Conference Session

Research in Assessment

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter M. Ostafichuk, University of British Columbia; Jim Sibley, University of British Columbia, Vancouver; H.F. Machiel Van der Loos, University of British Columbia

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

AC 2012-4547: PEER-TO-PEER ASSESSMENT IN LARGE CLASSES: ASTUDY OF SEVERAL TECHNIQUES USED IN DESIGN COURSESDr. Peter M. Ostafichuk, University of British Columbia Peter Ostafichuk is a Senior Instructor and the Associate Head (yeaching) in the Department of Me- chanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia. He has co-developed and coordinates the multi-award winning integrated Mech 2 program for second-year mechanical engineering. Ostafichuk received a B.A.Sc. in engineering physics in 1997 and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 2004, both from the University of British Columbia.Mr. Jim Sibley, University of British ColumbiaDr. H.F. Machiel Van der Loos, University of British Columbia H.F. Machiel Van

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian F Martensen, Minnesota State University; Deborah K. Nykanen P.E., Minnesota State University, Mankato; Marilyn C. Hart, Minnesota State University, Mankato; Rebecca A. Bates, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

AC 2012-4169: INTERDISCIPLINARY STEM PEER-MENTORING ANDDISTANCE-BASED TEAMSBrian F Martensen, Minnesota State University Brian F. Martensen is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He began working with the NSF-supported MAX Scholar Program in 2009. His interests include inquiry-based models of instruction and ways to facilitate the transition of majors to professionals. His mathematical research is in the area of dynamical systems and topology.Dr. Deborah K. Nykanen P.E., Minnesota State University, Mankato Deborah K. Nykanen is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She received her Ph.D

Conference Session

Research Informing Teaching Practice II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sensen Li, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Sean P. Brophy, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

of flow diagram; second, how to mechanically write syntactically correct code. Werealize the abstraction of logic is the key to successful coding. Typically students rush to codedirectly without comprehending the logic. Therefore, they lack a clear definition of the problemthey are trying to solve and a plan of action for how to solve the problem. As one instructionalmethod, we ask students to generate diagram of their logic. Then, we introduce pseudo peerdiagrams to reinforce the construction of visual representations as a roadmap to coding. Weconjecture that pseudo peer diagrams are an effective tool to foster students’ self-check strategywhich reduces instructors’ need to process large amount information generated by students inreal time

Conference Session

Emerging Information Technologies

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lakshmi Ramachandran, North Carolina State University; Edward F. Gehringer, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

AC 2012-4776: AUTOMATIC QUALITY ASSESSMENT FOR PEER RE-VIEWS OF STUDENT WORKLakshmi Ramachandran, North Carolina State UniversityDr. Edward F. Gehringer, North Carolina State University Ed Gehringer is an Associate Professor in the departments of Computer Science and Electrical and Com- puter Engineering at North Carolina State University. He received his Ph.D. from Purdue University and has also taught at Carnegie Mellon University and Monash University in Australia. His research interests lie mainly in computer-supported cooperative learning. Page 25.245.1 c American Society for

Conference Session

Hey You: Effectively Engaging Students in the Classroom

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lelli Van Den Einde, University of California, San Diego; Samuel Holton Lee, University of California, San Diego; Jacqueline Linh Le, University of California, San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

AC 2012-4477: INCORPORATING CLICKERS AND PEER INSTRUCTIONINTO LARGE STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING CLASSROOMSDr. Lelli Van Den Einde, University of California, San Diego Lelli Van Den Einde is a tenure-track lecturer at UC, San Diego, and focuses mostly on undergraduate education in mechanics and design courses. Her past research was in the seismic design of bridge sys- tems, but she is currently focused on assessing and improving engineering education pedagogy through technology. She has been the Faculty Advisor for UC, San Diego’s Society of Civil and Structural En- gineers (SCSE), a student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, for the past two years. Additionally, Van Den Einde is also the Faculty Advisor

Conference Session

Training and Mentoring of Graduate Teaching Assistants

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary Lynn Brannon, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

teacher? Page 25.1436.7Figure 2: What do you think you will learn about yourself from observing a peer teacher?For posttest opened questions the students had these comments: (17 students completed thesurvey)At the end of the semester, when asked, 80 % of the students said yes, they had asked afriend/colleague/peer to observe their presentation skills. When asked a second time “what doyou think you learned about yourself from being observed by a peer teacher?” students nowcommented on more specific details, such as certain teaching methods (i.e. opening the classwith a welcome greeting), “many things that go unnoticed”, “the other peer’s observation helpsassess my teaching ability”. “I learned that my reiterating what I write on

