Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 1: It's All About Teams and Teamwork

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Fernando Garcia Gonzalez, Florida Gulf Coast University; Janusz Zalewski, Florida Gulf Coast University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

a sensor based around a color camera, an infrareddepth sensor, and a multi-mic array. It allows controlling computing devices via motion andvoice instead of mouse and keyboard or joystick, making the interaction much more natural. The goal of the original project was to be able to control all of the limbs of the robot viamotion instead of having to use more complicated control systems. In short, instead of havingto manipulate a controller of some sort one could simply move an arm into the position onewould like the NAO robot to move its arm, capture this with Kinect, and the software wouldhandle moving the NAO into the correct position, see Figure 1. The goals of the demonstration to the freshmen class were: (1) to make students aware

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 1: It's All About Teams and Teamwork

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Leslie, New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering (formerly Polytechnic University); Gunter W. Georgi, New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering; Alyssa Marie D'Apice, New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

toimprove, and finally made presentations of good teams.1. Preparation for Fall 2014Fall 2014 was the first trial run with the teamwork skit, causing much more thought and planningto go into this process. Multiple meetings were held across several weeks and included four veryimportant steps that were critical to the success of the skit: building, brainstorming, planning,and testing. Throughout this entire process, the faculty member was involved, critiquing andchanging aspects of each step to make this skit a success. Each step of the process is described ingreater detail below.Step 1: BuildingIn order for a team to be successful, there must first be a group of people ready to work toward acommon goal; this skit was no different. The first step of

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 1: It's All About Teams and Teamwork

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tom O'Neill, University of Calgary; Semin Park, University of Connecticut; Nicole Lynn Larson, University of Calgary; Amanda Deacon, University of Calgary; Genevieve Hoffart, University of Calgary; Bob Brennan, University of Calgary; Marjan Eggermont, University of Calgary; William Daniel Rosehart P.Eng., University of Calgary

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

students to rate each other on the 5 CATME dimensions, which were identified as the keyfactors underlying effective team member performance by Ohland’s research team3. A five pointscale including the anchors Unsatisfactory (1), Bare Minimum (2), Moderate (3), Strong (4), andOutstanding (5). The output appears in each team member’s dashboard once all team membershave completed their feedback ratings. The output for each individual contains the median of hisor her peer ratings for each dimension (see Appendix A). This output can then be used in class asa framework to support individual or team debriefs, action steps, and development planning.The second peer feedback tool involves distributing 10*(k-1) points across other team membersfor each CATME

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 1: It's All About Teams and Teamwork

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James E. Lewis, University of Louisville; Gerold Willing, University of Louisville; Thomas D. Rockaway, University of Louisville

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, but are very difficult to quantify.1. Introduction Page 26.1221.2The Partnership for Retention Improvement in Mathematics, Engineering, and Science(PRIMES) is a University of Louisville cross-college collaboration aimed at reducing attritionamong our STEM majors. This project unites faculty from the College of Arts & Sciences, theJ.B. Speed School of Engineering, and the College of Education and Human Development intackling identified hurdles that contribute to poor retention (and thus low graduation rates) in ourrespective undergraduate STEM programs. PRIMES’ goals are quite simple: 1. Increase by 25% the number of Bachelor’s degrees

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 1: It's All About Teams and Teamwork

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jess W. Everett, Rowan University; Jenahvive K. Morgan, Rowan University; Kaitlin Engle Mallouk, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, and references.BackgroundNew teams may go through an initial period of adjustment. According to Tuckman new groupsgo through four phases: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.1 Duringthe Forming stage group members try to size up each other, find the limits of acceptable groupbehavior, and clarify the group task.2 In the Storming stage there may be disagreement amongteam members as each slowly comes to terms with solving problems in a new environment, i.e.,the new team. Things get better in the Norming phase. Ground rules and team member roles areagreed upon. Members begin to see how they can work together to accomplish the group task.The final phase is Performing. The team is now “firing on all cylinders” and significant work

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 1: It's All About Teams and Teamwork

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nick Tatar, Olin College of Engineering; Kevin A. Nguyen, Texas Tech University; Chris Gewirtz, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

a practitioner develops and modifies this knowing-in-action, andreflection can only be done when paired with an action, and is separated into three types:reflection-before-action, reflection-in-action, and reflection-on-action. Reflection-on-action isthe only definition being employed in this case, as these students reflect on actions after theyhave already happened, ex post facto, in order to affect how they might act in the future. Kolb describes the process of learning from experience as a cycle (Figure 1), and citesreflection as the part of the learning process by which concrete experience is used to generate,validate, or otherwise affect conceptual frameworks or knowledge systems2. Reflection in thiscycle is a necessary step for

