Conference Session

Capstone Courses and Project Based-Learning

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David R. Sawyers Jr., Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

required reorganization of thecontent (including a primer on Matlab programming, for example) and has limited the potentialpool of analysis problems. Beginning in the fall of 2014, the calendar transition will be completeand all students will have taken all of the desired prerequisites, including a structuredprogramming course.The course outcomes stated on the syllabus include the following: Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: 1. solve engineering problems using a variety of analysis methods and software tools. Page 24.18.3 2. apply numerical techniques such as Runge-Kutta methods and finite-difference methods to

Conference Session

New Teaching Pedagogies: Methods and Assessments

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin W. Caldwell, LeTourneau University; Colleen M. Halupa, LeTourneau University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering, Mechanics

Engineering Education, 2014 A Qualitative Pilot Study of an Online Accelerated Statics Course with Intensive Video DeliveryAlthough online learning is extremely popular with 67 million of students taking online classes,it has not been widely used for extremely technical courses such as those in the field ofengineering.1 In order for optimal learning and transformation to occur, both the student and theprofessor must learn to evaluate the learning process differently. For the professor, this meansexamining what has traditionally been done in the past and what can be done in the future toenhance learning for all students. The traditional behaviorist model, which focuses on grades asa reward and punishment system, is no

Conference Session

Learning and Assessment in ME

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sriram Sundararajan, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

self-evaluation and improvement of instruction-related activities is critical tomaintaining excellence in an undergraduate educational program [1]. In recognition of this fact,accreditation bodies (e.g. ABET for engineering) typically emphasize the establishment of such aprocess as a requirement for accreditation. For engineering programs, ABET has established aset of General Criteria for Baccalaureate Level Programs that must be satisfied by all programsto be accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission [2]. These criteria are intendedto assure quality and to foster the systematic pursuit of improvement in the quality ofengineering education that satisfies the needs of constituencies in a dynamic and competitiveenvironment.Amongst

Conference Session

Attracting, Developing and Retaining Talented ME Students

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashland O. Brown, University of the Pacific; Daniel D. Jensen, U.S. Air Force Academy; Richard H. Crawford, University of Texas, Austin; Joseph J. Rencis P.E., Tennessee Technological University; Ella R. Sargent, University of the Pacific; Brock U Dunlap, University of Texas, Austin; Rachelle Kisst Hackett, University of the Pacific; Kathy Schmidt Jackson, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Kyle A. Watson, University of the Pacific; Ismail I Orabi, University of New Haven; Jiancheng Liu, University of the Pacific; John J Wood, U.S. Air Force Academy; Christopher Allen Wejmar, University of the Pacific; Paul Henry Schimpf, Eastern Washington University; Chuan-Chiang Chen, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

FE learning modules in six engineering areas: (1) structural analysis, (2)mechanical vibrations, (3) computational fluid dynamics, (4) heat transfer, (5) electromagnetics,and (6) biometrics. To evaluate these "Proof of Concept" modules, they were integrated intoexisting courses in the corresponding subject areas. Faculty and students initially assessed theireffectiveness at three higher educational institutions. We included student demographic data,learning style preference data and MBTI data in the surveys' conducted on these initial twelvelearning modules, but found that the sample size was in most instances too small to develop anystatistically meaningful analysis.In the second Phase 2 work we expanded our FE learning modules to an

Conference Session

Mechanical Division Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matt Gordon P.E., University of Denver; Bradley S. Davidson, University of Denver; Corinne Shirley Lengsfeld, University of Denver

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Paper ID #9008Adding Flexibility and Hands-On Experiences while Minimizing SequentialGaps in the ME CurriculumDr. Matt Gordon P.E., University of Denver Dr. Matt Gordon is Professor and Chair of the Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering at the University of Denver. His research areas include numerical and experimental plasma physics, chem- ical and physical vapor deposition, electronic packaging, and bio-medical engineering. He has over 100 publications including 1 book chapter. Courses taught include undergraduate finite elements, thermody- namics, fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and engineering

Conference Session

ME Laboratories and Undergraduate Research

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven P Marra P.E., Johns Hopkins University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

experience.This deficiency, as articulated by the students in their course evaluations and senior exit-interviews and recognized by the mechanical engineering faculty, was addressed in 2012 bysplitting the original 4-credit Mechanics Based Design course into one 3-credit Mechanics BasedDesign lecture course and one, new and separate, 1-credit Mechanics Based Design Laboratorycourse. The laboratory course was taught by a separate instructor and was designed to support,but be independent of, the lecture course.The new Mechanics Based Design Laboratory course is located in a 1000 ft2 room next toseveral other mechanical engineering undergraduate laboratories on campus. A working, butantiquated, hydraulically-driven tension/compression testing machine (MTS

