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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Upchurch; Judith Sims-Knight

acognitive apprenticeship 17 view. Under such a model the mentor, perhaps the instructor,provides needed feedback and critiques to help the student assess their state of learning and todevelop understandings about the nature of their knowledge and skill. Hence, the portfolioshould provide a forum for student-teacher interaction. In such a forum, the interaction iscaptured and recorded too for it has educational value. We, as others, have explored the use ofportfolios in supporting our classes. Our earlier efforts 15,18,19 used a web-space secured byusername and password. Students posted their work electronically. The work posted wastypically web-based forms requiring short-answer or narrative responses to instructor-providedprompts. For each project

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Lynn Mack; James Wood

Session 1648 Problem-Based Learning and Interdisciplinary Instruction James C. Wood, Ph.D., Lynn G. Mack Tri-County Technical College/Piedmont Technical CollegeAbstractThis paper describes the development and implementation of a problem-based learning approachfor interdisciplinary instruction in introductory courses for engineering technology majors.Required general education courses in mathematics, physics, and communication have beenintegrated with introductory engineering technology courses. This project was undertaken toimprove the retention of students in engineering technology curricula and

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Benjamin Flores; Walter Fisher; Pablo Arenaz; Connie Della-Piana

interaction between students and faculty.7 8 9 10 The literature suggests thevalue of incorporating a first-year seminar into learning communities as a way to providea needed linchpin for developing and maintaining a coherence of the experience11. TheFIPSE Learning Communities Dissemination Project has defined five vital elementswhose presence seem to be associated with learning community initiatives that “are beingpropelled forward, or whose absence makes the process much more challenging:” (1)Institutional readiness; (2) funding and other resources; (3) faculty involvement andfaculty support; (4) collaborative leadership group and (5) assessment as a strategy forprogram development. Since these elements are defined as important to instituting

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Rich; James Baish

andTechnology. Here the students have a shared living and learning experience with like-minded students. Designing People focuses less on the artifacts of design and more onthe people who do design and how society is affected by technological decisions madeduring the design process.In both courses, students learn by doing. Since design is primarily an action or process,and less so a subject for passive reflection, we frequently engage students in studio-style,creative projects. By involving students in design projects, they learn the challenges andjoys of design first hand. Our goal is to have the students appreciate that technology isnot a mysterious force over which nobody has any control, but rather can be the productof their own minds and hands. We

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Rachel Shinn; Ron Madler

Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Educationcampus.II. Spacecraft Design CoursesThe spacecraft preliminary and detail design courses that we developed gave us the firstopportunity to work with the student teams as well as team-teach. The preliminary design courseconsists of having the students do a paper design of a spacecraft or spacecraft system. Thestudents choose a project and are held to the requirements thereafter. Our role has been toshepherd them through the design process and to help them learn about subsystems they may notbe sufficiently familiar with. The authors met for a minimum of four hours per week to discusswhere we were heading and to prepare documents

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Ashraf Ghaly

assignments and acarefully crafted project complement and enhance the students’ learning experience.I. Course IdeaThe second author (A. Ghaly, an engineer) approached the first author (S. Sargent, anhistorian) and explained his idea of a combined course which would explore the engineeringand humanistic side of structures throughout history. Sargent was very enthusiastic aboutthe course, because he recognized immediately its potential for real interdisciplinarycooperation. Both authors agreed on the basic course outline after a few hours of intensediscussion. After that it was all implementation. Sargent believes that engineering studentsshould consider the historical, social, and cultural aspects of buildings, because engineeringdoesn’t happen in a

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Darin Ridgway; Valerie Young; Michael Prudich

Session 1313 The Inclusion of Design Content in the Unit Operations Laboratory Darin Ridgway, Valerie L. Young. Michael E. Prudich Ohio UniversityAbstractThere has been an emphasis to include design throughout the chemical engineering curriculum.Open-ended projects with design content are commonly included in core courses. The unitoperations lab offers another opportunity through the use and extension of experimental data.The range of student learning goals in the typical unit operations laboratory, including theplanning and execution of

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Ho; Jack Hopper; David Cocke; Daniel Chen; Carl Yaws; Kuyen Li; John Gossage

provides tools to help students conceptualizedproblems, explore the influence of relevant parameters, and test fundamental engineeringprinciples. The aim of our Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement project is to meldthe problem-based learning pedagogy with CAMS to produce students with an in-depthunderstanding of the fundamentals of chemical engineering as well as the ability to use computersimulation packages effectively in the workplace. The approach used here is to integrate the useof CAMS throughout the entire chemical engineering curriculum. The Accreditation Board ofEngineering and Technology’s Engineering Criteria 2000 framework will be followed to evaluatethe outcome of this project. This reform process will beneficially affect