Conference Session

Contextual Competencies

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christel Heylen, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven; Jos Vander Sloten, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

christel.heylen@mirw.kuleuven.be 2 Jos Vander Sloten, Faculty of Engineering, Division of Biomechanics and Engineering Design, K.U.Leuven, Belgium Technical communication and technical writing are important skills for the daily work- life of every engineer. In the first year engineering program at KU Leuven, a technical writing program is implemented within the project based course ‘Problem Solving and Engineering Design’. The program consists of subsequent cycles of instructions, learning by doing and reflection on received feedback. In addition a peer review assignment, together with an interactive lecture using clicking devices, are incorporated within the assignments of the

Conference Session

Going Viral: Effective Instructional Techniques in an Online Environment

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Monique H. Head, Morgan State University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

dynamics. When writing their abstracts, students are expected to demonstrateknowledge of their topic and explain their research objective, methodology, results andconclusions in a clear and concise manner. The abstract is written as a wiki to share thisinformation for peer learning and to gain feedback on the clarity and quality of their technicalwriting. Assessment and evaluation of the impact of this effort includes peer review andfeedback from the instructor directly using the wikis. Comments to the wiki are made alongsidethe abstract as to not completely change the original composition but rather to enhance it forinclusion in their final paper. Results include student perceptions about their writing experiencewith the wikis compared to a more

Conference Session

FPD VI: Presenting "All the Best" of the First-year Programs Division

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

S. Scott Moor, Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

AC 2012-4824: INTRODUCING MEMO WRITING AND A DESIGN PRO-CESS: A FIVE-WEEK SIMULATOR PROJECTDr. S. Scott Moor, Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne Scott Moor is an Associate Professor of engineering and Coordinator of First-year Engineering at Indi- ana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne. He received a B.S. and M.S. in chemical engineering from MIT. After more than a decade in industry, he returned to academia at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and an M.A. in statistics. He is a registered Professional Chemical Engineer in California. His research interests include engineering education with an emphasis on developing and testing educational

Conference Session

Global and Cultural Issues in Construction

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rebecca N. Macdonald, East Carolina University; David L. Batie, East Carolina University; Ryan T. Goodman, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Construction

assignments inwhich they have greater interest, and that they will think more deeply about the materialinvolved.Assignments were returned with ample feedback, providing students the opportunity to revisefuture assignments based on that feedback. Emphasis was placed on clarity, conciseness, andself-reflection. Writing assignments themselves were evaluated for content, clarity, andgrammar, all necessary for professional communications, and many (particularly opinion papersand journal critiques) promote both seeing the global and societal context of construction andincreasing knowledge of contemporary issues (failures, social networking, etc.).The first style was the use journal critiques of academic peer-reviewed articles. Journal critiquesallowed

Conference Session

Advances in Assessment of Communication and Interdisciplinary Competence

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patricia Carlson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Arlene Ann Russell; Warren N. Waggenspack Jr., Louisiana State University; Chester G. Wilmot, Louisiana State University; Boz Bowles, Louisiana State University; David R. Voltmer, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; W. Todd Monroe, Louisiana State University; Warren R Hull Sr. P.E., Louisiana State University; Dianne Raubenheimer, Meredith College

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Peer Review writing assignments have been components of all the general chemistrylaboratory courses at UCLA since 1997. Typically, two or three assignments are made during a10-week quarter. All deal with the theory or practice of the topics in the courses.Assignment Rationale: At UCLA, the upload feature focused on teaching scientific graphingskills for first-year engineers and physical scientists in a quantitative chemistry laboratorycourse. As Tufte articulated in 1983,1 “Translating and communicating data into a graphicalformat ranks high as an essential scientific skill.” The skill, however, is at best relegated toappendices in high school texts, and future engineers first encounter scientific graphing incollege in general chemistry, their

