Conference Session

Introducing Active Learning into ME Courses

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ali Al-Bahi, King Abdulaziz University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

processing.Several questions are related to a balanced grading system for team work and individualcontributions, in addition to a balanced load distribution inside the team. The use of openended and real life problems are encouraged such that the students realize differentknowledge levels and aspects inside the team. The importance of the students' reflection ontheir learning experience, confidence level evaluation, and positive feedback on classactivities are also addressed. The use of instructor expectations and assignment checklists,which map into course learning objectives and outcomes, are encouraged as assessment tools.Portfolios, journals, student surveys and questionnaires are also encouraged to ensuretriangulation for the assessment of course

Conference Session

What's New in Dynamics?

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward Perry, University of Memphis; Jeffrey Marchetta, University of Memphis

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

characterized and reported to the student in terms of each of the followinglearning style pairs: • Active vs Reflective Learning Style • Sensing vs Intuitive Learning Style • Visual vs Verbal Learning Style • Sequential vs Global Learning StyleIn our case we were most interested in the Visual vs Verbal learning style. Page 11.1281.3MethodologyTwo introductory undergraduate mechanical engineering courses, dynamics and fluid mechanics,were selected for this study. The courses were taught by different instructors, both of whom hadtaught the courses a number of times in the past. In each course students were made aware duringthe first

Conference Session

Introducing Active Learning into ME Courses

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gul Kremer, Pennsylvania State University; Madara Ogot, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

discoverquadrants.2.2.1 EnquireEngineering educators have long noted that lectures though efficient at delivering large amountsof analytical information, encourage passivity in students who come to expect the instructor toprovide all the required knowledge.10 Johnson et al.26 noted that: “lecturing at best tends to focuson the lower-level of cognition and learning. When the material is complex, detailed or abstract;when students need to analyze, synthesize, or integrate the knowledge being studied; or whenlong term retention is required, lecturing is not such a good idea.” Other researchers have foundthat lectures tend to alienate active and reflective learners – the active learners do not do

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

uses of web-based group platforms, such as wikis and weblogs in industryand education, have been adopted for project management, to support “folio thinking”1,to encourage reflective practice and to build communities of practice. This qualitativeand quantitative study looks at the pilot semester of using social software in a well-established senior capstone design course to support collaborative knowledgemanagement and group assessment. We want to answer the question: How do we assessteam or group learning?From this research question, we developed three project goals: 1. Leverage the group-editing capabilities of WSU Wiki to facilitate a new course dimension: collaborative knowledge management. 2. Pilot the use of social software as a

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Hill, University of Michigan; Dawn Tilbury, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

determine the action taken by the machinewhen two nickels were inserted followed by a dime. Every student in the class recognized thatthe machine reaches a deadlock and doesn’t return a soda even though more than 15 cents hadbeen input. The second part of the problem was to modify the machine to reflect a new sodaprice of 25 cents and to make the machine work “correctly.” Most students were able to get thispart of the problem correct also. Some students were able to modify the machine to reflect thenew price, but didn’t resolve the problem of a deadlock state. This deficiency might beattributed to some students not understanding what was meant by the requirement that themachine work “correctly.” A handful of students weren’t able to produce a soda

Conference Session

Improving ME instructional laboratories

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jed Lyons, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Education. 21:5, 491-508.12. Edwards, H. (1993). Mistakes and Other Classroom Techniques: An Application of Social Learning Theory. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching. 4, 49-60.13. Goodwin, S. (1997). The Effects of Error Detection Instruction on Developmental Algebra Students. Dissertation. West Virginia University.14. Socha, D., Razmov, V., and Davis, E. (2003). Teaching Reflective Skills in an Engineering Course. Proceedings of he 2003 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition.15. Lorenzet, S., Salas, E. and Tannenbaurm, S. (2005). Benefiting from Mistakes: The Impact of Guided Errors on Learning, Performance and Self-Efficacy. Human Resource Development Quarterly. 16:3, 301

Conference Session

Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen McClain, University of Alabama-Birmingham