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 7: The Transition from High School to College

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Caitlin Cairncross, University of Portland; Sharon A. Jones P.E., University of Portland; Zulema Naegele, University of Portland; Tammy VanDeGrift, University of Portland

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, pedagogy, and best practices for retention and engagement. Page 26.300.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2015 Building a Summer Bridge Program to Increase Retention and Academic Success for First-Year Engineering StudentsAbstractThis paper reports on a grant-funded summer bridge program developed for first-yearengineering students who were not academically prepared to start Calculus 1 in the fall of theirfreshman year. The primary objective of the program was to increase retention and success offirst-year engineering students by 1) allowing students to enter

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 12: Teaching and Advising Students in that Critical First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shelley Lorimer P.Eng., MacEwan University; Jeffrey A Davis P.Eng., Grant MacEwan University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

associated with pre-engineering mathassessment.There are several articles that have provided valuable insight into the correlation of variousparameters associated with engineering success and retention, which in turn have provided theimpetus for examining the data for our own first-year engineering students. The focus of theliterature review was large scale studies focusing on retention. Page 26.1134.2Several authors have conducted studies of learning styles and strategies for success of first yearengineering students. Anson et al,1 through their analysis of approximately 1000 first-yearengineering students concluded that SAT math scores and high

Conference Session

First Year Programs Division Poster Session: The Best Place to Really Talk about First-Year Education

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tracy Jane Puccinelli, College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison; John Murphy, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

asked to complete a survey on the use oflaboratory design notebooks in our course that semester. Although nearly 50% of students didnot use the ELN, response to the notebook survey was very good, with a 76% response rate. Ofour lab instructors, 6 used the ELN, 1 used both ELN and paper, and 6 used paper only.Instructors that used paper only did not respond to the survey. Overall, the percentage ofstudents who would choose to use the LabArchives ELN in the future was low at just 40 %.Here, we report some preliminary data related to time spent learning LabArchives (Figure 1),resources used to learn LabArchives (Table 1), and multivariate plots of ELNs vs. papernotebooks performance in logistical categories (Figure 2). Figure 3 shows a

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 11: Curricular and Program Innovations

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Reeping, Ohio Northern University; Kenneth J Reid, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Outcome FrequencyIntroductionFirst-year programs nationwide typically feature an introductory curriculum featuring a semesteror yearlong “Introduction to Engineering” course or sequence. Examining a number of thesecourses shows that the content can vary significantly. For example, one course could focus onMATLAB programming while another course could emphasize technical communication. Mostcourses are a combination of these topics to varying degrees; therefore, an NSF-sponsoredproject to classify these courses was conducted which resulted in the First-Year Introduction toEngineering Course Classification Scheme.1 This taxonomy allows programs or instructors toquantify the content of their course(s) using the scheme. As a result, the scheme has

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 12: Teaching and Advising Students in that Critical First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jess W. Everett, Rowan University; Maria Perez-Colon, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Engineering at Rowan University, aNorth-Eastern public university, to switch from entirely faculty-led advising to a dual system,where a professional advisor assists first-year students with course registration while facultycontinue to provide career related guidance. In addition, the Introduction to Engineering coursetaken by all engineering first-year students is used to support the advising program. The goal ofthis paper is to describe the dual system and assess it using surveys and observations of theprofessional advisor.BackgroundA recent national survey of members of the National Academic Advising Association(NACADA) can be used to get a sense of the current state of higher education academic advisingin the US.1 Mandatory advising was reported

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 9: Focus on Student Learning, Lifelong Learning, and the Whole Student

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julianne D. Vernon, University of Michigan; Lorelle A Meadows, Michigan Technological University; Stacie Edington, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

“whole engineer” and to begin to transformthe educational environment of our college by emphasizing engaged and reflective learningexperiences for engineering students. Our vision was to advance the curriculum by intentionallyproviding students with greater opportunity to explore their identities, values and goals, and thebroad educational opportunities provided to them through the unique learning environments atthe University of Michigan.To accomplish this vision, we: 1) revised the first year course schedule from 2 large lectures to amixture of delivery mechanisms that include facilitated discussions of 20 students or less; 2)developed a curriculum in support of self-authorship via identity awareness; 3) engaged trainedpeer facilitators as

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 4: The Best of the All: FPD Best Papers