Conference Session

FPD I: Research on First-year Programs Part I

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelsey Joy Rodgers, Purdue University; Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica E. Cardella, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Rubric sub-dimension.The students were also required to give written feedback in response to eight prompts associatedwith the three MEA Rubric dimensions (APPENDIX B). The written feedback was collectedthrough a series of textboxes. The Mathematical Model dimension had five textboxes, the Re-Usability & Modifiability dimension had two textboxes, and the Share-Ability dimension hadone textbox to complete. The explanations of required focus for the peer feedback within thethree dimensions follow. Page 25.1323.5For the Mathematical Model dimension, the students were required to write feedback concerningthe degree to which the teams’ math model

Conference Session

Capstone and Design Projects in Engineering Technology

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carmine C. Balascio, University of Delaware; Beth (Becky) Kano Kinney, University of Delaware

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

variety of disciplines to create an online peer evaluation system.The system accommodates numerical grading schemes in which student team members can useinstructor-defined rubrics or other criteria to evaluate or rate contributions to the team effort ofthemselves and fellow team members.To provide beneficial feedback to the students, the system encourages essay responsecommentary that students can write about themselves and other team members. The commentscan be compiled by the system and forwarded to the instructor. To insure anonymity and thatcomments released to students are constructive, the system gives the instructor the ability toexamine all comments and provide appropriate editing before the comments are anonymouslyforwarded to the

Conference Session

Using Computers, Software, and Writing to Improve Mathematical Understanding

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jorge A. Samayoa, Galileo University and Purdue University; Carlos Humberto Zelada, Galileo University

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

Beaumont 9 and Reinhold 8 . Page 25.1430.2Tonkin 11 suggests that the use of wikis in education should fall into one of these four categories: 1. Single-user. This allows individual students to write and edit their own thoughts. 2. Lab book. This enables students to peer review notes kept online by adding, for example, comments or annotations to existing lecture notes or seminar discussions. 3. Collaborative writing. This can be used by a team for joint research such as a group project, essay or presentation. 4. Creating a topical knowledge repository for a module cohort. Through collaborative entries, students create

Conference Session

Student Learning and Teamwork

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jenifer M. Shannon, Pennsylvania State University, Berks; Rungun Nathan, Pennsylvania State University, Berks

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

one of the key attributes future engineers need in order to becompetitive in the global market according to the National Academy of Engineers1. Yet surveysfrom industry employers often indicate that the communication skills of recent engineeringgraduates are unsatisfactory2. This paper describes a strategy to improve student writtencommunication skills and student engagement with the subject matter by developing the use ofcritical thinking skills during the writing process. The modified pedagogy discussed in thispaper provided students with detailed guidance and clear expectations for each writingassignment. A combination of peer review and instructor comments was used as a means ofproviding feedback for students to incorporate lessons

Conference Session

Adaptive and Supportive Learning Environments

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric C. Huang, Manhattan College

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering, Minorities in Engineering

25.499.2majors.15 Peer-mentored individuals “have demonstrated improvements in connectedness toschool and peers.”16 The purpose of this paper is to describe whether a similar effect on socialintegration can be observed, specifically, for students in different graduating classes of the sameengineering discipline.MethodSophomore students entering the chemical engineering discipline were given the opportunity toparticipate in a peer mentoring program organized and monitored by the faculty. Mentors weresenior students in the same discipline who qualified for the respective honor society. At the timeof solicitation, sophomores were informed verbally and in writing that the program wouldrequire meetings with their mentor on a monthly basis. Fourteen sophomore

Conference Session

Learning and Assessment II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Randy Dean Kelley P.E., University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

students transfer to a largetime commitment on already taxed professors for grading. Therefore, the question is: how doyou increase the amount of material absorbed without increasing the students’ workloadexcessively?This paper deals with “mini” research papers assignments. The term “mini” research papersrefer to papers less than 5 pages. The papers should contain the important aspects of a fullresearch papers, namely: introduction, theory, procedure, results, conclusions and a referencerequirement of at least three peer reviewed papers.The case study papers specifically address a certain concept in the broad field of heat transfer.For heat transfer, there are three sub-categories that stand out; conduction, convection andradiation. A mini

Conference Session

Educating Students for Professional Success

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joy Watson, University of South Carolina; Jed S. Lyons, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

doctoral programs would preparethem in different skills shown in Table 1. Results indicated that participants felt that doctoralgraduates would be prepared to some degree in all the skills listed in Error! Not a validbookmark self-reference.. Over 70% of participants felt that doctoral programs would preparethem well in designing experiments. Results indicated that over 60% of participants felt thatdoctoral programs would prepare them well in written communication, reviewing literature,writing peer-reviewed papers, writing reports, learning independently and workingindependently. At least 50% of participants indicated that solving problems, designingcomputational studies and giving presentations were skills in which they expected to be