Conference Session

Mechanical Division Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Satyajeet P. Deshpande, Kolano and Saha Engineers, Inc.; Mohan D. Rao, Tennessee Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

sound. Figure 1 illustrates how anacoustic material reacts to impinging sound waves. Figure 1: Representation of porous sound absorption materialThe incident wave impacts the face of the material, reflecting some of its energy and sending therest into the material. The energy sent into the material is either transmitted through the material,or absorbed within the porous structure of the material. The sound absorption coefficient is thesum of the percentages of sound that were not reflected. From Figures 1, the sound transmissioncoefficient, τ, is simply the ratio of the sound power transmitted through the material sample intoanother space to the sound power incident on one side of a material sample. Since some soundenergy

Conference Session

ME Laboratories and Undergraduate Research

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sriram Sundararajan, Iowa State University; James Dautremont

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Iowa State University in the followingways: 1) They can help address capacity issues caused by increasing enrollments; 2) They canfacilitate online learning opportunities for off-campus students, including the increasing numberof students pursuing internship and co-op opportunities, thus enabling offering to new studentsand potentially minimizing time to degree for in-program students. Offering lab activities onlinedemands modification of current laboratory systems or the creation of new systems. In additionany laboratory experience that is thus delivered must be assessed for its impact on studentlearning in comparison with the traditional experience. Consequently we have endeavored topilot selected laboratory experiences in our undergraduate

Conference Session

Attracting, Developing and Retaining Talented ME Students

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marius D Ellingsen, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Cassandra M Birrenkott, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Mark David Bedillion, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Karim Heinz Muci-Kuchler, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

sponsored program, designed to increase the number of low-income students who areprepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education [9]. The UTTC summer camp hassimilar goals, but is an initiative local to UTTC. The vast majority of the workshop participantsidentified themselves as Native American / American Indian.The workshop consisted of the five units described below.Unit 1 provided an overview of the working principles and the history of submarines andsubmersibles, and also the different roles they can play. Some short videos describing life aboardUS NAVY submarines were shown to demonstrate how they can be self-sufficient and maintainlife under very challenging conditions. The differences between military, research, and

Conference Session

ME Curriculum and Assessment

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Fazeel Khan, Miami University; Kumar Vikram Singh, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Figure 1 illustrates thecourse sequence for students in the MME program. Figure 1. Diagram of the required MME courses. Circled courses have been included in the ComEx studios. The selection of the courses with which ComEx studios would be associated was guidedby the following criteria: 1) The learning modules would be used by all students in the program. 2) The nature of the course should present opportunities for an experimental-simulation analysis approach to problem solving. 3) Courses would be selected based on their content featuring some common characteristics and then grouped into one of four categories (Fluids and Thermodynamics, Materials

Conference Session

ME Laboratories and Undergraduate Research

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael J. Schertzer, Rochester Institute of Technology; Patricia Iglesias Victoria, National Technical Institute for the Deaf; Kate N. Leipold, Rochester Institute of Technology (COE); John D. Wellin, Rochester Institute of Technology (KGCOE)

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

and friction of materials, ionic liquids as lubricants and nanostructured materials. She maintains an active collaboration with the research groups of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at the Polytechnic Univer- sity of Cartagena and Materials Processing and Tribology at Purdue University, Indiana. As a result of these collaborations, some of her articles have been published in important journals of her field of exper- tise and her article entitled ”1-N-alkyl-3 methykimidazolium ionic liquids as neat lubricant additives in steel-aluminum contacts” has been named one of the TOP TEN CITED articles published in the area in the last five years (2010).Ms. Kate N. Leipold, Rochester Institute of

Conference Session

Mechanical Division Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Trivett P.Eng., University of Waterloo

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

model for the course. The “Thermo-Fluids 1” course became, tostudents, the 7-mission “Hunt for Energy and Power”. The same textbook was used in thenew delivery model as had been used previously; the same laboratory experiments wereundertaken by students, but students had a different approach to the workload.Throughout the course, students proceeded at their own pace, and completed 7 “missions”,each with 5 levels of performance. The first 3 levels were successively more complexanalytical problems. The 4th level was a lab report based on a moderately challengingopen-ended lab experiment, and the 5th level was an opportunity for the student to extend aconcept based on the content of the earlier lab experiment. The concept of “Design” wasbuilt into

