Literature: Like most initiatives to address the underrepresentation of women and minorities in STEM, the advocacy tips are drawn from a rich body of literature and evidence-‐based experiences. In a recent essay, Acker [1] reflects on 30 years of theorizing and researching gendered substructures enacted in organizations and, while recognizing that recent research provides clearer understandings of why women enter and/or remain in academia, also acknowledges that “a number of issues about how to think about gender inequalities remain unresolved” (pg. 214). Acker further notes that white men generally dominate top organizational positions and that
, and by an authorityderived from education and expertise. The historical development of engineering into aprofession highlighted the engineer’s role in social development and progress; the tradeoffsnecessary in engineering decision-making; and the need to anticipate “unintended consequences”and identify stakeholders who may be silent or lack social power.Student learning outcomes are listed in Table 1.Student work included several design projects, with documentation in the form of hand and CADdrawings, written descriptions, and oral presentations; design problem definition assignments;and writing assignments in which students reflected on their experiences and responded toreading assignments. This work was assessed to evaluate achievement of
research show a higher quality of learning (though not a greater amount if "amount"equates with the number of facts), but problem-based learning simply feels right intuitively. Itseems to reflect the way the mind actually works. (15) Unfortunately, while there is agreement onthe general definition of PBL, implementation has varied widely. (3) The large variation in PBLpractices makes the analysis of its effectiveness a bit complex. Many studies comparing PBL totraditional programs are simply not talking about the same thing. As reported by Prince (3), “ Formeta-studies of PBL, to show any significant effect compared to traditional programs, the signalfrom the common elements of PBL would have to be greater than the noise produced bydifferences in
provide important technical and communication experiences forundergraduate and graduate students. Senior capstone, thesis, design, and other project activitiesare means to develop teamwork and communication skills. ABET student outcomes reflect thesecritical skills [1] and experiences applying soft skills in the context of project work are valuable.The process of documenting a project and presenting the results enhances one’s technicalunderstanding in ways that students do not often appreciate. Technical poster presentations area common communication mode in which effective delivery depends heavily on succinctexpression, audience analysis, and visual design. Much of the literature related to posterpresentations deals with course-level poster
occurs during each test, all of their design changes are in directreaction to the test results, and this comment reflects that shared understanding. After a bit morework, they encounter the same disagreement again, as Marco wants to tape on an additional Page 24.981.9“pack” of popsicle sticks:Marco: Tape that onVincenzo: Wait, dude, let’s just test it with that firstMarco: Two packsVincenzo: No, dude, just test itMarco: Yeah, we’re going to test itVincenzo: Test it and THEN if it’s too light we’ll put this onThese exchanges and disagreements highlight the importance of the pair dynamic, which is oftenlost when comparing
organization and individuals, approving organizational superior system skills display superior systems skills. as well as development of plans, job descriptions, and can out-perform same, their recognition and professional development others. reward, all reflect the plans that include systems- importance of systems skills related considerations. to the success of the organization
where they learn how to work with the students before they deliverthe research-inspired challenges they developed. The learning experience for the middle schoolstudents is also scaffolded by successively exposing them to more about the engineering designprocess and what they are expected to do in the subsequent sessions. During the delivery portionof the class there are no additional assignments beyond preparing the design challenges and theadditional class session each week is reserved for discussion and reflection in a learningcommunity setting.The final portion of the class is devoted to the reflection and to finalizing the documentation inlight of experiences at the middle school. The materials created during the class are valuable andworth
of the survey questions from all respondents was 4.6out of 5.0. The student comments on the survey reflected that: 1) speakers should come fromdifferent engineering backgrounds as opposed to all from civil engineering, 2) projects should beset up by the workshop staff so that all the necessary materials are available since the start and sothat the workshop staff is familiar with the project, and 3) students also indicated their desire tospend more time working on the projects.From the data collected it is clear that the workshop was successful in encouraging theparticipants to continue working towards a STEM degree. Overall, the participants indicated theyreally enjoyed their time in the workshop activities.c) MORE-High-School Outreach