Conference Session

Computers in Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thalia Anagnos, San Jose State University; Alicia L. Lyman-Holt, Oregon State University; Sean P. Brophy, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

memo and Gantt chart, a graduate school statement of purpose, a draft poster, anda draft final report. The assignments serve two purposes: developing skills such as how to createa poster or write a literature review, and keeping the projects on schedule so that all students arefully prepared to present at the Young Researchers Symposium. Page 25.1493.6After deliverables are posted, students are required to review and comment on the work of atleast two of their peers that are not based at their research site. The CMS provides a threadeddiscussion linked to each deliverable. All students can browse each other’s work and leavequestions and

Conference Session

Creative and Cross-disciplinary Methods Part I

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig J. Gunn, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

in the factthat engineers were never intended to be creative or in any way able to write anything thatbordered on the creative arts. Over these past years, the College of Engineering at MichiganState University has endeavored to open up the flood gates and let the creative juices flow. Tenyears have passed and many of the naysayers have slipped away into the shadows, mumblingabout their distrust of “soft skills” but unable to completely disregard the quality and quantity ofthe creative works that have been produced by every level of engineer: student, faculty, and staff(and now elementary, middle, and high school students).IntroductionA poetry forum was created eleven years ago to simply provide a place where engineeringstudents could

Conference Session

Off the Beaten Path

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Summer Dann , Louisiana State University; Paige Davis, Louisiana State University; Warren N. Waggenspack Jr., Louisiana State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

included timemanagement, goal setting, industry lunch (E2 only), effective learning strategies, moneymanagement and an introduction to LSU’s Communication Across the Curriculum (CxC)initiative. Industry professionals and student organization leaders were recruited toparticipate or present activities specifically to introduce the incoming freshmen to theprofessional and university communities. Activities for both programs included mockinterviewing, resume writing and planning for internships. For both the camp and the class, academic and industrial professionals givepresentations and have informal discussions about their careers and disciplines. Allstudents are exposed to the 10 degree programs/disciplines offered in the college.
Peer

Conference Session

Innovations in Materials Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jacquelyn E. Kelly, Arizona State University; Stephen J. Krause, Arizona State University; Dale R. Baker, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Materials

include instructors, peers, engineers or the general population. Forpracticing engineers this may include colleagues, superiors, clients or manufacturers. Included intenor is the mood that the language communicates. For example, if an engineering student iscommunicating in class with his or her peers, the mood may be casual or inquisitive. In contrast,if a practicing engineer is providing a design recommendation to a manufacturer, the mood mightbe professional and authoritative. Typically, the tenor dictates which mode of communication ismost appropriate. The third variable of register, mode, refers to the medium of communication orspecifically how one will be communicating. For example, communication can occur verbally orthrough writing. The in

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching and Research in Physics or Engineering Physics II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marie Lopez del Puerto, University of Saint Thomas; Jeff Jalkio, University of Saint Thomas; Paul R. Ohmann, University of Saint Thomas

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

course.IntroductionThe study we present in this paper arose from two separate trends in our university and the largerhigher-education community, plus an observation. The first is the trend in Physics education tofocus on teaching for conceptual understanding, for example, through Peer Instruction1 orWorkshop Physics (which is part of The Physics Suite).2 The second trend is the push to improvestudent writing through programs such as Writing Across the Curriculum, and in particularthrough Writing to Learn, where short writing exercises are used to help students think through aconcept or a problem.3 The observation was that a considerable fraction of our students, whiletalking to other students in class or asking the instructor a question, was referring to

Conference Session

Assessments, Assessments, and Assessments

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward F. Gehringer, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

students and automatically record and check their answers. Google forms provide someof the same functionality for free and without the need to install software on a server.Google forms can also be used to survey students. SALG is a specialized survey program toassess how much students have learned. For taking graphical feedback from students ontablet computers during class, Classroom Presenter and Ubiquitous Presenter are twoopen-source tools. The most widely used peer-review application is Calibrated PeerReview. Expertiza is a peer-review system that incorporates functionality for topicselection and team formation by students. Wikis are a well known collaborative space,which can be used by students to write reports and other documents

