Paper ID #43345The Implementation and Assessment of the Effectiveness of Peer-TeachingInstructional Technique in Lecture and Laboratory CoursesDr. Simon Thomas Ghanat P.E., The Citadel Dr. Simon Ghanat is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Citadel (Charleston, S.C.). He received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University. His research interests include Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Education.Dr. Ronald W. Welch P.E., The Citadel Ron Welch (P.E.) received his B.S. degree in Engineering Mechanics from the
Paper ID #42124Impact of Learning Transfer-focused Lab Writing Modules to the WritingInstructional Materials by Engineering Lab InstructorsDr. Dave Kim, Washington State University, Vancouver Dr. Dave Kim is Professor and Mechanical Engineering Program Coordinator in the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University Vancouver. His teaching and research have been in the areas of engineering materials, fracture mechanics, and manufacturing processes. In particular, he has been very active in pedagogical research in the area of writing pedagogy in engineering laboratory courses. Dr. Kim and his
great importancefor students across a wide array of disciplines, including civil, mechanical, and aerospaceengineering, among others [5]. This field is dedicated to analyzing bodies that are either at rest orin a state of equilibrium, where the net forces and moments are balanced. The pedagogicalapproach to teaching statics commonly encompasses both lectures and laboratory sessions,providing a comprehensive learning experience. Typically introduced at the sophomore level orfirst year engineering projects, this course builds upon the foundational knowledge acquired inintroductory engineering courses i.e. CAD. At this stage, most students may not have delved intomechanical design. However, towards the conclusion of the statics course, an
promising course of action hasbeen the migration to develop the “classatory”. This is a trend in higher education whereclassrooms and laboratories join in a single space. Such spaces maximize classroom squarefootage and help to create a more active learning environment. This case study paper showcasesan ability to develop these multi-use spaces at a fraction of the cost. This shows how seeminglysmall, deliberate decisions can lead to a more significant number of more effective and engagingclassrooms.IntroductionFor many years in higher level education, it was assumed that engineering labs had to beexpansive, dedicated buildings filled with expensive equipment. And in many universities, that’sstill the case. However, in Educating the Engineer of
measure response, and their mobile phone turns out to be a very good tool for this.Finally, they need a way to solve for the dynamic response of the structure based on an arbitraryblast loading and you happen to have introduced a spreadsheet implementation of Newmark’smethod. All the pieces are in place; let’s see what the students do!This paper describes the implementation and results of a blast loading experiment using aircannons and the resulting student responses. Exam performance was comparable to students in aprevious offering without the laboratory. Laboratory reports provided insight consistent withprior studies of problem-based learning and that support theories that experimentation labs maybe more effective than verification
is not an ABET requirement.Traditionally, surveying courses have emphasized lecture sessions covering surveying principlesand methodologies, complemented by laboratory exercises particular to various surveyingmethods and utilizing surveying instruments [5]. However, alongside this conventional approach,PBL is being introduced, offering students hands-on experience in applying theoreticalknowledge to real-world scenarios [4]. PBL encourages critical thinking, interdisciplinarycollaboration, and the development of essential professional skills such as problem-solving,communication, and project management. Prince and Felder present strong evidence thatinductive teaching methods are more effective than traditional deductive teaching methods
deformation. To achieve this goal, our design requires the user to movetheir hands at a speed inversely proportional to the member stiffness, stopping deformation ifthis constraint is violated. To assess the effectiveness of these techniques, we introduce threegame scenes within our study with beams under tension, compression, bending, and torsion.Preliminary results from an early pilot user study show the promise of the proposed platformin inducing a sense of stiffness. The proposed application provides a promising pathway forimmersive experiential learning of engineering concepts that would otherwise requireexpensive laboratory experiments.IntroductionStructural mechanics involves studying members' force and displacement distribution underdifferent
