solar cell roughness measurement laboratory session.There are many manufacturing variables that can affect the quality and efficiency of a solar cell.Anomalous grain structures, contamination, and surface roughness may lead to unpredictable orcompromised output from the cell. In some cases, film uniformity flaws in the anti-reflectioncoating of the solar cell, such that the surface has a general blue reflection with light blue/purplediscontinuities is not only a cosmetic defect, but reduces solar cell performance. Other issues Page 25.1136.2involve electrical defects such as breaks in the contact lines which affect the current output of
analysis, a 30-minute oralpresentation to the collective CM faculty, and the presentation of a poster at the annual college-wide Senior Design Expo which is open to the general public. To help keep teams on-track andto aid in the completion of the final technical report, four interim reports are required over thecourse of the semester. Each interim report has a specific topic designed to reflect comparablesections in the final report and include the following:Interim Report No.1 – a detailed work breakdown structure and quantity takeoff for the project including documentation, evidence and discussion that demonstrate that the work breakdown structure and quantity takeoff is comprehensive and complete.Interim Report No. 2 – a narrative
following objective common to all sectionsof ENGR 1620, Introduction to Engineering, be achieved? Objective #1: Introduce students to the real world of engineering and design Outcome #1: Understand and apply the structured approach used by engineers to solve open-ended design problems11Assessment and evaluation of student abilities to internalize and eventually “own” theengineering design process is done with a mixed methods approach. Improvement in definingproblems and designing solutions is tracked through performance on appropriate sections ofdocumentation deliverables and exam questions; qualitative evaluation of reflections on thechallenge and process in student engineering notebooks is used to validate
Appropriate Technology, Biotechnology, History of Modern Science, Religion &Science in Modern America, Scientific Revolution, Plants & People, Eco-UrbanFootprints and Exploring Electrical Technology (EET). Such variety is afforded by thefreedom instructors have to plan courses reflecting their own interests and expertise,while satisfying a common set of STW objectives. Over the years this author hasdeveloped and taught EET, a typical distribution of student disciplines has emerged asshown in Table 1. The classroom presence of students with certain major disciplines has Page 25.1255.3naturally led to developing particular illustrations, emphases and
at a Field of Engineering 12:30-1:15pm Lunch 1:15-2:00pm EiE Unit Lesson 3—Scientific Data Informs Engineering Design 2:00-2:45pm EiE Unit Lesson 4—Engineering Design Challenge 2:45-3:15pm Overview of EiE Teacher Guide and Online Educator Resources; Time for Participants to Review Teacher Guide and Plan 3:15-3:30pm Wrap-Up, Reflection, Post-Workshop SurveyWe begin each workshop by reviewing the goals for participants, asking them if they have anygoals they would like to add, and then giving an overview of the day’s agenda. Becauseengineering and technology are new subjects for many, if not most, elementary school teachers,we always begin our workshops with two hand
Both Sides of the Equation: Learner and TeacherAbstractAn engineering professor decided to retake a first-semester calculus course under thetutelage of the chair of mathematics at Boise State University. While completing thecourse with 37 other students, she had in-depth experiences as a student of a calculusclass as well as an experienced educator with a strong background on STEM retention.During the course, she recorded her observations and experiences in the classroom. Themath professor also shared reflections on his teaching, observations of his students, andperspectives on the influence of her presence in his class.The two professors’ reflections enabled us to identify a set of student assumptions andlearning
will report%"#"! " # $ "%higher levels of learning outcomes. Therefore we hypothesize:H2: Those students who actively seek out advice and problem-solving help from their peers will reporthigher learning on a range of learning outcomes than those who do not.Yet, within a student group, there may be variations in confidence and intellectual maturity. For example,junior students are likely to believe in the certainty of knowledge and omniscience of authority, whereasmore senior students have learned to recognize the contextual nature of knowledge and to gather and useappropriate evidence to support their judgments, as well to question their judgments in the light of theavailable evidence [15]. This variation reflects, for example, empirically
