-Year Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Lau, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

important goals of this course, in addition to recognizing thatethical issues pervade engineering – to be open-minded yet critical in our approach to ethicalproblem solving.In addition to the pedagogical value of Star Trek, I like using it because it is fun. Even though asa boy I was fascinated and impressed with the imagery and sets of the original series, today itappears primitive and campy. That combined with the acting style of William Shatner make fora lot of laughs. All of the series include moments of humor and good-natured teasing.Course StructureThe course meets once a week for a 75-minute period. The basic weekly pattern is to view acomplete episode of Star Trek every other week, with the alternating classes for discussions thatbuild upon

Conference Session

FPD8 -- Introductory Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Lehr, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Christopher Grant, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

AC 2007-1485: UTILIZING PROGRAMMING PROJECTS IN A FRESHMENPROGRAMMING COURSESteven Lehr, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Masters in Aerospace Engineering and Masters in Software Engineering. Associate Professor in Freshmen Progam at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University College of Engineering and software consultant.Christopher Grant, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott Program Chair for the Freshmen Program Embry Riddle Aeronautical University College of Engineering Page 12.1579.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Utilizing Programming Projects in a Freshmen

Conference Session

FPD5 -- Placement & Early Success

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Beverly Jaeger, Northeastern University; Susan Freeman, Northeastern University; Richard Whalen, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

AC 2007-1236: DO THEY LIKE WHAT THEY LEARN, DO THEY LEARN WHATTHEY LIKE – AND WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?Beverly Jaeger, Northeastern University Beverly Jaeger, Sue Freeman, and Rich Whalen are members of Northeastern University’s Gateway Team, a selected group of faculty expressly devoted to the first-year Engineering Program at Northeastern University. The focus of this team is on providing a consistent, comprehensive, and constructive educational experience in engineering that endorses the student-centered and professionally-oriented mission of Northeastern University.Susan Freeman, Northeastern UniversityRichard Whalen, Northeastern University