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Elsa Napoles

projects with an interdisciplinary character, where the student can solve professionalproblems about projection, exploitation and construction.Taking into account the experience of different universities the integration can be grouped inthree directions: • The integration to achieve the professional skills from the freshman year • The integration of different courses (about basic sciences, sciences of engineering, social sciences and others ) in different years. • The integration throughout the solution of professional problemsIII. The integration of the design in the engineering curriculumOne of the most generalized trends in the university is the integration of design in the

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Xueshu Song; Philip Pilcher; Charles Billman; Radha Balamuralikrishna

Session Number 2793 Internet-Based Training System for Preparing Professionals in Aviation Maintenance Xueshu Song, Radha Balamuralikrishna, Philip Pilcher & Charles Billman Northern Illinois University/Northern Illinois University/Rockford Abilities Center/Rock Valley CollegeAbstractThis paper presents a new integrated media on-line training system designed to train aviationmaintenance professionals. The rationale for this NSF sponsored project is to enable aviationmaintenance instructors and learners derive maximum benefits from state-of-art computertechnologies through the creation of a

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Gilbert; Mark Maughmer; Bonnie Osif; Marilyn Barger, Hillsborough Community College; Renata Engel, Pennsylvania State University

approaches.I. Learning strategies and their use in engineering coursesCase-based learning uses previously solved problems to understand and investigate the decisionsand methodologies that were employed to arrive at the solution. For engineering courses, casesmay come from industrial projects or previous design projects. They include enough details aboutthe problem statement and the variety of solutions under consideration so that advantages anddisadvantages can be discussed. Depending on the course and topic, the case may draw attentionto the technical issues, economical aspects, and societal impact.Consider an introductory engineering design course, where students get their first exposure to thedesign process by solving an industrial problem. Prior

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Stephen Bronack; Horace Moo-Young

have been included in otherventures, such as Project CIRCLE. Project CIRCLE is a “collaborative project betweenthe University of Texas at Austin College of Education, the Austin Independent SchoolDistrict (AISD) and the Eanes Independent School District (EISD)” 7. The objective ofthis project is to create collaborative knowledge-building communities in high schoolsand universities that take the constructivist approach to technology integration 7. It isimperative that students are challenged not to succumb to this understanding. One way todo this is to encourage computer support for collaborative learning (CSCL). The resultsof using this learning approach were shown in a study done as part of Project CIRCLE.The research looked at two high

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Ribando; Gerald O'Leary; Timothy Scott

ordinary and partial-differential equations describing heat and fluidflow. Several of the modules may be considered “virtual” laboratories, that is, they allowstudents to take data from the computer screen for post-processing  much as if theywere working in a real, extremely well-equipped laboratory. Others give the option ofperforming dozens of "what if” calculations rapidly, thus inviting their use in the designprocess. Some merely replace the table and chart lookups that are so commonly used inthe study and practice of heat transfer. In the studio projects, students are exposed tomodern computational techniques while seeing them applied to fundamental problems.With the complete field solution available from the numerical model and not just a

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Audeen Fentiman; Robert J. Gustafson; John Merrill; John Demel; Richard Freuler

, and a stronger emphasis oncommunication skills. To guide the program’s implementation and evaluation, a comprehensiveassessment plan was developed to ensure that sufficient tools and methods were in place toproperly evaluate the impact of the program. The program is now in its third year, and this plancontinues to be instrumental in evaluating the program’s effectiveness. This paper presents anoverview of the plan, including its tools, methods, and outcomes.1.0 IntroductionIn the Autumn Quarter, 1998, The Ohio State University College of Engineering implemented apilot program for freshman Engineering students with the express purpose of engaging students inan interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasized hands-on laboratory projects

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Youki Terada; Pam Sirivedhin; Flora McMartin; Alice Agogino; Ann McKenna

division courses. Several changes were made tospecific courses to improve students’ integrative understanding of calculus and the physicalsciences, and to emphasize applications to engineering. Various data have been collected toinvestigate the impact the reforms had on student learning, as well as to gain insight intostudents’ experiences during their undergraduate engineering career. Interviews were conductedwith engineering students and faculty to garner feedback about integration efforts and studentsperceptions of the curriculum. This paper describes the interview project and outlines theinterpretive framework we established for the analysis of the interview data. Initial analysissuggests that students have difficulty understanding lower