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William H Guilford, University of Virginia; Anna Stevenson Blazier, University of Virginia; Alyssa Becker, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

dividescuriosity into two dimensions: 1. Exploration (alternatively “stretching”) refers to appetitive seeking out of novel and challenging information or experiences; and 2. Absorption (alternatively “embracing”) refers to the propensity to be fully engaged in activities 4.We measured both using the “Curiosity and Exploration Inventory” 5 – a ten item Likert-scaleinventory in which respondents self report their seeking of new knowledge or experiences, andtheir response to uncertainty and unpredictability.Grit: “Grit” as a psychological construct is defined as perseverance and passion for long-termgoals 6 and can be divided into two aspects: 1. Consistency of interests over time, and 2. Perseverance of effort over time.We used their 12

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 5: Using Video, Games, and More in the First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eliza A Banu, Auburn University; Sai Maharaja Swamidason, Auburn University; P.K. Raju, Laboratory for Innovative Technology & Engineering Education (LITEE); Pramod Rajan, Laboratory for Innovative Technology & Engineering Education (LITEE)

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

format of the test. They can choose either a regular multiple-choiceassessment or a game-based assessment. Quantitative and qualitative results show that students find such materials useful;furthermore, the students preferred this method to complement a lecture. We report thedevelopment methodology of the tutor and evaluation results in this paper.Keywords: Pedagogy (Didactics) of Higher Education, Knowledge Gain, EngineeringEducation Research, Course Construction, Computer Aided Learning1. Introduction: Universities have continued to improve in the use of technology in teaching-learningmethodologies. Tools like videoconferences, chats and blogs, podcasting [1], webcasting andwebinars [1], video streaming [2], and networked

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 12: Teaching and Advising Students in that Critical First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Blais Dannemiller, Texas Tech University; Audra N. Morse, Texas Tech University; Stephen Michael Morse, Texas Tech University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

semester.IntroductionThe cost of procrastination is often not quantifiable. However, analysis of two assignments froman introduction to engineering course at Texas Tech University produced a relationship betweenassignment grade and submission time as a function of time between the start and submittaldates. The relationships discovered in the Fall 2013 semester clearly illustrate the adverseeffects of procrastination on student performance. The data used herein comes from 4 of 13sections of an undergraduate ENGR 1315 - Introduction to Engineering course offered in the Fallof 2013, 2 of 13 from Spring 2014 and 4 of 13 from Fall 2014, at Texas Tech University. Thethree-hour course lesson meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 1 hour and 20 minutes,with 28 course

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 5: Using Video, Games, and More in the First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angel Ari Perez-Mejia, Quinnipiac University; John E. Greenleaf P.E., Quinnipiac University; Priscilla C Fonseca P.E., Quinnipiac University; Chris Hakala, Quinnipiac University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

tested: 1) informal conversations, 2) topical music, and 3) no activity. Theinfluence of other variables such as gender, year, and major are also examined.Recommendations to enhance both are given based on the findings. Given the potentialbenefit, this work also examines some of the practical aspects of pre-class activities,including instructor preferences and the transition to regular class time.Background:The effects of music on cognitive abilities have been a topic of discussion since Rauscher etal.1 published an article detailing the “Mozart Effect”. In their study, a group ofundergraduates were administered a spatial abilities test after listening to a Mozart piece orsitting in silence while listening to relaxation instructions. The

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 5: Using Video, Games, and More in the First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Shepard, University of St. Thomas; Jeunghwan Choi, East Carolina University; Tyler D. Holmes, University of Saint Thomas; Broderick William Carlin

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, from 3.26-4.44 on the Likert scale (3 = neutrally interested, 4 = somewhat interested, 5 =very interested)1. By assigning those students to the project for which they had the most interestthe average Likert score for the assigned project rose to 4.61 and 96% of the students completeda project in which they had an interest. Further, results from this study reveal that first-yearengineering students feel strongly that the material they learn in a class or lab should overlapwith their interests, though they did not rate their other courses as doing so. Meadows, Fowlerand Hildiner2 have shown that student interest and perception in engineering increased whenstudents explore topics aligned with the incoming interests. Additionally, by having

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 16: That Important Decision - Which Engineering Major?