flexibility in understanding the concept and application of remote access laboratories. If alearning experience can be created in which the learner takes part in an event or events thatconnect with their understanding of relevant information, concepts or ideas (propositions), via anonline or remote interface, this can be seen to constitute a remote access laboratory.Barak11 derives four principles from behavioural, cognitive and social learning theory whichunderpin the effective design and use of ICT-based lab work, i.e.• “learning is contextual• learning is an active process• learning is a social process• reflective practice plays a central role in learning” (pp. 122-123).These principals are not discipline specific and have to
social media in comparisonto other in-person interactions. In response to this shift from the more traditional tendencies ofstudents, educators have been somewhat coerced into implementing Internet-based technologiesinto their course curriculum.Web logs (also known as blogs) are one of the emergent Web 2.0 technologies being used. Thisonline, computer-mediated communication tool (CMC) allows users to publish information inthe form of posts, comments and self-reflection. It is driven by user-generated content and isavailable in several formats. The type of information that may be exchanged in a blog rangesfrom text, pictures, hyperlinks, audio, video, images and other formats2. Although single userblogs seem more common in the past, recent
, manufacturing programs require constantattention by the institution to ensure adequate enrollments. High touch industries and programssuch as health care, tourism, culinary arts and hospitality are readily understood as careerpathways by the general public. Programs that offer the opportunities for creativity, such asarchitecture, graphic design and film studies, are also very popular. These programs often appealto a broad base of students, particularly as life-long career options. Although students areexposed to manufactured goods, comprehending the development of those goods is often elusiveor poorly understood. This is reflected in an impressive lack of understanding of the numerouscareer opportunities available in manufacturing. In addition
utilized throughout theyearlong course. In keeping with the National Research Council’s13synthesis of theresearch on K-12 engineering education research, we chose to focus on STEM-design Page 25.884.4challenges. This decision reflects our commitment both to apply relevant math andscience concepts and to enable students to engage in core engineering practices.By organizing units around STEM-design challenges, we are indicating that allchallenges will require students to design a product and purposefully apply relevant mathand science concepts. The outcome of this design work can vary according to theengineering domain being emphasized in each unit. For
andoperationalizing critical thinking by defining eight elements of thought which capture howcritical thinking examines, analyzes, and reflects on intellectual work. These eight elements leadto eight categories of questions present, to some degree, in all critical thinking: (1) what is thepurpose? (2) what is the point of view? (3) what are the assumptions? (4) what are theimplications? (5) what information is needed? (6) what inferences are being made? (7) what isthe most fundamental concept?, and (8) what is the question that is being answered? Theintellectual standards describe the criteria used to evaluate the quality of the critical thinking. Forexample: the thinking has a clear purpose or makes relevant assumptions. The intellectual traitsare the
specificfeedback on the Figure 1 engineering design process, the UTeachEngineering teamdecided to rethink the communication of this critical engineering practice.Figure 1 — Original Engineering Design Process Used for In-Service Teacher Page 25.118.4Professional Development.MethodologyRather than edit the existing engineering design process graphic or start with a cleansheet, the UTeachEngineering team initiated a benchmarking exercise. A selection ofeleven unique cross-disciplinary representations was selected to reflect the engineeringdesign process in professional, post-secondary and K-12 settings. Each representationconsisted of the specific steps in the process
concepts. Taken as a whole, theconcept map should represent the extent and the organization of knowledge that a personpossesses. Figure 1 A concept map about concept mapping [1] Page 25.1365.32.2 How Do Concept Maps Aid Learning?Concept maps can fill one of two instructional roles: (i) students can either be assigned to createa concept map of their knowledge as a reflective learning exercise after instruction, or (ii)students can be given an “expert-generated concept map” before instruction which serves as an“advance organizer” [2] – a type of scaffolding tool. In
the project progressed. He deduced from these findings that theexpansion was because student teams were exploring (brainstorming) a variety of design optionsin the research literature. The contraction, on the other hand, happened as the teams refined the Page 25.1369.6structure of the artifact and the approaches needed to formalize them, and started using sharedvocabulary. According to his study, if the number of distinct noun phrases used by teamscontracts as the project progresses, it reflects that the project is being executed successfully.ApproachThe project archive of discussion posts and attachments of the class were converted to text