provided by the instructor, the team modifies its design process/outcome accordingly, and prepares a few lead-in questions for the in-person interactions.4) Engage in the in-person interaction: during the in-person meetings, the team thoroughly goes through its improved design process/outcome, and the instructor steps in when he/she identifies any step that would have been designed differently from an expert’s perspective.5) Publish the interaction result: the team reflects its interaction process with the instructor, redoes the design by itself to generate (and evaluate) new ideas, and sends the instructor a Page 24.1035.6 certain
challenges of the new approach27 Use nontraditional teaching methods in as described in research35 Provide students with feedback, support, & scaffolding27,59 Explain effect on grade 60 and align activities with assessments27,59,60 Solicit student feedback27 Ramp up slowly, e.g. use brief activities at first33 Assign/design appropriately challenging activities32,34,58,60 Respect student learning styles and study habits59 These suggestions tend to be drawn from personal experience, rather than from strongempirical and theoretical bases. This reflects that although connections between expectancyviolations and student resistance to nontraditional teaching have been asserted, the link betweenthese two constructs has not been
, the 2011-2012 data does not include data gathered regarding the students' major, thus theseare not reported. Secondly, the material/energy balance class under review has students majoringin both Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering.In 2011, analyses of students’ Peer Learning scores revealed a significant Gender interaction,reflecting the tendency for women’s scores to decrease and men’s scores to increase from pre-test to post-test. Students' Classroom Connectedness scores increased significantly from pre-testto post test. Accounting for Gender and Race Classroom Connectedness increased for Caucasianmales and females and Asian males.In 2012, the results were mixed with interactions based upon the specific demographic variables(Gender
avoid thisissue.14–19 Previous work by the authors and others have studied specific characteristics that arenecessary for success in industry and academic careers for Ph.D.-holding students.16,18,20 Watsonand Lyons (2011) studied engineering industry job solicitations in order to determine the mosthighly-requested skills for Ph.D.s working in industry.13 These recommendations reflect thepoint of view of professionals working in the field.The work by these researchers is useful; however, the lack of research that examines graduatestudents’ perspectives on the skills they require for professional success is concerning. Ifgraduate students’ views of what skills are important for them to develop during their graduatetraining do not align with the
solar radiationHOMER synthesizes solar radiation values for each of the 8760 hours of the year. Its algorithmsproduces realistic hourly data, being easy to use, requiring only the latitude and the monthlyaverages, while displaying realistic day to day and hour to hour patterns. The synthetic data arecreated with certain statistical properties that reflect global average value. However, generateddata for a particular location will not exactly replicate the characteristics of the real solarradiation. But tests show that synthetic solar data produce virtually the same simulation results asreal data. HOMER synthetic wind data generator is little different to use than the solar data as itrequires four parameters, in order to generate wind statistics
concepts, defining terms, and making predictions based on conceptsare some of the reflective metacognitive activities that can be used to assess one's own beliefs.Metacognition is also necessary to confront and address one’s own misconceptions, which needto be corrected through cognitive processes in order to achieve conceptual change by altering themental models that comprise an individual's conceptual framework on a particular topic.One of the most important, but more difficult, topics in introductory materials engineeringclasses is that of phase diagrams. For example, on a question on a previously given MaterialsConcept Inventory about solutions, students moved from 39% correct to 67% correct on pre and
a university-wide survey at Villanova University indicated that a strong majorityof full-time faculty agree that internationalizing our curriculum will help students be moresuccessful after graduation (78% agree or strongly agree). Nearly 95% of faculty agree orstrongly agree that colleges and universities should prepare students for an increasinglyinterconnected world. However, a weaker majority (58% agree or strongly agree) believe thatglobal and international topics should be incorporated into all undergraduate programs. Thislatter issue likely reflects the specific needs of the professional colleges, such as Engineering,and science departments to develop a robust education plan that meets standards within technicaldisciplines. In the
