Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ross McCurdy, Ponaganset High School

Tagged Divisions

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hydrogen fuel cells as a step towards creating a clean and sustainable future. The schoolhas now compiled an impressive collection of fuel cell technology for hands-on student use andhas established a course devoted to fuel cells. With the creation of Protium, the Initiative’s fuelcell-powered band, hydrogen fuel cell education is also an extracurricular activity successfullyspreading the word far beyond the school community, with fuel cell demonstration performanceshaving taken place in Miami, San Antonio, Palm Springs, and Hollywood. Fuel cell education is approached with a hands-on, minds-on philosophy with much ofthe learning project-based. Last year’s capstone project was the creation of Rhode Island’s firstfuel cell vehicle, a two

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rashmi Jain, Stevens Institute of Technology; Keith Sheppard, Stevens Institute of Technology; Elisabeth McGrath, Stevens Institute of Technology; Bernard Gallois, Stevens Institute of Technology

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sequence at Stevens known as the Design Spine3. The first five courses are core designcourses taken by students from all intended disciplines; the last three are taken in the discipline - a juniorcourse followed by a 2-semester capstone senior year project. In most cases the core design courses arelinked to concurrent engineering science courses, thus providing context for the latter. The Design Spineis a key vehicle to develop a number of threads that build both technical and so-called “soft”competencies. The latter include communications, creative thinking, teaming, economics of engineering,problem solving, project management etc. It should be noted that the first four design courses have beentaught by adjunct engineers, either practicing or

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Augusto Macalalag, Stevens Institute of Technology; Debra Brockway, Stevens Institute of Technology; Mercedes McKay, Stevens Institute of Technology; Elisabeth McGrath, Stevens Institute of Technology

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, and mentoringin innovative science and engineering curricula designed to make use of constructivistapproaches to teaching and learning. Two universities, a science center, and a teacher educationinstitution collaborated in delivering project services to schools. Through intensive professionaldevelopment, teachers engaged in science inquiry lessons, learned about and practiced theengineering design process (EDP), and interacted with science and engineering faculty to bolstertheir science content knowledge in life and environmental sciences. Preliminary findings fromthe pre and post tests of treatment group teachers indicate that participants significantly increasedtheir content knowledge in specific life science topics and concepts involving

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Papadopoulos; Adeeb Rahman, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Josh Bostwick, Cornell University

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problem solution, identify the error, and re-solve the problem correctly.2. The Breakdown of Critical Thinking in Mechanics EducationIn this section we examine evidence from situations in mechanics education in which studentsfail to employ critical thinking, and in which pedagogical materials fail to engage students incritical thinking. We believe that these examples are representative of typical situationsencountered by students and instructors at many institutions, and that they provide a clear andaccurate assessment of some fundamental issues that must be addressed.Anecdotes from Student Questions. In the last two years or so, several of our former studentshave visited us to ask questions pertaining to their current course projects. Strikingly

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gary Moe, U.S. Air Force Academy

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Council of Sections

Page 11.1391.7up in the lesson, the question timing starts with a mouse click. As soon as the question times out,the answers are presented on a graph that shows both correct and incorrect responses.If the graph shows overwhelming concept understanding, the lesson can continue. If there areseveral incorrect answers, the concepts can be reviewed to increase the students’ understanding.One of the most significant early challenges was adapting the PRS presentation window to workwith the in-class projection systems. There were several times when the PRS response controlbar was truncated or totally disappeared from the viewing window because the projected imageproportions were different than those used on the laptop computer. The situation was

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carol Gattis, University of Arkansas; Shannon Davis, University of Arkansas; Bryan Hill, University of Arkansas; Edgar Clausen, University of Arkansas; Christa Hestekin, University of Arkansas; Bradley Dearing, Illinois State University

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for the Technology Education Association of Illinois and served on the Board of Directors for the past 12 years. He is active in professional research and publications, as well as continuing work towards professional development, state and national standards and curriculum projects. Page 15.1286.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 UASPP: Three Years of Helping Middle School Teachers Devise Their Own Hands-on Engineering and Science Activities Shannon G. Davis1, Bryan W. Hill1, Carol S. Gattis2, Bradley M. Dearing3, Christa N. Hestekin4 and Edgar C