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Variable Argument 2 Argument 1 Fluid Argument 1 Underscore Name Argument 2 NameFigure 1. Scheme for Naming Property FunctionsThe functions were constructed to reflect and reinforce how property information is provided intraditional property tables. Functions are provided for the saturation pressure based ontemperature and for the saturation temperature based on pressure. Saturated liquid and saturatedvapor functions are provided for specific volume (v), specific internal energy (u), specificenthalpy (h), and specific entropy (s) based on either temperature or pressure. Functions for v, u,h, and s of saturated

Conference Session

Software and e-learning in the ME curriculum

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benson Tongue, University of California-Berkeley; Eric Lew, University of California-Berkeley

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

mechanical engineering offers, how the courses interrelate and how the material they’llbe learning will be reflected in future jobs. This paper will examine the workings of auser-driven, multi-modal program that attacks these issues in a combination of ways.3 Brief history and motivationYear after year the first author has heard similar questions. Questions such as “What coursesshould I take?” “I’m interested in becoming an automotive engineer - what electives wouldbe most relevant?” “The syllabus for ME 104 lists orbital mechanics. Why should I careabout this?” “What sort of jobs are there for someone who minors in vibrations?”These examples are typical of students who’ve already, for one reason or another, haveentered the mechanical engineering

Conference Session

What's New in Dynamics?

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Avitabile, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Jeffrey Hodgkins, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Page 11.479.9VI. AcknowledgementSome of the work presented herein was partially funded by the NSF Engineering EducationDivision Grant EEC-0314875 entitled “Multi-Semester Interwoven Project for Teaching BasicCore STEM Material Critical for Solving Dynamic Systems Problems”. Any opinions, findings,and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and donot necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation The authors are gratefulfor the support obtained from NSF to further engineering education.VI Bibliography1 Higley,K.A., Marianno,C.M., “Making Engineering Education Fun”, Journal of Engineering Education, Vol 90, No. 1, pp105-107, January 20012 Knight,C.V., McDonald,G.H

Conference Session

What's New in Dynamics?

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Wang; Oguz Soysal

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Page 11.254.34. Final exam X X X XAll ratings are converted to a zero-to-four scale. For the assessment of effectiveness ofprerequisites, the student mathematics and physics data are converted from a letter gradeA, B, C, or D to a grade point average of scale 4. They will be analyzed to indicate thedistribution of student performance for the course outcomes.Problem 1 in Test 1 is selected for measuring the students’ mathematics ability to solvekinematics problems for a particle. The problem includes the performance of derivativesand integrations for acceleration, velocity and position vectors. This assessment tool isselected because it reflects student’s mathematical background and also it represents

Conference Session

Meeting ABET Requirements

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig Gunn, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Page 11.781.7In ME 332, 451, 461, 412, 371, and 481, all rough drafts are read and suggestions are made onways to improve the communication of the text. These rough drafts go back to the students forrewrites and are graded by the teaching assistants. The grades reflect both facets: the technicaland the communication.It is also felt that it is important to empower students to make decisions on their own concerningtheir own writing. One way of doing this is to continually provide them with the means to checkwhat they have done and use as much of their own talent to modify text before it is handed inrough draft and in final from. One of the ways of doing this is in using checklists. One of thesechecklists follows. It focuses on a particular

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

semester.Actual performance by students as team members was stronger. To address student perceptions,this topic will be introduced into Sophomore Design, ME200, with the intention to bring studentsto a professional competency by their senior year.Over the three-year history of the course, instructor-based evaluation of the outcomes has risenslightly, with the greatest gains in Outcome 1, reflecting the increased exposure to theProfessional Component that is been developed. Student self-assessment has also risen sharplywith Outcomes 2, 3 and 4 over this time period, where students are gaining confidence in theirabilities to execute projects.Individual course assessment is integrated for overall Program Outcome assessment at a PeerReview of Course

Conference Session

Software and e-learning in the ME curriculum

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Frank Fisher, Stevens Institute of Technology; Constantin Chassapis, Stevens Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

engineering students.8,9 For example, student learning styles have beencharacterized according to the following five dimensions: sensory vs. intuitive, visual vs. verbal,inductive vs. deductive, active vs. reflect, and sequential vs. global.10 While student learningstyles can be expected to vary within a given class, the average college instructor is likely to bedescribed as an intuitive, verbal, deductive, reflective, and sequential learner.11 This is reflectedin the stereotypical “chalk-and-talk” teaching style prevalent in engineering education.However, a number of studies have shown the benefits of inductive teaching methods (such asproblem-based and project-based learning) and active learning (engaging students in activitiesother than listening