Conference Session

FPD V: Increasing Engagement and Motivation of First-year Students

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katherine S. Zerda, University of Houston; Diana G. de la Rosa-Pohl, University of Houston; Stuart A. Long, University of Houston; Fritz J. Claydon, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

-represented groups who may not have access to college-educated role models within theirfamilies and who may not otherwise have access to professional and academic engineeringmentors. PROMES was launched at the University of Houston in 1974 and incorporates keyrecommended structural elements such as a formal introductory course for new freshmen andincoming transfer students, clustering of students in common sections of their courses, adedicated study center, and structured study groups.1 In addition, peer mentors assist freshmenand new transfer students throughout the first year.There is a second learning community within the College of Engineering that supports successfor a different, although sometimes overlapping, cohort. This second community is

Conference Session

Creative and Cross-disciplinary Methods Part II

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa D. McNair, Virginia Tech; Wende Garrison, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

 a  reflection  are  most  engaging—can  be  more  helpful  to  a  student’s  confidence  than  evaluative  or  judgment  feedback  is.    Providing  feedback  about  what  works  in  a  piece  of  student  writing  reinforces  positive  behavior.      When  evaluative  feedback  is  provided,  it  is  vital  that  the  student  be  in  control  of  that  feedback.    In  P2P,  one  of  the  20  tasks  is  for  students  to  write  a  “feedback  request”  detailing  their  own  questions  about  their  ePortfolio.    They  go  on  to  share  this  request  during  peer  feedback

Conference Session

Advances in Communication Instruction

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Holly M Matusovich, Virginia Tech; Marie C. Paretti, Virginia Tech; Andrea M. Motto, Virginia Tech ; Kelly J. Cross, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

rubrics 15 28 3 8 peer evaluation 11 16 37 57 Structured Activities Provide templates/examples 33 56 NA NA Students give presentations 25 73 NA NA Skills are graded 25 48 18 57 Provide writing assignments 46 113 NA NA “we talk about” it 12 20 12 17

Conference Session

Systems Engineering Education and K-12

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Pablo Biswas, Texas A&M International University; Runchang Lin, Texas A&M International University; Ramesh Hanumanthgari, Texas A&M International University; Sri Bala Vojjala

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Management, Industrial Engineering, Systems Engineering

Web toenhance students' learning has been recognized, and to this end a pilot web-based system hasbeen developed as an online interactive resource for the teaching and learning of anundergraduate module on Communications within the Department of Electrical Engineering andElectronics. Rüschoff and Ritter[28] discussed the current state of the art with regard to the use ofnew technologies in the classrooms. Lu and Bol[20] found that peer review has becomecommonplace in composition courses and is increasingly employed in the context oftelecommunication technology. The results of their research from both semesters showed thatstudents participating in anonymous e-peer review performed better on the writing performance taskand provided more

Conference Session

Preparing Engineering Students for the Global Workplace

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Catherine T. Amelink, Virginia Tech; Nicole P. Sanderlin, Virginia Tech; Elizabeth M. Tront, Virginia Tech; Joseph G. Tront, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

International

acknowledged these items, lack of detailmight also be attributed to the students’ developmental level in that they are first year students.More explicit detail and examples could be added as students mature and make their waythrough their course work. RSAP provides a lab experience for the students in relation to the topics covered duringthe class. Students were applying skills, terms, and ideas they learned during the class when theytalked about what they gained from the RSAP experience and also demonstrated growth in theseareas in the writing assignment. However, students did not make the connection back to the classtopics or the time they spent developing relationships during the class with their peers. In manycases they identified the trip

Conference Session

Design in Freshman and Sophomore Courses

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gail Hohner, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Shanna R. Daly, University of Michigan; Jennifer Wegner, University of Michigan; Moses K. Lee, University of Michigan; Amy Frances Goldstein, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

25.250.2abstractEngineering students begin their education with varying understanding of the engineering designprocess. Effective engineering education will require us to understand how students developboth skills and a concept of engineering design. At a large Midwestern public university wecompare 100 students’ initial conceptions in design and response to design tasks both before andafter a 2-day, peer mentor led, design activity program which preceded the beginning of the firstyear in engineering. During the program, students were led through two design activities: onefocusing on idea generation and customer requirements; the second focusing on a design, buildand test activity. In addition, there were faculty presentations and discussions led by peermentors. We