engineering curriculum. They Page 25.1372.2argue for the “reflect-in-action” plan where students build their designs and understand the flawsin them, themselves7, 8. However, there are no clear guidelines available regarding the use ofphysical models and their cognitive implications in engineering education.This study addresses the cognitive effects of the use of various kinds of examples and physicalmodels on engineering students who design a stunt vehicle as a part of their class project. Thestudents are divided into three groups and given three different kinds of examples: a good one, apoor one and a poor one with warnings about its negative
, knowledgebuilding supports the intentional, reflective, and metacognitive engagement required for deeplearning. In a knowledge-building environment the focus of the learning community is on Page 25.351.4continually improving ideas. It begins with a question of understanding, such as, Could acomputer ever have feelings? The next step is to encourage learners to generate and post theirideas about the topic (typically in an asynchronous, online group workspace such as provided byKnowledge Forum software). In the process the community organizes itself into working groupsthat grow and change in response to the interests of learners. The workspace preserves
graduate skills highlight a number of deficiencies in the preparation ofstudents for professional careers. Among the most commonly noted gaps between expectations andactual skills are • the ability to understand software systems as different than single-user programs; 6,51 • the ability to visualize different perspectives or views on a software system; 10,11 • the ability to think critically and reflectively; 31,38 • systems analysis and design skills; 6,31,51 and • problem-solving and investigative skills. 6,10,11,31 As more and more of our world becomes dependent upon computer-based systems, futuresoftware developers and designers must develop effective decision-making skills and strategies inaddition to the technical knowledge they
Battle Studio 02 Studio 03 (Lambs to the Slaughter) Your entire team arrived promptly with at least one sacrificial device (that met the requirements given in class and in the lecture notes) and with a plan of attack to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. You had reflected on the previous studio and on the lectures, and had used those reflections to prepare for this studio
. Page 25.315.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2012 iMPaCT-Math: games & activities that motivate exploration of foundational algebra concepts—while inadvertently scaffolding computational thinking and engineered designiMPaCT-Math is an approximate acronym for Media-Propelled Computational Thinking forMathematics Classrooms, which fairly reflects our ambitions – that engagement with graphicalprogramming challenges that focus student attention towards exploring mathematics principleswill propel students towards exploration of science, computational thinking and engineereddesign.iMPaCT-Math consists of threaded sequences of games and project-based-learning
. Additionally, Figure 3 clearly shows the lack of agreement of the Bloom’s levelattainment at the end of the program. Only the enabling systems engineering SEBoK partshowed agreement in the Bloom’s level but also had one of the lowest agreements of the requiredcore knowledge.The Thirteenth InputIn one case, the input was a merged set of input from a collaboration of industry representativeswho also had access to the previous 12 inputs as guidance. One corporation wanted to ensurethat the results of this effort strongly reflected the industry needs, as well as the perspective ofacademia. The BKCASE author from that corporation coordinated input from a team of systemsengineering leaders to obtain a consensus input. This initial collection of the input
with the goal of gauging benefits to learning andchanges in attitude towards working in a community as part of a course. We have taughttraditional courses in these areas for many semesters and have over the past 10 semestersintegrated projects that have the potential to improve some of our learning outcomes whileproviding a benefit for partners in the community. Reflecting on this process motivated us toseek better ways to describe what was happening and to better understand the impact on students.All of the problems we face are embedded in a context that determines to a great extent the rangeof solutions that are possible. Having some skill at assessing a context is an important learningoutcome and this skill comes through practice. Dyson
experiences with cognitive additions: abstractconceptualization, active simulations, concrete experience and reflective observation.The entry point to the circular process is not essential as learning transpires when the cycle iscompleted8. These four elements provide the foundation for teaching Construction ProjectManagement in the United Kingdom. For example, the existing Construction ProjectManagement Master‟s programme at Robert Gordon University has been operating for aboutfive years, graduating masters‟ students in Construction Project Management with MBAdegrees as well as, more recently, with corporate certificates. A good construction projectmanagement programme should have a balance of three learning domains: knowledge, skilland personal