Conference Session

Introducing Active Learning into ME Courses

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Linsey, University of Texas-Austin; Brent Cobb, U.S. Air Force Academy; Daniel Jensen, U.S. Air Force Academy; Kristin Wood, University of Texas-Austin; Saad Eways, Austin Community College

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

determining a student’slearning preference, the VARK test serves as a catalyst for reflection by the student3. Thestudent takes a simple 13-question test that is aimed at discovering how they prefer to receiveand process information.After taking the test, the student receives a “preference score” for each of four areas. The firstarea is Visual (V). This area indicates how much the student prefers to receive informationfrom depictions “of information in charts, graphs, flow charts, and all the symbolic arrows,circles, hierarchies, and other devices that instructors use to represent what could have beenpresented in words.” The second area is Aural (A). This area indicates the student’s preferencefor hearing information. The third area is Read/Write (R

Conference Session

Software and e-learning in the ME curriculum

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Charles Van Karsen, Michigan Technological University; Peter Avitabile, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Jason Blough, Michigan Technological University; Henry Sodano, Michigan Technological University; Harold Evensen, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

was partially funded by the NSF Engineering EducationDivision Grant EEC-0314875 entitled “Multi-Semester Interwoven Project for Teaching BasicCore STEM Material Critical for Solving Dynamic Systems Problems”. Any opinions, findings,and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and donot necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation The authors are grateful forthe support obtained from NSF to further engineering education.References 1. Avitabile, P., Pennell, S., White, J.R., “An Interwoven Multisemester Dynanic Systems Project To Integrate Stem Material", Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Paper 2005

Conference Session

Incorporating Projects into the Curriculum

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Louis Everett, University of Texas-El Paso

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

author and Page 11.95.2do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Support was also from the PACE program(www.PACEpartners.org) and the author gratefully acknowledges their support. Many of the UTEP faculty believe hands on experience is one component of an excellentcurriculum. Ohland et. al. [1] makes a good case for this position and the author does not arguewith the point. As far as control labs are concerned there continues to be excellent discussion onimplementing technology with hardware [2]. This paper has a different focus and that is to usegraphical simulations of mechanical devices to

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

necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation The authors are gratefulfor the support obtained from NSF to further engineering education.VII Bibliography1 Higley,K.A., Marianno,C.M., “Making Engineering Education Fun”, Journal of Engineering Education, Vol 90, No. 1, pp105-107, January 20012 Davis,B.G., “Tools for Teaching”, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1993, p100.3 Piaget,J., “To Understand is to Invent”, Grossman, New York, 1973.4 Vygotsky,L., “Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes”, Harvard University Press, MA, 1978.5 Starrett,S., Morcos,M., “Hands-On, Minds-On Electric Power Education”, Journal of Engineering Education, Vol 90, No. 1, pp93-100, January 20016

Conference Session

What's New in Dynamics?

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Avitabile, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Stephen Pennell, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; John White, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Charles Van Karsen, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

multisemester dynamicsystems project. The salient feature of the project is that material from various courses (such asdifferential equations, mathematical methods, laboratory measurements and dynamic systems) isintegrated in a fashion that helps the students understand the need for basic STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) material.AcknowledgementSome of the work presented herein was partially funded by the NSF Engineering EducationDivision Grant EEC-0314875 entitled “Multi-Semester Interwoven Project for Teaching BasicCore STEM Material Critical for Solving Dynamic Systems Problems”. Any opinions, findings,and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and donot necessarily reflect the views

Conference Session

Improving ME education: Broad Topics

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amir Mobasher, Alabama A&M University; Ruben Rojas-Oviedo, Alabama A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

feature to enhance retention rate at the sophomore level forconcentrating studies in engineering disciplines. Citing evidence of project oriented financialsupport for the students is an attractive technique for motivation. This motivation assuresstudents in multi task projects and thereby builds strength. This strength reflects students’learning and directs them towards completing their educational goals in engineering. In a truesense these potential graduates may involve in as many multidisciplinary tasks as they mayencounter in the working arena.RECRUITING STRATEGYEntering new freshmen as well as transfer students constitute big weight of the composition ofthe student body within a given program. It is therefore important to formulate a