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

M. Jean Mohammadi-Aragh, Mississippi State University; James Warnock, Mississippi State University; Amy Barton, Mississippi State University; Rani Warsi Sullivan, Mississippi State University; Bill B Elmore, Mississippi State University; Jane Nicholson Moorhead, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

curricula.Ms. Jane Nicholson Moorhead, Mississippi State University c American Society for Engineering Education, 2015 Hybrid Engineering Matriculation Model to Promote Informed Engineering Major Selection Decisions1. IntroductionStudents who chose an engineering major because they identify with the engineering-relatedactivities of that field are more likely to be retained. The limited knowledge of engineering thatmost students posses when they choose an engineering major negatively effects theircommitment to their selected major 1. Introduction to engineering courses are one way topromote informed engineering major decisions among engineering students 2,3.However, one of the most prominent

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 9: Focus on Student Learning, Lifelong Learning, and the Whole Student

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nikitha Sambamurthy, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Catherine G. P. Berdanier, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica Farmer Cox, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Jing Lv; Yukiko Maeda, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Syafiah Mahfuzah Johari, Engineering Education Department, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

used to describe learners andinstructors in their contexts for optimizing learning and analytics to produce action atinstitutional, regional, and national/international levels5. These statistical analytics have oftenbeen accompanied by the use of visual thinking to illustrate data patterns and insights7, and thesevisualizations come with their own set of unique challenges based on the type of data visualizedand the technique used. Keim8 described six categories of data that can be visualized: (1) one-dimensional data,(2) two-dimensional data, (3) multi-dimensional data, (4) text and hypertext, (5) hierarchies andgraphs, and (6) algorithms and software. Displaying large quantities of these data types can becomplex due to technical

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 3: Diversity and Multicultural Influences in the First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Maritza Paz, The University of Texas at Austin, Cockrell School of Engineering; Margo Cousins, University of Texas, Austin; Cindy D. Wilson, University of Texas, Austin; Mia K. Markey, The University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

about allowing time in three classperiods in the semester, at the discretion of the facilitators. Each date was dedicated to the VAIwriting exercise, the DEI student panel, or the post-intervention survey. Figure 1 shows theoverall process to deliver the interventions and survey in the 22 FIGs that participated. The firstclass period (50 minutes) allotted 10 minutes for the study to be introduced and to seek consentaccording to Institutional Review Board requirements for accessing grades and GPA in thefuture, followed by 20 minutes for the VAI writing exercise. The VAI has been found to be mosteffective when given before a challenging academic task. While this was something that ourstudy tried to pursue whenever possible, it was difficult to

Conference Session

First Year Programs Division Poster Session: The Best Place to Really Talk about First-Year Education

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alexander Nikolaevich Solovyev, Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI); Larisa Petrova, MADI; Viatcheslav Prikhodko, Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI); Ekaterina Makarenko, MADI

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

[1] from Swanson Schoolof Engineering (United States) notes that “The most significant changes come as a part of threemajor areas of transition: Academic Transitions; Family Transitions; Personal Transitions”.Below we shall use this definition and discuss these challenges in Russian educational system.The inability to overcome these challenges leads to the high dropout rate of freshman. D. Budny[1] suggests to overcome the difficulties of Family Transitions by making “parents part of thefirst year orientation and educational process” in spite of the United States’ law “Family EqualRights and Protection Act of 1974 (FERPA)”. But the realities of Russian universities are notquite the same, in particularly, concerning the so called “Family

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 2: Design in the First Year: Challenges and Successes

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jill S. K. Nakatsu, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

introduce a student mentored first semester freshmenengineering design challenge, called the Holmes Hall Freshmen Challenge, with goals toincrease retention from first to second year while building community and support for first yearfreshmen. The challenge is introduced to freshmen at the college orientation, which draws agreater number of students than the previously mentioned programs. Typically over 100incoming engineering freshmen, participate in the college orientation so the program is offered toover half of the incoming freshmen.Research has shown that combinations of programs for first year freshmen such as learningcommunities, peer and faculty mentoring, introductory courses, and team projects.1 have positiveeffects on retention. Engaging

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 6: Hands-on Projects and Spatial Skills

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin Emery Mertz, Arizona State University; Haolin Zhu, Arizona State University; Chao Wang, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

the Introduction to Engineering course was Page 26.472.2designed and implemented. This course is the first required engineering course in the onlineprogram. As a direct equivalent to the on-site version of the course, which is a 2 credit hourcourse with a 1 hour lecture and 3 hour lab offered during each 15-week semester, the course islargely activity based with a large team component. The 7.5 week online course has been offeredtwice during each semester since Fall 2013.It has been considered a best practice for introduction to engineering classes to contain “hands-on”, team based projects6-10. However, incorporating team based projects and

Conference Session

First Year Programs Division Poster Session: The Best Place to Really Talk about First-Year Education

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jessica E S Swenson, Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach; Marya H Schnedeker, Center for Engineering Education and Outreach, Tufts University; Sarah Marie Coppola, Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach; Leonardo Andres Madariaga, Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach / Federico Santa Maria Technical University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

 Problems in a   First­Year Engineering Design Course     Many first­year programs begin with a course that includes one or a few projects to excite and  1​engage students in engineering. These projects vary from real world clients based​  to socially  2​ 3​ 4​relevant discipline based​  to design­build­test­compete​  to robotics based challenges​ . Each of these courses contain various learning goals including the engineering design process

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 16: That Important Decision - Which Engineering Major?

