design process was included during the second class period (75minutes) of the semester and detailed divergent-convergent thinking10 and included nuancesfrom other best practice articles.12,13 Based on their declared engineering majors, students werethen divided into multidisciplinary teams for the semester, supporting ABET Criterion 3,outcome d.14 The teams in each section completed projects in each of three engineeringdisciplines: civil, electrical and mechanical; albeit in different orders depending on the section.The projects were rotated through each section so that all student teams were assigned eachproject. The projects included the design, construction, and testing of: A wind turbine where students predicted the current produced
Paper ID #9724Examining the Engineering Design Process of First-Year Engineering Stu-dents During a Hands-on, In-class Design Challenge.Ms. Jessica E S Swenson, Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach Jessica Swenson is a graduate student at Tufts University. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with a research focus on engineering education. She received a M.S. from Tufts University in science, technology, engineering and math education and a B.S. from Northwestern University in mechan- ical engineering. Her current research involves examining the design process of undergraduate students
aspect of the peer evaluation process that was enforced by theinstructor was the requirement to actually do it. Those students who failed to submit their peerevaluations by the end of each quarter were given grades of “incomplete.” Once the lateevaluations were submitted, the incomplete was changed to a letter grade, with no penaltyimposed for late submission.When possible, each cohort took advantage of the work the preceding cohorts had done ondesigning and administering a peer evaluation instrument. Since the students in the first cohorthad no prior work on which to base the design of their instrument, they devoted time early in theyear to researching best practices in this area. Their first attempt clearly exhibited their lack ofexperience in
Paper ID #8743Review of a First-Year Engineering Design CourseDr. Lydia Prendergast, Rutgers, School of Engineering Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Engineering EducationProf. Eugenia Etkina, Rutgers University I am a professor of science education at the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University. Page 24.1054.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 Review of a First-Year Engineering Design CourseAbstractResearch shows that the first year
students. Nathan has bachelors degrees in Civil Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Seattle University, a masters degree in Civil Engineering from Stanford Uni- versity and a doctoral degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. Page 24.1089.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 Social Responsibility Attitudes of First Year Engineering Students and the Impact of CoursesAbstractThe goal of this research was to characterize the social responsibility (SR) attitudes of first yearengineering students, determine if these
represents the 2011 course, year 2 the 2012, and year 3 the 2013 course.Conclusions The first-year course taught in the College of Engineering at a research institution in thewestern US was designed to help students determine if they would like to major in engineering,and to help them choose which major is best for their interests and career goals. The courseimplements guest lectures, tours of research facilities, in-class discussions, team-based projects,and conceptual design as methods for teaching and learning that occurs both in and outside theclassroom. The course was not taught in the way it was designed during the first year, andstudents were surveyed to determine the teaching methods they preferred for learning. During the first
Environments and Experiences) Research Group. Her research focuses on the development of engineering thinking skills (primarily operationalized as design thinking and mathematical thinking) amongst students as young as 4-years-old, college students, as well as practicing professionals.Dr. William Travis Horton, Purdue University Page 24.782.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 Integration of a First-Year Learning Community with a Vertically-Integrated Design ProgramIntroductionGetting students to experience the excitement of engineering has been a
American Evaluation Association affiliate organization and is a member of the Amer- ican Educational Research Association and American Evaluation Association, in addition to ASEE. Dr. Brawner is also an Extension Services Consultant for the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT) and, in that role, advises computer science departments on diversifying their under- graduate student population. Dr. Brawner previously served as principal evaluator of the NSF-sponsored SUCCEED Coalition. She remains an active researcher with MIDFIELD, studying gender issues, trans- fers, and matriculation models in engineering.Dr. Marisa Kikendall Orr, Louisiana Tech UniversityDr. Matthew W. Ohland, Purdue University and
improvement efforts. The SEET’s multifaceted initiatives for improvingretention include several best-practice components, namely: 1) exposure to engineering practice through two new courses employing multidisciplinary projects8, presentations by practicing engineers, presentations by students involved in co- op education, and presentations by senior capstone design project students; 2) the development of the faculty mentoring program for first-year students; 3) the development of a peer mentoring program for first-year students; 4) the development of an industrial mentoring program for first-year students.We are implementing all four initiatives, and this paper focuses on initiative #3, peer mentoring
Kris Jaeger, PhD has been a member of Northeastern University’s Gateway Team, a selected group of full-time faculty expressly devoted to the First-year Engineering Program at Northeastern Uni- versity. Recently, she has joined the expanding Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at NU to continue teaching Simulation, Facilities Planning, Human-Machine Systems, and Senior Capstone Design. Dr. Jaeger has been the recipient of several honors in engineering education for both teaching and mentoring and has been involved in several award-wining engineering educational research initiatives through ASEE and beyonDr. Richard Whalen, Northeastern University
electrical energy from the reaction of hydrogenand oxygen. Each of the experiments lasts for two weeks.In Engineering Foundations, students are also introduced to a number of professional skills, suchas technical writing, communication, engineering ethics, and the engineering design process.Technical writing is covered by requiring the students to prepare laboratory reports for each ofthe four hands-on experiments. Communication is emphasized through a group presentation thatrequires the students to research one of the fourteen Grand Challenges9 identified by the NationalAcademy of Engineers and to present their findings to the class. Ethics is covered during alecture that uses practical examples and role playing to emphasize the challenges in
commercialize residential scale waste-to-energy biomass processor systems. Page 24.613.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 First-Year Student Persistence and Retention Influenced by Early Exposure to Engineering Practitioners Co-Teaching Entry-Level Courses: A Four-Year Indirect AssessmentAbstractThe engineering education literature lacks long-term studies on persistence and retention impactsrealized by teaching first-year engineering students about possible post-graduate career optionsvia exposure to practicing engineers. At the University of North Texas (UNT