previously co-authored text books16,17,18,19 and morethan 150 hours of educational material in the field to which they have previouslycontributed,20 to distil five threshold learning concepts that would act like rungs of a laddertowards students realising the overarching ‘capstone’ threshold concept/ capability ofsustainable business practice.Authors such as Holloway et al21, Scott et al,22 and Bernhard23 have inquired into a range ofquantitative and qualitative methods to reliably identify threshold learning concepts. For thisproject, and in the absence of time or budget to conduct a process described by Baille,24 theidentification process included reflection and consultation with colleagues, building on 8years of the authors’ inquiry into the
relationship has evolved over six years andcontinues to be a vital part of both the school’s success and provide further insight into researchbased approaches to elementary integrated STEM using engineering. Page 25.260.5 Samples of Student Work STEM NotebooksKindergarten: Designing igloos Page 25.260.6Second grade: Reflection after engineering activity Page 25.260.7Third Grade: Design processKindergarten: Use the materials available to build a town
,PBL is open-ended and contextualized, and student learning is driven by the problem itself.Research shows that compared to traditional lecture-based instruction, PBL improves students’understanding and retention of ideas, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, motivation andlearning engagement, and the ability to adapt learning to new situations – skills deemed criticalto lifelong learning9 - 15.With PBL, students learn the process of learning in addition to course content by engaging in asystematic and reflective process that begins with problem analysis, whereby small teams ofstudents work collaboratively to dissect a problem, identifying what is known, what needs to belearned, situational constraints that might apply, and other
experience at a level at which they are capable with supportstructure provided by instructional staff that students may apply and reflect upon with theirteammates and classmates. The layers and learning activities that exist within a term-lengthproject-based learning environment also present adequate opportunities to address learningobjectives at many levels5. Scaffolding does not have to be comprised solely of direct instructorinteraction; in the cornerstone laboratory, scaffolding may take the form of texts, handouts,guides, diagrams, slides, notes, kitted equipment, a controlled work or laboratory environment,prepared data collection tools and equipment, prescribed, limited analysis tools and approaches,an introductory setting with instructor
pre and posttest, displayed in Appendix A, was administered to the participating studentsimmediately before instruction, with the posttest done within a few hours after the lesson due toscheduling. This was used to gauge student knowledge, but does not reflect attitude. Poor performanceof the pretests was anticipated, as the students were unlikely to have had prior exposure to thepresented concepts. The average pretest score for the sampled classes was 20, whereas the posttest was64 (standard deviation ~20 points for both). Most critical was the understanding of power beinggenerated by generators and not simply existing by flipping a switch, which is reflected in question 2.This targeted question of power generation was answered as a 2:1
common assumption of a positive interest rate,money grows to a larger value as it moves forward in time and shrinks as it moves back in time.This is reflected in the (P/F,i,N) and (F/P,i,N) factors which are generally introduced when discussingthe notion of interest. As these serve as the basis for all other factors, they are the only factorsthat need to be explicitly covered in classroom material. Once understood, the mechanics ofmoving money through time can be easily illustrated on a spreadsheet, without the use of factors.Furthermore, this author would argue that one can build intuition merely by working lots ofproblems – even if the actual calculations are performed on a spreadsheet. In terms of intuition,an engineer that can build
specialized stabilized 3-phase power supply.Future activities planned for summer and fall 2012 will concentrate on integration of SELmicroprocessor-based relays with lab subsystems and deployment of synchrophasor technology. Page 25.956.8Educational importance and student feedbackDuring the course of the work on the senior design projects using joint Smart Grid laboratory,students reflected on their educational experience: This project offers a deep understanding of how the micro-grid works, by providing educational knowledge through a theoretical approach, as well as hands on approach working with the equipment directly. This