Paper ID #11198Starting with the a-ha: An integrated introduction to solid and fluid mechan-icsDr. Jenn Stroud Rossmann, Lafayette College Jenn Stroud Rossmann is Associate Professor and Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at Lafayette College. She earned her BS in mechanical engineering and the PhD in applied physics from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining Lafayette, she was a faculty member at Harvey Mudd College. Her scholarly interests include the fluid dynamics of blood in vessels affected by atherosclerosis and aneurysm, the cultural history of engineering, and the aerodynamics of sports
required mechanics sequence in a new integrated format to sophomores beginningwith the Fall 2009 semester. As shown in Table 1, the classical sequence of coursework insubjects of Statics, Dynamics, Mechanics of Solids, Fluid Mechanics, and Civil EngineeringMaterials was replaced with a series of three four credit courses. An overview of this curriculumrestructuring process is provided by Glynn et al.1 and Wadzuk et al.2 A Body of Knowledge(BOK) approach was used to identify the key concepts to be included in the three new courses.3 Page 26.780.2 Table 1 – Old and new mechanics curricula in CEE at Villanova University
extreme conditionsdissonance can describe a contrary condition, it doesn't have to be that extreme. In fact, in its lessintense state, dissonance can be described as that which is not accepted or integrated into theexisting framework or model. When it initially occurs, dissonance is often attention-gettingbecause an observation does not fit into a preexisting understanding or knowledge of theenvironment. As an example, advertisers use this model to great effect, changing promotions,billboards, commercials on a regular basis. This is in an attempt to get your attention andhopefully convince you to buy their product or service.In an academic environment cognitive dissonance can be used as an opportunity for learning4.Dissonance has been described
processwhereby learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor, regulate, and controltheir cognition, motivation, and behavior, guided and constrained by their goals and thecontextual features in the environment” (p. 453). Specifically in Statics, successful students mustlearn to integrate knowledge and skills from several first-year engineering and mathematicscourses, effectively manage time and study strategies, and develop an awareness of whatconcepts may require additional attention to excel on high-stakes achievement tests. Thoughstudent success in any course is a function of these interdisciplinary skills, because Staticsrepresents such an early pivotal point in an engineering curriculum, student ability to self-regulate learning
thelecture hall and placed them in a separate lecture setting. It is important that students be allowedto take this first engineering core course in their sophomore year of the curriculum due to therequirement of the course as a prerequisite for follow-on core engineering science courses. Bypresenting an online version of the course, the number of students allowed to take the coursewould not be limited, thus giving them the opportunity to stay on track in their chosen major.Second, the college has been making a concerted effort for a number of years to advance andincrease online courses through its Distance Education department, with the goals of increasedenrollment, retention, and graduation within the college. Since the university is situated in
26.694.3MethodologyA first course in mechanics of materials that is part of the general engineering curriculum at theUniversity was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the flipped classroom approach. The courseis required for bioengineering, Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering majors, or chosenas an elective by those majoring in Engineering Physics and Engineering Management. Thecourse selected for this study is four semester credits and was taught over five weeks. Thecourse was taught twice during the summer of 2014 in the first and third summer sessions, withthe first session conducted as a traditional lecture-based course; and the second iteration of thecourse taught using a flipped classroom approach. Both courses met five days per week for
some statics classes, as many as 35 percent of students earn a D or an F. Thesegrades are typically not high enough for the student to move on to subsequent classes and maydramatically alter a student’s plans for earning an engineering degree in a certain period of time. Page 26.890.2Therefore, targeting key courses in the sophomore year that serve as a foundation for furthercoursework in the discipline may be particularly effective in helping students.While evidence shows that implementing more active teaching and learning strategies areeffective in improving student engagement and learning4, there is often a disconnect betweenacknowledging
approaches. Changing the sequence of topicsin engineering mechanics is one solution to create more integrity within the engineeringmechanics course4, 25, 26. Cornwell4 described the new distribution of topics in mechanics coursesand demonstrated the improvements made possible by a new sequence of curriculum. In an effortto span over freshman and sophomore years courses, Belytschko25 developed a curriculum byintegrating a subset of mathematics and science with engineering. It targeted engineering designto foster freshman year students through a four-course sequence called “Engineering Analysis”25.Nonetheless, changes in curriculum face two major challenges. First, it is difficult to assess theimpact of curricular changes in a short time, and no
Problems:Enhancing Student Problem-Solving Ability in Statics and Mechanics of Materials”. Proc. ASEE Conference & Exposition, 2012. 4. Hugh A. Bruck, Dave K. Anand, William L. Fourney, Peter C. Chang, and James W. Dally. “Development of an Integrated Statics and Strength of Materials Curriculum with an Emphasis on Design. Proc. ASEE Conference & Exposition, 1999. 5. Papadopoulos, C., A. Santiago Román, G. Portela Gauthier, and A. Ponce. “Leveraging Simulation Tools to Deliver Ill-Structured Problems in Statics and Mechanics of Materials: Initial Results”. Proc. ASEE Conference & Exposition, 2013. 6. Ertmer, P., D. Stepich, C. York, A. Stickman, X. Wu, and S. Zurek. “How Instructional Design Experts
Paper ID #12100Video Resources and Peer Collaboration in Engineering Mechanics: Impactand Usage Across Learning OutcomesDr. Edward J. Berger, Purdue University Edward Berger is an Associate Professor of Engineering Education and Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, joining Purdue in August 2014. He has been teaching mechanics for nearly 20 years, and has worked extensively on the integration and assessment of specific technology interventions in mechanics classes. He was one of the co-leaders in 2013-2014 of the ASEE Virtual Community of Practice (VCP) for mechanics educators across the country.Dr. Edward A Pan
curriculum, for example:instantaneous centers of rotation, damped vibration, or impulsive motion. Each group then builtone stage of what would become a class Rube Goldberg machine under the stipulation that theirstage must demonstrate the assigned topic area. Further, a report was submitted, describing theassigned topic area and how their stage demonstrated that topic area. At the end of the semester,each stage was assembled to build the full Rube Goldberg machine. As such, the student groupshad to communicate with each other to determine how to transition between stages. This aspectwas intended to incorporate an additional layer of communication and collaboration early in theundergraduate engineering curriculum.The use of a Rube Goldberg based
helped to develop and teach the six course engineering design sequence which represents the spine of the curriculum for the Department of Engineering. The research and teaching interests of Dr. Nagel tend to revolve around engineering design and engineering design education, and in particular, the design conceptualization phase of the design process. He has performed research with the US Army Chemical Corps, General Motors Research and Development Center, and the US Air Force Academy, and he has received grants from the NSF, the EPA, and General Motors Corporation.Dr. Robert J Prins, James Madison University Robert Prins received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2005; he is currently an