Conference Session

Programming, Simulation, and Dynamic Modeling

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shanon Marie Reckinger, Fairfield University; Scott James Reckinger, Brown University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

rest of the class was workingthrough a POGIL worksheet, on a programming assignments, or preparing their toolboxes for theexam. Incorporating a lab-like setting into the class time also allowed for students to worktogether to solve the problems and debug each other’s codes.Course DesignBackward course design13 was used to build the course from a blank slate. Starting with the endgoal in mind, three course goals were chosen. These three goals are the backbone of the course.They answer the question, “what would you like your students to take away from the class?”Next, seven measurable course outcomes were laid out and all linked back to at least one of thecourse goals. These course goals and outcomes can be found in Figure 1. Each of the

Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids and Heat Transfer II

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy J. Jacobs, Texas A&M University; Jerald A. Caton, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

be necessary for this concept inventory to work effectively across a broadspectrum of students and disciplines.Choice of Concepts to be AssessedThe constraints on deciding on the specific questions for this concept inventory include: 1) thenumber of questions be limited to 20, 2) each concept needed to have at least two questions, and3) the most basic and fundamental concepts be assessed. Constraint number 2 is needed so thatthe students’ understanding of a given concept is independent of the wording of only onequestion. The major concepts that were considered important to evaluate include such items asstatements of the second law (classical and other), entropy, exergy, cycles, reversible processes,and Carnot principles. Certainly, many

Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids and Heat Transfer II

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amir Karimi, University of Texas, San Antonio; Randall D. Manteufel, University of Texas, San Antonio

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

concepts. Continued poor performance inthermodynamics is linked to students not grasping key concepts and failing to recognize how toapply relevant concepts in solving problems.(1) Many students succeed at algorithmic problemsolving yet have difficulty explaining the physical systems being described by the mathematics.This is reflected in low scores on concept inventory exams which require minimal mathematicalcalculations, but are designed around common misconceptions.(2,3)Poor learning has been linked to not being able to correctly assess the information provided andbegins with a lack of clear understanding of the fundamental concepts. A coherent framing ofproblems is essential to reason through new problems.(4) To address this, teachers often

Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids, and Heat Transfer I

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Natasha Smith P.E., University of Southern Indiana; Brandon S. Field, University of Southern Indiana

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Thermodynamics CourseAbstractFundamentals courses play an instrumental role in developing undergraduate students into skilledproblem solvers. As such, these courses bear the responsibility of (1) instilling discipline in prob-lem solving and (2) familiarizing students with central concepts of engineering. The two goals areinextricably linked. Success in problem solving is contingent upon understanding a remarkablyfew fundamental principles. Upon first introduction to new concepts, however, students usuallylack the experience to understand how foundational those principles really are. In fact they can beadept at compartmentalizing information at the expense of building up a foundation of knowledge.While this tactic may present a hope for short term

Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids, and Heat Transfer I

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Martin William Weiser, Eastern Washington University; Hani Serhal Saad, Eastern Washington University; Robert E. Gerlick, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

ABET 3a-k for both EAC and ETAC which are notlisted. The prerequisites for this course are Calculus I & II (differential and integral calculus),Physics I & II (energy, motion, fluids, and thermodynamics), and Technical Writing. Currentlywe do not do before and after assessments of student knowledge related to the course, but we areplanning to develop such assessments of both prerequisites and key concepts in the future. Table I Course Objectives for Thermodynamics 1. Use scientific language to describe heat, temperature, pressure, work, and energy. 2. State and apply the 1st Law of Thermodynamics for flow and non-flow systems. 3. Identify processes and properties related to energy storage, transport

Conference Session

Capstone Courses and Project Based-Learning

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Diana Bairaktarova, The University of Oklahoma; Mary K. Pilotte, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Nathan McNeill, University of Colorado Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

early educational forms wewill see that Socrates presented students with problems that, through questioning, enabled them toexplore their assumptions, their values, and the inadequacies of their offered solutions. Literatureshows that this kind of increased understanding and examination of perspectives and frameworksis encouraged through problem-based learning because it offers students opportunities to examinetheir beliefs about knowledge in ways that lecture-based learning and narrow forms of problem-solving learning do not [1]. John Dewey, the father of modern educational philosophy, arguedmore than century ago that instruction should be based on students’ interests with studentsinvolved in real-life activities and challenges [2]. In

