Conference Session

Meeting ABET Requirements

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig Gunn, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company,Inc., 1985.Davis, B.G., Tools for Teaching, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.Elliot, N. et al. "The Assessment of Technical Writing: A Case Study," Journal of Technical Writing andCommunication, Vol.24, No.1, Winter 1994, p.9.Foster, D. A Primer for Writing Teachers. Upper Monclair,New Jersey: Boynton/Cook, 1983.Houp, K.W., and T.E.Pearsall. Reporting Technical Information. New York: Macmillan, 1988.Lefferts, R. How to Prepare Charts and Graphs For Effective Reports. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1981.Miller, R. L. and B. Olds, "A Model Curriculum for A Capstone Course in Multidisciplinary Engineering Design,"Journal of Engineering Education, Vol.83,No.4 October 1993, pp. 311-323.Peer commentary on

Conference Session

Capstone Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelley Racicot, Washington State University; Charles Pezeshki, Washington State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

themselves.Students were encouraged to post articles of interest. Instructors also prompteddiscussions on topics relevant to the course, such as writing case studies, providingStrength, Improvement, Insight11 (SII) feedback to peers, and interviewing for a job. Thejob interview discussion, for example, happened during a week of on-campus interviewsand two groups contributed to an article on the topic that week.InstrumentsThree instruments were used to collect data: (1) Industry/Advisory Board survey,questionnaire and interview; (2) student focus group discussion; and (3) an online wikiarchive. These instruments were selected based on best-practice methodologies ineducation assessment8 and best fit for the scope of the study.Three College Advisory Board

Conference Session

Introducing Active Learning into ME Courses

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ali Al-Bahi, King Abdulaziz University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

presentations?45. Are written communication skills enhanced through report writing?46. Are reading assignments frequently used in and out of class?47. Is the use of computers and modern engineering tools encouraged?48. Are both information gathering skills and modern on line search techniques encouraged?Instructional Methods to Address the 5th Pillar of Active/ CooperativeLearning: “Group Processing”49. Are the students encouraged to reflect on their learning experience (using journals, portfolios, etc)?50. Are the teams encouraged to self-assess their own work before being assessed by the instructor?51. Is the student-student peer assessment used to evaluate some written or oral assignments?52. Are the students encouraged to give positive

Conference Session

What's New in Dynamics?

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Avitabile, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Tracy Van Zandt, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Jeffrey Hodgkins, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Nels Wirkkala, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

data sets collected by other students. Students work in groups, collect data, and preparedetailed reports summarizing their efforts. Students also perform a peer review of submittedprojects, providing another valuable learning experience.Assessments of the first three semesters of the project clearly indicate that the students enjoyedthe hands-on project and clearly felt that they understood the material in much greater depth as aresult of the project.I. ProblemUnderstanding basic STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) material is criticalto a student’s ability to progress satisfactorily in upper level courses. Earlier courses oftenappear to have no relevance, from a student’s perspective. As a result, students feel that they

Conference Session

Improving ME instructional laboratories

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Chastain, Clemson University; Harvin Smith, Clemson University; Mason Morehead, Clemson University; David Moline, Clemson University; John Wagner, Clemson University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

principles are reinforced through open ended, student conducted, multifacetedmechanical and thermal/fluid system experiments. The students work in a collaborative mannerto develop mathematical models, create test plans, apply measurement techniques, perform dataanalysis, and write comprehensive technical reports. In this paper, an overview of the threeexperimental systems and accompanying student learning objectives will be presented. The firstexperiment features the modeling, testing, and analysis of a single degree-of-freedom systemsubject to excitation from a rotating unbalanced mass. The student teams are tasked toanalytically and experimentally investigate the system and design a dynamic vibration absorber.In the second experiment

Conference Session

Improving ME instructional laboratories

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mohammad Elahinia, University of Toledo; Constantin Ciocanel, University of Toledo

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

)further developed laboratory and technical writing skills.”Prior to this redevelopment, as part of the subject-based approach, a classroom lecturepreceded each laboratory session. The lecture consisted of the review of the theorypertaining to each experiment to help students refresh their knowledge on the subject.Additionally the description and procedure of the laboratory experiment was coveredduring this lecture. Prior to each class, the lecture notes, along with the laboratoryprocedures, were posted on the course website. The step-by-step instructions for eachexperiment were provided to assist the students in setting up and conducting eachexperiment. Throughout the semester, eleven experiments were performed.The students wrote individual

Conference Session

Incorporating Projects into the Curriculum

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Choate, Western Kentucky University; Kevin Schmaltz, Western Kentucky University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

: “Students must be prepared for engineering practice through thecurriculum culminating in a major design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquiredin earlier course work and incorporating engineering standards and realistic constraints” [2].The ME faculty have defined the following four areas to quantify and assess the ProfessionalComponent: • Engineering Design (teaching and practicing design skills) • Professional Communications (conveying designs and interacting with peers) • Professional Skills (teaching and implementing design tools) • Professional Ethics (evaluating and practicing appropriate professional behavior)In each of these areas, a formal implementation plan has been developed to coordinateinstruction across

Conference Session

Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Foley, U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

between work and heat is that work can always be converted completely to heat but that only a fraction of work can ever be transferred to heat. For that reason alone, we can argue that of the two forms, work is the “higher value” form of energy transfer. More on this with the second law introduction later. So taking B as Energy in our Reynolds Transport Equation we can write the First law of Thermodynamics so :- Q% / W% - (m% e) in / (m% e) out - E% gen ? E% CV First Law of Thermodynamics Net Energy accumulated in theDirect Energy

Conference Session

Capstone Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edwin Odom, University of Idaho; Russ Porter, University of Idaho; Steven Beyerlein, University of Idaho; Adrian Gomez, University of Idaho; Lloyd Gallup, University of Idaho

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

this combined enterprise.Roughly 1/3 of the design teams have both ME and EE members, 1/3 have only ME members,and 1/3 have only EE members. All teams are required to respond to the needs of an externalcustomer, maintain personal logbooks, prepare a problem statement with specifications, presenttheir solution in various design reviews, fabricate a working prototype, write a design report, anddocument their design process on a course web page (http://seniordesign.engr.uidaho.edu). Page 11.895.3Our capstone course design parallels many other capstone programs across the country6,7 andfollows the methodology advocated by standard design