, 2004)11Design ReviewsDesign reviews were used to assess learning objectives 2-4. Each semester, students work inteams with other students at their university on a design project corresponding to a piece of thewicked problem. Throughout the process, students participate in three design reviews intended toidentify strengths and weaknesses in design processes and guide students’ design developmenttoward better, more defensible, and more sustainable design solutions. We used the Initiate,Design, Execute, Assess, Learn, & Show (IDEALS) framework as a guide for assessment ofthese design activities.12 As part of each design review, students answer reflection questions ontheir progress to date. At the end of the semester, students perform in-class
concluded that the course may take too much time tocover in a school year, the content flows into multiple high school courses, grading activitieswould be an issue, and that not specifically having a trigonometry section would be a problem.From the opposite point of view, everyone agreed that the engaging projects and activities were amajor plus for the curriculum. Positive feedback was also given concerning the CCSS that weretagged in lessons, technology and graphics that were imbedded in the curriculum, and that thecourse was rigorous. Changes were made reflecting the feedback of the working group, and thecourse is now being piloted at two schools.Future work will include gathering data concerning student engagement and achievement.NICERC plans
quantity, on the other hand, isconceptually closer to Net Inventory Position. Net Inventory Position exactly reflects thelevel of On-Hand Inventory when there is no backorder (i.e., in this case, it does have anexact physical representation as it represents what is physically available on the storage shelf).Figure 1 may help students understand that order quantity can be smaller than the reorderpoint and that can be optimal for the inventory system in the test.In the second problem (No. 2a, 2b, and 2c) both Group A and Group B students were asked to Page 24.1363.6compute the amounts of expected surplus and shortage for a day and the
of mathematics and language arts skills. However, it mayalso be possible that the reduction is reflective of teacher preparedness and curriculum choices 2, 32.Because most teachers are inclined to teach what they were taught 33, 34, teachers may not eagerlyembrace the idea of teaching STEM content due to confined preparation to teach STEM 35, 36. However,as Levitt 37 reports, when provided with useful models, teachers tend to be open to modifications in theirteaching. School administrators may be critical for addressing teachers’ development that may lead toincreases in the quantity and quality of the STEM education they teach.Leadership and STEM ImplementationLeadership can tremendously impact teacher engagement in professional development
saying “I don’t buy it, its not going to work.” However, aside from the negative comments he did help with paper formatting and information that needed to be included. As a group it was agreed that there shouldn't be just be one “catch-all” professional that helps all the groups because although he may be intelligent in a couple specific fields he does not necessarily have expertise to criticize our type of project. Instead, this should be done independently by each group to obtain a professional in the field more involved with their respective topics for better feedback. It is also recommended to not be a mandatory assignment because the opinions of an outside source should not reflect on us as a
readily available resource for individual study, studentsalso seemed to find the app useful for in-class discussions, peer to peer review of problems andpeer tutoring. Overall, students have shown a strong interest in using mobile apps that can assist theirlearning, and we believe that our findings behoove educators and researchers to develop andutilize smartphone applications because of its great potential to be used as a learning tool.Regarding the development of a mobile app for an Engineering Economics course, our improvedapp has reflected the feedback from the student users and implemented many modules to helpstudents reinforce the key concepts and improve their problem-solving skills. The app has beenmade available freely through Apple
. Aligningexpectations and outcomes more closely will help engineering integrate more easily intoelementary classrooms. Engineering curricula that is better aligned with developmental standardsand goals is more likely to remain a strong aspect of elementary education.AcknowledgementThis work was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation DLR 0822261.Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are thoseof the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.Bibliography[1] Carr, R. L., Bennett IV, L. D., and Strobel, J., "Engineering in the K-12 STEM standards of the 50 US states: An analysis of presence and extent", Journal of Engineering Education Vol. 101
