Conference Session

Hands-on/Experiential Learning

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gavin T. Garner, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Page 23.990.7 of their team can write out his or her initials as quickly and neatly as possible and 2)Program their HooPrint to automatically/autonomously draw something interesting andsophisticated in terms of programming technique in under two minutes. The author has found that it is important to give students as much creative license aspossible while challenging them with design projects. The more pride that students can take intheir own unique solutions, the more invested and dedicated they tend to become to completingthe project. The motivation that most students find in trying to show off in front of their peers farexceeds the motivation derived from simply threatening to give them a poor grade on theassignment if they do

Conference Session

Delivery Methods in Mechanical Engineering Courses

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zahra Shahbazi, Manhattan College; sina Shahbazmohamadi, University of Connecticut

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

learning stems from Vygotskian social developmenttheory 2. Basic themes of Vygotskian theory are:  Social interactions play a fundamental role in the development of cognition.  A peer could also be a more knowledgeable other – MKO (like: teacher, coach or older adult)  Learning occurs in the zone of proximal development (the difference between what people can do alone and what they can do with assistance).Students involved in collaborative learning with the same level of knowledge will benefit by co-constructing a new understanding of an unknown material through discussion with peers 3-5 .Students with different levels of knowledge will both benefit from collaborative learning. Themore knowledgeable students get the

Conference Session

Thermal Sciences

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Georg Pingen, Union University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

implement a flipped-classroom approach6 using screencasts3. I hadpreviously recorded and uploaded my lecture notes using a tablet PC to allow students to focuson comprehension rather than having to write down every word during class. Screencasts servedas an extension of these tablet-recorded notes by recording screen-captures and audio using theopen source software Camstudio7 for short mini-lectures and example problems. The resultingscreencasts are then uploaded to YouTube and embedded on the course website or into PDFreading guides using LaTeX. This has permitted the recording of “passive” course content asscreencasts provided to students prior to class as part of their reading assignment. This ability tomove essential but “passive” course

Conference Session

Thermodynamics

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen R. Turns, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Peggy Noel Van Meter, Pennsylvania State University; Thomas A. Litzinger, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Carla M Firetto, The Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

complete the exercises in class. In the first matrix exercise (Fig. 1), students consider the four ideal-gas processes presentedin four rows: (i) a constant-pressure expansion, (ii) a constant-volume process in which thepressure increases, (iii) a constant-temperature expansion, and (iv) an adiabatic, reversible(constant entropy) expansion. Prompts written in the columns required students to (i) write amathematical expressions for the relation of pressure-to-volume and the relation of temperature-to-volume, (ii) create a plot of pressure versus volume, (iii) create a plot of temperature versusvolume, and (iv) develop and enter an expression for moving boundary work. In the second matrix exercise (Fig. 2), students consider the same four

Conference Session

Thermodynamics

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nihad Dukhan, University of Detroit Mercy; Mark Schumack, University of Detroit Mercy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

change. Abulencia et al.9 described an inquiry-based exercise in whichstudents were required to develop an instructional video that could teach a concept inthermodynamics using common metaphors, and to watch (and critique) similarly constructedvideos by peers. Prince et al.11 presented results that showed the effectiveness of inquiry-basedactivities in addressing some thermodynamic misconceptions held be engineering students, i.e., Page 23.1280.8heat, energy, temperature and entropy.Field43 described guided inquiry investigations of thermodynamic properties and cycles in asophomore thermodynamics class. Students were required to modify a

Conference Session

Delivery Methods in Mechanical Engineering Courses

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Mason, Seattle University; Teodora Rutar Shuman, Seattle University; Kathleen E. Cook, Seattle University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

activities.The course videos were created using Camtasia Studio30 and a Tablet PC. The videos includedaudio of the instructor explaining the material and a live screen capture of the instructor writingon the tablet. The videos were posted on YouTube (YouTube channel MEGR438) and accessibleto students. To cover the course content there were 45 videos in the 2011 IC offering and 50videos (5 additional) in 2012 IC offering, each between 3 and 12 minutes long. To achieve thislength, videos were edited and shortened to approximately half their original length by removingpauses from the presentation that occurred while writing or when explaining the material. Thisresulted in six hours of video content posted online. Specific videos were not initially

Conference Session

Hands-on/Experiential Learning

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael J Benson P.E., United States Military Academy; Hans J Thomas, United States Military Academy; Shad A Reed, United States Air Force Academy; Bruce Floersheim, U.S. Military Academy; Steven J. Condly, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

universities with graduate programs. Typically the students conductthe internships alone or in very small groups with peers; periodically faculty members willaccompany them or check-in on them during the summer. Table 1 provides a summary of someof the representative summer internship locations. Approximately 66% of students worked at agovernmental lab or agency, 23% worked with industry sponsors, and 11% worked at academicinstitutions. Student responsibilities varied with the projects. In some cases, students analyzedexisting data and provided summaries or conducted computational analyses of problems. Inother cases, students designed and conducted experiments using existing facilities. A fewprojects involved identifying and solving problems on

Conference Session

Delivery Methods in Mechanical Engineering Courses

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David J. Dimas, The University of California, Irvine; Faryar Jabbari, University of California, Irvine; Jia Frydenberg, University of California, Irvine

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

quality can also suffer if a single camera is used and there is no camera operator to zoomin and out appropriately during the lecture. Classroom lighting can also be a challenge.Document cameras can be useful but instructors often have to use a wider than normal pen toallow the camera to resolve the writing. This presents difficulties for many engineering coursesdue to the intricate nature of many of the equations and drawings. There are a variety ofalternatives to live lecture capture that can be effective for hybrid classes. A common techniqueis to use screen recording software such as Camtasia. In this study, faculty used three methods tocreate content that was subsequently captured adding both audio and video annotations withCamtasia. In