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shane Brown, Washington State University; Cara Poor, Washington State University

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Council of Sections

Page 14.714.6assessment process, suggests that the ICPT program has a strong potential to have significantbenefit to students and tutors. It appears that students see tremendous value in the tutors and thattutors learn from their experience. More research is needed to investigate the efficacy of thisprogram on important student outcomes. Two new research projects on the WSU ICPT havealready begun, one focused on the impact of the program on student social capital, and the otheron peer tutoring and students’ self-efficacy in mechanics.Social capital consists of the resources embedded in social networks that are accessed bymembers of that network. Initial results of the project on social capital indicate that studentsview the ICPT program as an

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nathan Klingbeil, Wright State University; Richard Mercer, Wright State University; Kuldip Rattan, Wright State University; Michael Raymer, Wright State University; David Reynolds, Wright State University

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2006-1631: REDEFINING ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS EDUCATION ATWRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITYNathan Klingbeil, Wright State University NATHAN W. KLINGBEIL is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering at Wright State University, and holds the title of Robert J. Kegerreis Distinguished Professor of Teaching. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1998. Professor Klingbeil leads NSF supported research projects in the areas of manufacturing science and engineering curriculum reform. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his work in engineering education, including the CASE Ohio Professor of the Year Award (2005), the

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Hanson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Patrick Brophy, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

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situation as similar to previous projects. Field (14 of 106). This is one of the least preferred strategies. It means that the problem is discovered during or after construction. Other (17 of 106). This category includes all of the other strategies used to discover a problem. Many of them are procedural (e.g., check model code used in the jurisdiction).Of the seven categories, four can be taught (comparison, rule of thumb, visualization,and extreme). Rules of thumb pertain primarily to design where choices aboutmembers are made, and visualization pertains primarily to choices in structural system.Identifying extreme results can be done with minimal experience. Therefore, theauthors focused on teaching

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristi Shryock, Texas A&M University; Helen Reed, Texas A&M University

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Council of Sections

department can provide objective,direct feedback. Disadvantages to this process include the extensive time involved and theintimidation factor that outside individuals can often have on students.Embedded IndicatorsDirect assessment of student performance in a course directly tied to a specific program outcomeis referred to as an embedded indicator. This type of information reflects a direct assessmentmethod and can provide quite useful information. To be clear, embedded indicators do not referto course grades, and we will discuss those separately. Embedded indicators relate to studentperformance on a particular activity, such as an exam question, project, or report, and correlate toa particular outcome. Courses that are more relevant to a particular

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Hunter, Georgia Institute of Technology; Dwayne Henclewood, Georgia Institute of Technology; Marion Usselman, Georgia Institute of Technology; Mshadoni Smith, Georgia Institute of Technology; Laurie Garrow, Georgia Institute of Technology; Angshuman Guin, Georgia Institute of Technology

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that were developed for thisweek-long camp. The first lesson provided a brief overview of the transportation sector and itsevolution and introduced the process through which transportation projects are initiated andcompleted. The second lesson introduced students to the fundamentals of developing signaltiming plans for a single signalized intersection. The final lesson introduced coordinationconcepts that are involved in programming multiple intersections.The goal of these instructions was to enable the students to understand the impact of theinteraction between intersections on traffic flow and then using this knowledge coordinate theflows and minimize the delay for a network of two signalized intersections. The students werefirst introduced

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amelito Enriquez, Canada College

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Council of Sections

combination ofboth factors are responsible for improved student performance. Additionally, these studiesshould attempt to delineate the effects of Tablet PC use by the instructor from the effects broughtabout by enhanced interactivity due to student use of Tablet PCs in the classroom.Similar studies should be done on courses with high attrition rates: courses that are traditional“bottle necks” for STEM students, and courses that are problem-solving intensive and requiringhigh levels of critical thinking. Finally, other software applications that promote interactivity inthe classroom should be considered in conjunction with Tablet PC use.5. AcknowledgementsThis project was supported by Hewlett Packard through the Technology for Teaching grant