Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids, and Heat Transfer-Part I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Simin Hall, College of Engineering at Virginia Tech; Catherine Amelink, Virginia Tech; Sam Conn, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

the 45 students enrolled in the course, 35 (29 men, 6 women) students completed the survey.Mean scores were computed for each item on the survey. Factor analysis was used to developthree scales for the three constructs measured by the survey. Chronbach alpha scores were usedto ensure reliability for the three scales. The mean age for the 35 students were 20.5 (SD=.92).C. Results from Survey:C.1. Self-EfficacyThe mean of self-efficacy in problem solving was 4.23 (SD=.54) for all 35 students with areliability coefficient of 0.82. Therefore, they were confident about their general problem solvingskills in engineering courses, revealing a high degree of self-efficacy. The mean and standarddeviation for each item that comprised the scale is shown

Conference Session

Teaching Mechanical Systems: What's New

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashok Kumar Manoharan, Auburn University; P.K. Raju, Auburn University; Chetan Sankar, Auburn University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

concepts. Inaddition, three case studies were used in the experimental section. Four class periods were setaside for presenting and discussing case studies. The assessment of student learning in both institutions was conducted through the use ofa questionnaire that measured the students’ perceptions on achieving higher-order cognitiveskills, improvement in self-efficacy, and improvement in team working skills11. Thesequestionnaires were completed by the students in the experimental and control sections at thestart and end of the course. The items in the questionnaire were combined to compute the meansand standard deviation of the measures. Table 2 shows the results that were computed for theexperimental and control sections at both Auburn

Conference Session

Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bethany Fralick, Purdue University; Jed Lyons, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

that this may be attributed tothe nature of the science laboratory courses taken by freshmen and sophomores at this institution,which consist largely of cookbook experiments. The results of this investigation indicate a needfor exposure to engineering experimental design processes sooner in the student‟s academiccareer. Page 15.1112.2 1IntroductionThe goal of this research is to contribute to our understanding of how students learn to designexperiments. This study focuses specifically on student attitudes towards an open-ended designproject because attitudes are important to issues of self