, modeling, simulation assignments,laboratory procedures, field activities, and capstone projects [11]. A primary purpose of hands-on activities is to provide learners with actual experiences that allow them to apply engineeringskills to reinforce knowledge and directly observe the outcomes of their efforts, which leads todeeper learning.In this study, a hands-on approach called, the Experiment-Centric Pedagogy (ECP) wasimplemented. This pedagogy has been found to actively engage learners by utilizing affordable,safe, and portable electronics in various educational settings (classrooms or laboratories). ECPcombines problem-solving exercises and constructive learning methods with a hands-on,portable multifunction tool that can be used in place of
. PhD. Civil Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS , May 2008. Dr. Palomo is currently a Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). In this position, Dr. Palomo is responsible for teaching courses such as Introduction to Civil Engineering; Hydraulics; Water and Wastewater Treatment; Groundwater Mechanics; Research Experience of Undergraduate Students; and Engineering Outreach Service Learning courses, among others. She is also a faculty advisor for the California Water Environment Association (CWEA), and Engineers Without Boarders (EWB) student chapters. Additionally, Dr. Palomo is the CE Water Analysis laboratory director and
and readings, and students gain hands-onexperience in structured laboratory exercises. The laboratory exercises provide experience withmixture design and material testing that will become critical when the project begins. Thelectures include specialized content regarding the rheology of cementitious materials and thefundamentals of 3D printing as students begin to work on the project. The timeline for theexperimentation and subsequent deliverables under this project is organized as follows:(i)Experimental Mixture Development and Test Development Report Submission: Thebrief, memorandum report detailing the experimental process and test development for themortar mixture is submitted two weeks after the project is initiated. The report composes
peer-to-peer interaction on average compared to the SpringSemesters. When considering other variables that influenced this phenomenon in the data, it wasfound that more lab classes were offered in the Fall than in the Spring. Since most lab activitiesin the civil engineering department are executed in groups, there is naturally more opportunityfor peer-to-peer interaction to be embedded in the course syllabi. This is consistent with thecommentary of Fiesel and Rosa on the objective of laboratory activities in undergraduateengineering education, specifically, to “work effectively in teams, including [a] structure [for]individual and joint accountability; assign roles, responsibilities, and tasks; monitor progress;meet deadlines; and integrate
from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, as well as a Master of Science in Geotechnical Engineering and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Structural Engineering from the University of South Florida, Tampa. Sarah is a registered professional engineer in the state of Alaska where she worked as a staff engineer for the Department of Natural Resources. She has been a faculty member at the University of Tennessee since the Fall of 2019 where she serves as a laboratory specialist in the fields of materials, geotech and structures. Sarah mentors students by serving as an advisor for the student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024CASE STUDY: Re
, research laboratories, or societies [3]. Anational survey conducted in 2005 revealed that engineering programs are emphasizing theimportance of teamwork in capstone projects, and therefore are shifting away from projects thatare completed by an individual student towards team-based projects [3]. This study also revealedthat typically a capstone team is comprised of four to six team members completing the projectas a one or two semester capstone course [3]. One challenge with a design-build project is that itcan be difficult to develop a project that a small team can complete in a short time frame of oneyear or less [4]. Additionally, it is important that the project selected is viewed as worthwhile byboth the students and the faculty for it to be
. This falls in linewith what Ken Bain discusses in his book, What the Best College Teachers Do, where he statesthat, “highly effective teachers design better learning experiences for their students in partbecause they conceive of teaching as fostering learning” [8]. The goal is to leverage somethingfamiliar within the classroom, like a home’s energy system, in order to create a relatableexperience that helps build upon course concepts. The new power demonstrator board isspecifically designed to function in any classroom, office, or laboratory space, utilizing 120Vsingle phase power instead of three-phase power as in the original version. This allowsinstructors more flexibility in where the lesson is presented, significantly increasing the