Conference Session

New Teaching Pedagogies: Methods and Assessments

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matthew Cavalli, University of North Dakota; Jeremiah J. Neubert, University of North Dakota; Dustin McNally, University of North Dakota; Debbie Jacklitch-Kuiken

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering, Mechanics

video lecture material—learning aids—and will the distance studentsbenefit from the in-class activities. Moreover, are the benefits a function of the course level?MethodDuring the Fall 2013 semester, four courses were selected to evaluate the flipped delivery modefor both on-campus and at-a-distance learners in comparison with a more traditional coursestructure. A list of the courses selected for the study and their corresponding enrollment can befound in Table 1. These courses included an introductory mechanical engineering design course(ME 101), an introductory engineering mechanics course (ENGR 201), a computerprogramming/numerical methods course (ENGR 200), and a junior-level materials sciencecourse (ME 301). All courses included both on

Conference Session

ME Curriculum and Assessment

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Howard N. Shapiro, Iowa State University; Gloria Starns, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

that have been developed through decades ofresearch are based on how people learn and are not unique to traditional face-to-face instruction.Effective teaching, both face-to-face and on line, requires that the teacher is knowledgeable aboutbest practice and is skilled in delivery. As noted by Watwood, et.al. [1], the advent of onlineinstruction is “serving to disrupt teaching as we previously knew it.” This provides uniqueopportunities for faculty to learn about effective teaching and provides a new context for applyingthis learning. It also provides significant challenges as many faculty must learn about pedagogy aswell as the technological tools available for both online and face-to-face instruction.In this paper, we discuss both the

Conference Session

ME Curriculum and Assessment

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michele Miller, Michigan Technological University; Jeffrey Allen, Michigan Technological University; Jason Blough, Michigan Technological University; James P. De Clerck, Michigan Technological University; William J. Endres, Michigan Technological University; Scott A. Miers, Michigan Technological University; Ibrahim Miskioglu, Michigan Technological University; Gregory M. Odegard, Michigan Technological University; Charles D. Van Karsen, Michigan Technological University; Paul J. Van Susante, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

, starting in Fall 2014. The revision recognizes that engineering work, engineeringstudents, and educational methods are changing.The program faculty considered recommendations from external entities, investigated innovativecurricula at other institutions, and solicited input from departmental faculty and staff. TheEngineer of 2020 will change job functions more frequently than engineers of the past, and thusthe NAE cites practical intuition and agility as desired attributes.1 A Carnegie Foundation report2finds that “the tradition of putting theory before practice…[allows] little opportunity for studentsto have the kind of deep learning experiences that mirror professional practice.” Based onanalysis of industry needs, two of the seven

Conference Session

Mechanical Division Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vladimir Gurau P.E., Kent State University, Tuscarawas

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

in porous media, etc). He is the author of several patents related to PEM fuel cells and the author of more than twenty publications in peer review journals or conference presentations in the fuel cells area. Dr. Gurau obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1998 from the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Miami. Page 24.359.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 Demonstration of an Automated Assembly Process for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells Using Robotic Technology 1. IntroductionAt the recommendation of the ABET accreditation committee, a

Conference Session

ME Laboratories and Undergraduate Research

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brock Philip Ring, University of Central Oklahoma; Evan C. Lemley, University of Central Oklahoma

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Re  =   ρvd μ (1)In this equation ρ is the fluid density, v is the fluid velocity, d  is the hydraulic diameter (necessary to usefor non­circular cross­section duct flow) of the duct, and μ is the fluid viscosity. At relatively lowReynolds numbers (lower than roughly 2100 for a circular cross section) fluid flow tends to be laminar,meaning the flow stays in parallel layers that do not cross. In other words, there is no crossing ofstreamlines.4 Higher Reynolds numbers result in transitional flow or turbulent flow. These types of flowresult in a randomness that causes slight variations and crossing of streamlines that are currently notpossible to

Conference Session

Capstone Courses and Project Based-Learning

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John-David S. Yoder, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

concurrently with ongoing work on their capstoneproject.Some context must be provided in order to understand the motivation for this approach.First, at a small private Midwest university, the capstone projects are two-semesterprojects. In addition, each student group works on a different project. Some of thoseprojects are composed of only mechanical engineering students, but the majority of groupsinclude students from another department.There are four major reasons for the approach described in this paper: 1) Redesign is a critical part of the design process, and is covered in the course. However, since most students do not start prototype development until spring semester, redesign cannot be readily exercised and evaluated in the fall