and building with professional modeling materials in mind,and designing for how each light fixture would be attached to the existing structure. Specialattention was paid to the quality of light, appropriate use of construction materials, and thecraftsmanship of the model and drawings. Additionally, reflectivity, translucency andtransparency were to be considered. Students were permitted to use the following modelingmaterials: foam core, museum board, chip board, bass wood, balsa wood, and vellum. If anyadditional materials were desired to be used, prior instructor approval was required, andmaterials were approved on a case by case basis based on material appropriateness and materialworkability. Overall, if a student wished to use a material
incorporate many good features that are found in different previous Page 24.17.4applications. Unlike most of the other systems that use Google Map, our project adoptsOpenStreetMap [8], which is open-source and free to use. It also allows us to generate updatedand customized maps (e.g., community and local attractions) to reflect map change immediately.Overall, our project objective is to design a customized, cost-effective, efficient and user-friendlybus location and tracking system specifically for the CTfastrak project.The proposed work involves mobile phone application development, database and networkcommunication between the mobile
training andimprovement projects utilizing industrial engineering concepts, computer science concepts,supply chain and inventory management concepts, quality concepts, Lean and Six Sigmaconcepts, electronics, and technical writing. Figure 3 shows a summary of the types of projects Page 24.20.5completed during the seven year period for which the data was collected. The top ten types ofprojects reflected in this data directly relate to a professional certification i.e., Lean Six Sigmacertifications, Certified Manufacturing Technician (CMT), Computer Aided Design (CAD)certifications, Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), Certification in
. National ScienceFoundation (Award DUE-1042030). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and/orrecommendations are those of the investigators and do not necessarily reflect the views of theNational Science Foundation.References [1] Kilgore, D., Atman, C. J., Yasuhara, K., Barker, T. J., & Morozov, A. (2007). “Considering Context: A Study of First‐Year Engineering Students,” Journal of Engineering Education, 96(4), 321-334. [2] Olds, B. M., & Miller, R. L. (2004). “The Effect of a First‐Year Integrated Engineering Curriculum on Graduation Rates and Student Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study,” Journal of Engineering Education, 93(1), 23-35. [3] Pendergrass, N. A., Kowalczyk, R. E., Dowd, J. P., Laoulache, R. N., Nelles, W., Golen, J
)including facilitators who were trained as engineers and able to provide research relevant to effectiveteaching practices and learning theory for large engineering courses, 3) introducing a range of effectiveteaching practices, so faculty were able to apply and adopt teaching strategies in which they were mostcomfortable with, 4) allowing time for reflection on faculty’s individual teaching practices whilesubsequently incorporating active discussion with fellow engineering participants and facilitators to gainfurther perspective, and 5) building a sense of community by collaborating with fellow engineeringparticipants and facilitators through group work.To assess the impact of our Teaching Circle, we utilized Murray’s Teaching Behavior Inventory
% of the grade for each subject was awarded for interdisciplinary work. In specificcases such as computer programming the weight of interdisciplinary projects was even greater.The rest of the grades were obtained through tests and other individual or group activities,maintaining the classical dynamics of classes but with the caveat that they should not overwhelmstudents with new assignments. Of equal importance to the device produced was the final report.It had to detail every stage of the process and present theoretical reflections about the difficultiesand successes. Finally, the prototypes were presented at a technology fair, at which the studentswere available for questioning by teachers and guests, although the former had already
, research and outreach, and the design of laboratorymodules must reflect these uses. Since designing and developing a Cyber Security laboratory isexpensive and time consuming and many institutions do not have the required resources, the institutionsmay consider using “Deterlab” a free online Cyber Security laboratory. Here is a brief description of theDeterlab: Page 24.72.5DeterLab Support for Cyber Security Educators (www.deterlab.net)DETER’s support for education includes the basic use of the DeterLab, and use of exercises within it, aswell as development of new exercises and incorporation of changes to exercises. The most importantsupport
used to achieve impedance matching between the router and the antenna feed point. This will further improve the 0 degree angle null region, as noted in [6]. • Note that the theoretical radiation pattern is obtained assuming the free-space environment which is hardly available in normal laboratory rooms. The actual measurements were taken in a typical EET lab room which happens to have computers and other instruments and reflecting table tops and metal furniture, conduit and wiring, and poles support the ceiling. This uncontrolled environment may impact the measurement accuracy. One effective solution is to conduct the lab measurements in a large space without interfering objects, e.g., an empty gym or