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Corey Kiassat, Quinnipiac University; Nebil Buyurgan, Quinnipiac University; Julia Leeds

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

different genders and ethnic groups. Theinformation about the students’ perception and attitude on IE is collected at the beginning andthe end of the semester to investigate an increase of knowledge in IE as well as students’preference in choosing it as their major.1. IntroductionSimulations are widely used in engineering education as one of the most efficient and effectiveways of teaching and learning engineering topics (Antao et al.)[1]. Simulation-based approachesare developed and used to provide an interactive, cooperative, and experimental learningenvironment where engineering students acquire practical experiences and master a specific skill.In addition, well-structured simulations encourage students to develop their computational,analytical

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 16: That Important Decision - Which Engineering Major?

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert J. Rabb P.E., The Citadel; Jason Howison, The Citadel; Kevin Skenes, The Citadel

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

quick comparisons with the teachers they have from the multiple departmentswithin the institution and may decide to change majors based on the quality of the teachingalone6. 1) Can student interest in a focus area be influenced by a simple awareness of the sub- disciplines in mechanical engineering? 2) Will the course meet its objectives - how will freshmen mechanical engineering students receive the new Introduction to Mechanical Engineering course? Page 26.237.4Course OverviewThe mechanical engineering faculty at The Citadel recognizes that graduating engineers will beexpected to function effectively on multidisciplinary teams

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 7: The Transition from High School to College

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nora Honken, University of Cincinnati; Patricia A Ralston, University of Louisville

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

spentmore than 20 hours a week preparing for class2. Meanwhile student responses on theCooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey show high school seniorsspent much less time studying or doing homework in their senior year of high school, and overthe past twenty years the amount of time students indicated they spent studying or doinghomework their senior year has been decreasing3 (see Figure 1). 35 30 Percent of Respondants 25 20 15 1987 10 2006

Conference Session

First Year Programs Division Poster Session: The Best Place to Really Talk about First-Year Education

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lizzie Santiago, West Virginia University; Oyemayowa Luqman Abioye, West Virginia University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

reporting graduation rates in the range of 40-60%.1-7 Students seem to experience a loss ofinterest and lack of motivation for engineering in part due to the demanding engineeringcurriculum of the first two years.2,3 The first two years are recognized as critical to promotestudent retention in engineering.To improve student retention, the first-year engineering curriculum have experienced significantchanges in the last decade. There is a growing trend towards incorporating engineering conceptsin first year engineering courses. The purpose is to demonstrate that engineering is fun,rewarding, relevant, and interesting. With these changes, there has been an increase in theimplementation of hands on activities that promotes student engagement in a

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 2: Design in the First Year: Challenges and Successes

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

DeLean Tolbert, Engineering Education, Purdue University; Monica E Cardella, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

skills. Today’s future engineers enter college with pre-college experiences whichmay lead them to have misconceptions about the nature of engineering problems [1]. Oftentimes,they perceive that engineering problems have linear problem solving processes, are well-defined,highly constrained and are quick to solve. To interrogate this misconception, the researchers setthe following research goal: To empirically examine the “interplay” between mathematicalthinking and design thinking, as experienced by students engaged in open-ended design tasks,and identify situations where mathematical thinking may impede design thinking, and vice versa.The study that ensued recruited first-year engineering students to spend three hoursindependently designing a

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 7: The Transition from High School to College

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert W. Whalin, Jackson State University; Qing J Pang, Jackson State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Success course our students take in the first summerterm) and reviewing/honing mathematics skills. We found no other summer bridge programsthat were as consistent and sustained as long as the SEEP program. Summer 2015 will be theseventh consecutive cohort and the total engineering students enrolled for 2009-2015 will bewell over 200. The engineering cohorts averaged over 30 students per summer. The SEEPprogram has three unique aspects that set it apart from other summer bridge programs: (1)relatively low level of mathematics college preparedness for first year engineering students, (2)10 week length of the program that earns 8 semester hours of college credit, and (3) theconsistency and sustainment of the program.Analyses PerformedWe chose to