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Daniel Raviv

that can be used in science, math,engineering and technology. The course is based on: a) well established systematic and non-systematic approaches to inventive problem solving, b) results from NSF support to FAU onunified frame for inventive problem solving strategies, c) proven successful methods that havebeen used in high-tech innovative industries, and d) on going E-teams projects sponsored by theNational Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).One of the core ideas of the class is the Eight-dimensional methodology for inventive andinnovative problem solving. It is a systematic approach that stimulates innovation by effectivelyusing both sides of the brain. The methodology is a unified approach that builds oncomprehensive

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Atlas Hsie; Naseem Ishaq; Salahuddin Qazi

courses wereoffered on Saturdays for a duration of 12 weeks. For the 33 –credit program 2 all students had totake the same ten core courses and a graduate project. The program is currently running a thirdcohort which will be completed in the Fall of 2001. Student surveys for the program wereconducted and the feedback was continuously incorporated into the program.Currently, the economic environment of central New York is changing, and the industry needspersonnel in focused areas of specialization. To respond to this change, we propose to introducethree separate options by adding three courses in each area of electrical , industrial andmechanical engineering technologies including the project. The students still have to take atleast eight courses

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Kathy Bearden; James Bandstra

with afillet radius, a cylindrical pressure vessel and flange. The final assignment in the courseis a special project of the student’s choice. They are encouraged to pick a project thatwill support their senior capstone design project. Some of the projects have includedanalysis of a composite beam with non-isotropic properties, a Formula One car frameunder roll-over loads, a complex alloy car wheel, a spoked bicycle wheel and amotorcycle engine piston. These special projects are a valuable learning experience forthe students and a meaningful practical application of their studies. Through theseprojects, they have to work through one of the most important issues with FEA, how tosimplify the model, loads and boundary conditions to something that

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Frederick Reardon

plan, andsupplementary notes, classwork exercises, and homework assignments. The web page isdesigned so that it can be projected onto a screen in the classroom and can be downloaded by thestudents at home. Although the use of the Internet in teaching has many advantages, one problemis the amount of time required to prepare the web pages. Since the students like to download thenotes, one must also be careful that the web pages print properly. Student reactions to the use ofthe Internet have been uniformly favorable. They say that it is very helpful in helping them tolearn what is generally acknowledged to be a difficult subject.IntroductionThermodynamics is a complex subject. The study of thermodynamics involves grasping newconcepts, learning

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Rice; Christian Ochei; Alamgir Choudhury

student interest in the subject matter. (iv) Develop confidence in computer usage for solving technical problems and consequently enhance student skill in a programming language.The project is comprised of three phases, two of which have already been implemented.In the first phase, students are taught the step-by-step programming for solving exampleproblems in the class. In phase two, students write their own programs to simulatedeflection of a given beam problem as laboratory exercise. The tool for the third phasehas recently been developed and will be introduced in class during fall semester 2001.Using this tool, students will be able to compare analytical solutions of their homeworkproblems with deflection produced by

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Casey Preston; R. Mark Worden; Daina Briedis

Page 6.1064.3undergraduates in research is also an excellent recruiting tool for graduate school. “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Education”Multidisciplinary Bioprocessing Laboratory—a capstone courseTwo years ago, as part of an NSF-sponsored Combined Research CurriculumDevelopment (CRCD) project, the Department of Chemical Engineering established aMultidisciplinary Bioprocessing Laboratory (MBL) course. The express purpose of thiscourse is to teach students how to work in multidisciplinary teams to solve researchproblems in biotechnology. The fact that that most industries operate withmultidisciplinary teams as

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Tammi Robson; Tayeb Giuma

atthe University of North Florida. The outline of this materialcan be viewed by visiting the first author web-page athttp://www.unf.edu/~tgiuma/. The second step of the design wasto develop a block/flow diagram for the project. The block/flowdiagram divides the course subject matter into units andidentifies the placement of interconnecting web-page links.Block/flow diagram is an essential component in the top-downdesign of any major project.Next, we focused on the implementation tools and the desire ofusing a dependable web development package for the constructionof the project. Different software products available for webdesign were considered and evaluated at the beginning of theproject. During the design of the project, more

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Raul Ordonez; Jahan Kauser; Ravi Ramachandran