Conference Session

Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Cimbala, Pennsylvania State University; Laura L. Pauley; Sarah Zappe; Meng-Fen Hsieh, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

they already feltconfident in the lab setting. Many students (50.8%) felt that they would rather have an in-classdemonstration than a take-home experiment. Reasons listed that students would rather have anin-class demonstration mostly reflected a negativity towards having to do additional workoutside of the classroom.Most of the students felt that the lab did not pose any difficulties with the equipment or withworking as a team. An overwhelming majority of the students (90.2%) agreed that theinstructions were easy to follow for the lab. Approximately 77% felt that they did not havedifficulties in using the equipment. A total of 85% felt that their team worked well together. Theopen-ended comments corroborated these results. The only potential

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

from alumni as well as employers about ‘special understanding’ gained throughcapstone design prototyping.We recognize that the demanding task of mentoring senior design teams takes leadership,management, and proficiency with state-of-the-art tools. In order to better cultivate these skillsin design team mentors, a semester long graduate seminar has been created. This seminar allowsIEW members to share and reflect on actions taken with individual teams to find collectivesolutions for common problems. Page 11.895.4Despite extensive mentor development, experience has shown that seniors often need substantialshop training in order to complete their

Conference Session

Meeting ABET Requirements

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sarah Freeman, Tufts University; Douglas Matson, Tufts University; Grant Sharpe, Tufts University; Chris Swan, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

effective in taking a lead in the education of ourclients on the use of the new technologies. The visit was a success beyond our most optimistic projection of what we could get donein the short time we were in Tibet. These accomplishments pale in comparison to the personalgrowth and leadership skill development experiences that the students were able to take from thistrip. Real-world problems require an ability to adapt to local constraints that could not beanticipated. How do you make a building out of rocks and mud? Are there supplies available inremote locations for liquid waste handling (PVC pipe), venting (aluminum stove pipes), lumberfor structures (hand hewn logs), mortar (concrete with sifted sand), or reflective coatings

Conference Session

Improving ME education: Broad Topics

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Renuka Thota, University of Louisiana-Lafayette; Suren Dwivedi, University of Louisiana-Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

time-consuming, complex coating applications, and so suggests widepotential for its future use. With easier-to-apply photo-reflective coatings, it is now a relativelyquick and simple task to take a complex part and determine the stress distribution under a varietyof loading conditions.The technique can also be used for determining assembly stresses, due to bolt-up loads orinterference fits and the like, and has also found particular use as a quality monitoring tool in theglass industry. This method involves applying a thin epoxy coating to a metal, glass or plasticcomponent or even to a model of a component. When the component is loaded, stresses aretransmitted into the coating and when viewed under polarized light, the photo-elastic fringes

Conference Session

Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Seth Norberg, U.S. Military Academy; Ozer Arnas, U.S. Military Academy; Daisie Boettner, U.S. Military Academy; Michael Rounds, U.S. Military Academy; Phil Root, U.S. Military Academy; Richard Melnyk, U.S. Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics for a variety of reasons. Clemson Universitydeveloped a similar course targeted to second semester sophomore Mechanical Engineeringmajors that sought to address several administration goals: create a curriculum that is morefeasibly completed within four years and one that reflects the faculty’s “sense of correctness”and ABET requirements.5 The administration placed this Foundations of Thermal-FluidSciences course as a prerequisite for the full courses of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics.Similarly, when the Mechanical Engineering department at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)restructured their undergraduate curriculum, they chose to implement an integrated thermal-fluidscience course.6 West Point’s specific

Conference Session

Introducing Active Learning into ME Courses

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ibrahim Olwi, King Abdulaziz University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

mechanicscourse represents a good candidate for such transformation because it is a mandatory coursefor several engineering programs. The fluid mechanics course under consideration in thepresent work is a 4-credit, 6-contact hours course and enrolls about 150 students in 5 sectionsper semester.The course was redesigned and delivered during the last semester for one section only inorder to compare results and evaluate the experience with respect to the other four sectionshaving classical lectures but using data shows and power point presentations. The new coursedesign reflected the 5 pillars of active learning, namely; positive interdependence, individualaccountability, face to face interaction, social cooperative skills, and group processing. Inorder to