Conference Session

Manufacturing and Machine Component Design

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Harold L. Stalford, University of Oklahoma

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

too far from being true in undergraduate education in the United States wherein students arememorizing their way through most of the curriculum. In an US News and World Reportarticle2, “High School Students Need to Think, Not Memorize”, an Advanced Placement biologyteacher is quoted “Students go through the motions of their lab assignments without graspingwhy, and ‘the exam is largely a vocabulary test’”.David Perkins3, co-director of Harvard Project Zero, a research center for cognitivedevelopment, and senior research associate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, pointsout several observations in his article on “Teaching for Understanding”. (1) “The student mightsimply be parroting the test and following memorized routines for stock

Conference Session

Mechanical Division Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig J. Gunn, Michigan State University; Pavel M. Polunin, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

role model provides inspiration andmotivation to seek out accomplishments. Role models send messages about their beliefs by whatthey do and say.”1 If you ask engineering students, many will respond that that is what theirinstructors are. The effort should be then to convince faculty of their role (model) in theeveryday action of teaching.When you think about it, do any of these faculty ever mention the response that they receivewhen sending material into journals for review? With the amount of writing that is done, theamount of presenting that goes on, and the level of intellectual thinking that goes into the textproduced; it would seem natural that this kind of information would be enlightening to studentsin every engineering course. This

Conference Session

Programming, Simulation, and Dynamic Modeling

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark David Bedillion, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Raymond Jon Raisanen, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Mohamed Hakeem Mohamed Nizar, SDSM&T Mechanical Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

animations were used to discuss how assumptionsmade in calculations for instants in time change over the motion of an object. Student projectswere used to engage students with the software so that they could simulate problems indepen-dently.In-Class ExamplesA full list of the in-class examples used can be found at http://webpages.sdsmt.edu/˜mbedilli/Simulations2.html along with animations. This section will describe a subsetof the examples; others are found in a prior paper by the authors.4 The SolidWorks examplesused in class span from Newtonian mechanics of particles to rigid body impulse and momentum,covering chapters 13-19 in the class textbook.2A particle dynamics example is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The ball is dropped from rest and impactsthe

Conference Session

Manufacturing and Machine Component Design

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert L. Mott, University of Dayton; Ronald J. Bennett F.ASEE, F.ABET P.E., University of St. Thomas; Mark J. Stratton, SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers); Scott Danielson, Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

and mechanical engineering technology education programs.The field of manufacturing engineering covers the broad spectrum of topics derived from thedefinition, “Manufacturing requires that a modification of the shape, form, or properties of amaterial that takes place in a way that adds value”1. The ASME’s Vision 2030 surveys of industryengineering supervisors and early career mechanical engineers have illustrated that the curriculaof mechanical engineering and related programs have an urgent need to enhance students’comprehension of ‘how things are made and work,’ e.g., the knowledge and skills needed todesign and efficiently produce products via high-performance systems.2 This paper focusesprimarily on a model for the manufacturing field

Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids and Heat Transfer II

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jessica W. Clark, University of Maine; John R. Thompson, University of Maine; Donald B. Mountcastle, University of Maine

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

IntroductionThermodynamics is a core part of the curriculum in physics and many engineering fields. Whileindividual courses in each discipline appear to cover many of the same topics at some level, theemphasis, applications, and many representations are idiosyncratic to the discipline. Educationresearchers in both disciplines have studied thermodynamics learning and teaching. In everydaycommon language heat and temperature are often used synonymously. This has led to well docu-mented conceptual confusion among middle- and high school students.1, 2 These difficulties, alongwith others relating to thermodynamic work, have also been documented among students enrolledin introductory and upper-division physics courses.3, 4 Similar difficulties have been documentedby

Conference Session

Programming, Simulation, and Dynamic Modeling

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin Reed Campbell, Robert Morris University; Luis E. Monterrubio, Robert Morris University; Tony Lee Kerzmann, Robert Morris University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

, acceleration, circular motion,force, momentum, elasticity, and more. The result is a simple and cost-effective set of dynamicslaboratory activities which would be easy for other engineering programs to introduce into acurriculum or use for educational outreach events. One of the main advantages of the proposedlaboratory activities is its portability.IntroductionMany studies have shown that engineers are active learners and therefore hands-on experiencesare an important part of their education.1 Dynamics is a subject where creating hands-on learninglaboratories in a cost effective manner can be a challenge.2 At Robert Morris University most ofthe engineering courses have laboratory components. The department, however, has limiteddedicated laboratory