the mechanics concepts. Another set of feedback was provided to students aftersubmitting the final project. In Spring 2023, one of the instructors (a tenure-track facultymember) offered a new research track that enabled students to visit the structural laboratory totest and analyze samples of materials under different loadings. Approximately 8.5% of studentsparticipated in the research track. Figure 2 shows a sample of projects from creative, analytical,and research tracks. (a) (b) (c) Figure 2. Students’ strength-based projects in a) Creative track, wooden built-up beam, b)Analytical track, modeling the ear pursing as discontinuous plate under axial loading c) Research
industry respondents rating load pathunderstanding as very important for graduates. Incorporating such qualitative, conceptual aspectsof analysis could better align curricula with practitioner needs.Lastly, though not quantified here, it was observed that a substantial number of courses includelab components. Well-structured laboratory experiences present impactful opportunities totangibly explore structural concepts like load paths and redundancy hands-on before or intandem with computer analysis. This integration of physical and virtual experiences, informed bypractitioners' needs, seems a promising direction for nurturing students’ structural intuition.Results and Discussion - ChatGPT AnalysisOnce the hand analysis was complete, we attempted to
. Common references included textbooks, class notes, student-created note sheets,instructor-created note sheets, codes, the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam ReferenceHandbook, and the internet. Several responses included some variant of “closed classmate” or“anything except other people.”Other Grading CriteriaTwenty-three percent of respondents indicated that there is a component of their course requiredto pass the course beyond a certain grade. These components included a certain percent in one ormore of the course components (i.e. 70% or greater in laboratory, 50% or greater on the project,etc.), turning in all assignments or all of a certain type of assignment, passing an individualgraded event, and passing each graded portion.Redoing
then test their proposed experiment in a wet-chemistry laboratory, record dataon findings, and have an opportunity to iterate on their materials list and try the experimentagain. Outside of the lab, students research a community in New Mexico that could be impactedby AMD and apply empathy perspectives to consider all stakeholders who may be involved(community members, farmers, government employees, etc.). The final proposed solution fortreatment integrates both the lab experiment and the community stakeholder needs assessment.Design Challenge 2: Concrete CanoeThe American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) holds an annual concrete canoe competitionwhere student groups from universities across the U.S. design, build and race a canoe made
, recitation periods, and laboratory sessionsincreased retention of or connection to key course concepts [6], [7], [8], [9]. Improving students'conceptual understanding significantly impacted student retention [10].Researchers have developed concept inventories to improve students’ conceptual knowledge ofmechanics topics [11], [12]. More recently researchers have developed targeted problems thatallow them to identify the most common sources of error or misconceptions observed [13], [14],[15], [16]. Each of these researchers categorized the types of errors into buckets such aspreconceived misunderstanding, incomplete understanding, or incorrect understanding [14],factual, procedural, or conceptual [15], and conceptual versus non-conceptual [16].An
, hydrostatics forces,pressurized pipe flow, water distribution, open channel flow, hydrology, surface runoff, rainfall,and risk. Computer modeling and laboratory exercises are used to emphasize principles. Thecourse meets three days a week for 65 minutes each session. Several lab activities are used as in-class activities while others that require more intensive calculations and reporting are assignedoutside of class. Additional course components include homework problems, a researchpresentation, and unit tests.Adjustments were made to the schedule and assignments to improve student learning andincorporate three teaching practices as described below. Throughout the course planning, carewas taken to rearrange the student workload, not increase it. Table
week for a formal project meeting.Before each weekly meeting, the lead engineer for the week sends out an agenda. The agenda isbased on a standardized template (see Appendix 2) developed by the course coordinator. As a team,the students are held accountable to develop an agenda, run the meeting and complete a writtenrecord (meeting minutes) of what was discussed. This process forces the team to reflect on theirsuccess and struggles for the week while also ensuring that they remain productive and on pace tocomplete the project on time.Field-and place-based Learning: Mandatory Site VisitLearning can take place anywhere, not only in a classroom or laboratory. Leveragingenvironments outside the classroom can significantly enhance student