Session 2451 Modeling Biodegradation Kinetics using MatLab Kauser Jahan, Raúl Ordóñez and Ravi P. Ramachandran Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028AbstractA major objective of the Junior/Senior Engineering Clinics at Rowan University is tointroduce students to open-ended engineering projects. All engineering students from thefour engineering disciplines, namely Civil, Chemical, Electrical and Mechanical share acommon engineering clinic class. This class is a major hallmark of the Rowanengineering program for all students throughout their eight semesters of study. Thepurpose of the clinic classes is to provide

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

John Steele

PowerPoint.This experiment was followed by discussions of curriculum development and howmaterials from the workshop could be integrated into the high school classroom. This ledto a lively discussion of the need for hands-on materials and activities that allow thestudents to be participants in the learning process.Wednesday afternoon was used to introduce another research project called theBatmobile. Professor King talked about the use of such vehicles in the investigation andmapping of abandoned uranium mines in Colorado.Thursday was devoted to an introduction to Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and its use asan engineering design tool, for understanding stress and deformation in mechanical andstructural systems. Professor Graham Mustoe conducted a lively

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Jendrucko; Jack Wasserman

; professional opportunities for BME professionals; jobsearch techniques.BME 455 BME Design: Basic non-technical factors in design: economic, legal, FDA regulation;design tools and methods.BME 469 Design Project: BME team design projects; projects originating with BME industry,local medical community, UT School of Veterinary Medicine; presentation of project results tocustomers.V. Incorporation of modern teaching methodsIn the design of all new engineering degree programs it is imperative to include coverage ofbasic tools subjects (e.g. mathematics, engineering sciences) and state-of-the-art topics neededby graduates to be optimally prepared for the marketplace. In the BME field however, there areseveral characteristics of typical employment settings

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Scott Midkiff

Internet.• Integrating research with “real world” problems through partnerships with industry, university-based infrastructure projects, and other universities.• Revising existing and creating new for-credit courses and non-credit seminars.• Aggressive recruiting to establish a culturally diverse group of participants.• Including student participants in special teaching and mentoring programs.• Hosting visits of international students and scholars and providing international internship opportunities for student participants.III. Educational Program and Desired OutcomesThe fundamental purpose of the IREAN program is to implement a unique research andeducational environment to create Ph.D. students superbly prepared to face today’s andtomorrow’s

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

William Whitaker

staff. The focus of the program is to educate the high school students to the careerpotentials in the construction industry. There were five key elements contributing to the successof the program: 1. Identify target high schools 2. Early involvement of the superintendent of schools 3. Active participation of high school faculty and staff 4. Commitment from alumnus 5. Student field tripWith a limited amount of time to devote to the project it was necessary to carefully select thetarget schools. We decided to work with regional high schools that traditionally sent largenumbers of freshman to MSU but not necessarily to the CET program. We had worked withthese schools many times in the past but our recruiting

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Kimball

/Resources) (SCANS: Secretary’s Commission forAchieving the Necessary Skills), provided guiding principles for career-oriented curricula.SCANS calls for all courses to strengthen the skills the student will need as a graduate--in theworkplace. In addition to the basic skills the student will need, SCANS calls for students toacquire Thinking Skills and positive Personal Qualities. The three-part foundation is measuredby five competencies: (1) ability to use resources, (2) ability to work with others, (3) ability toacquire and use information, (4) ability to understand complex interrelationships, and (5) abilityto work with a variety of technologies.As a result of SCANS, we began to include more complex projects in mathematics courses. Theprojects

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Craig Gunn

to build their team-working skills.One such activity requires the students to look at a simple problem of building a tower fromstraws and masking tape. They must build the tallest tower possible that will support a full can ofsoda. This activity requires that the group discuss the natural steps in the design process. Eachperson is encouraged to express his/her ideas in regard to the problem. After discussion, the bestsolutions are selected, the final course of action is set, and the building begins. The wholeactivity from beginning to end encompasses only 40 minutes. Students need to get all membersof the group involved or the project cannot be competitive with the other teams. The responsesfrom the students are very positive. One female

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Gary Boyd; Alan Insleay; Geza Joos

Session: 3430, paper 727_ Development of a Modularized Co-constructivist Learning Environment for Electrotechnology Gary Boyd, Geza Joos, Allan Insleay Education, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada / Industrial Electronics, Vanier College, Montreal, CanadaAbstractThis paper outlines our POWERGUIDE project to develop a new computer basedlearning environment to help University and College students develop a deeperunderstanding of industrial Electrotechnology. This subject includes electromagnetic andelectromechanical devices and