Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 4

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Simon Livingston-Jha, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Matthew M Grondin, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Kyle Ma, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee; Wensheng Hu, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Jennifer Detlor, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

Plans for the App In recognizing the stark differences in how novices and experts approach and representproblem solutions and the various stages of acquiring expertise, an assessment that tracksstudents’ emerging conceptualizations of stress transformations and Mohr’s Circle has beendeveloped to adequately assess the effectiveness of the MATLAB application on learningoutcomes [17, 18]. For the assessment, multiple choice questions using three levels ofabstraction including less-abstract, more-abstract, and fully-abstract are used to measurestudents’ level of knowledge acquisition between three stages: novice, competent, and expert[18]. The level of abstraction is defined as the degree of complexity of the concept of thought[19]. That is

Conference Session

Keeping It Real: Real World Examples and Systems Thinking

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashley J. Earle, York College of Pennsylvania; Stephen N. Kuchnicki, York College of Pennsylvania; Scott F. Kiefer, York College of Pennsylvania; Stephen Andrew Wilkerson, P.E., York College of Pennsylvania

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

iteratively “engineer” withoutdoing the prerequisite planning, designing, or calculating that would be necessary in subtractivemanufacturing. It was clear that numerous students were printing, realizing they made amistake, then re-printing. While 3D printing is useful for rapid prototyping, it does not replacerobustness of mechanical design. Moving forward, we felt that this could be addressed byincluding some more direct information on the relative benefits and weakness of additive vs.subtractive manufacturing as well as mandating that certain components be machined insteadof printed.Anecdotally, many students told us that this project was cool and that they were excited towork on it. At our focus group over the summer, we will attempt to gain

Conference Session

Digital Methods in Mechanics: Teaching with Digital Tools

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rick Hill, University of Detroit, Mercy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

choose to hide or show/run when they are ready to check their work. Setting up alive script as an unfilled template can also allow live scripts to be used as homeworkassignments.ConclusionThis work has described the use of the MATLAB Live Editor for the creation of live scripts foruse as virtual activities and laboratories to improve student engagement and learning. Severalexamples were provided and the author’s experience in piloting activities over the past two yearshas been shared. The author plans to continue developing interactive materials for use in theircourses with a further goal to formally assess their impacts on student learning. In addition to thewebsite provided by the author sharing the live script activities they have developed

Conference Session

Assessing Conceptual Thinking about Engineering Mechanics

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amie Baisley, University of Florida; Keith D. Hjelmstad, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

trends. First, it appears that many of the fall semestersstart with a lower average number of correct answers and/or have smaller number of gains thanmany of the spring semesters. An explanation for this could be due to the spring semesters havingthe students that are typically on-track in their curriculum progress. Deformable Solids is typicallyscheduled in the spring semester following Statics in the fall semester for students that arefollowing the 4-year plan for the program. The Statics class in the spring includes both studentswho are behind, usually due to needing a remedial math course, and those who are ahead, usuallythose who come to college with advance placement credit. Also, the fall semester follows a longerbreak (summer) than the

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 1A

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ryan Carr, U.S. Air Force Academy; Phillip Cornwell, U.S. Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

to assess the performance of chatbots.The authors plan to rebuild the DCI in a JSON format to facilitate automated testing of updatedversions of ChatGPT through the API 8,9. Hopefully this will stimulate more investigation intothe utility of modern AI tools, resulting in broader studies with more data for statistical analysis.Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarilyreflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force Academy, the Air Force, theDepartment of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Approved for public release, USAFA-DF-2025-412: distribution unlimited.References[1] J. Qadir, “Engineering Education in the Era of ChatGPT: Promise and Pitfalls of

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 1A

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Milad Rezvani Rad, University of Southern Indiana; Julian Ly Davis, University of Southern Indiana

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

unreliable11) How would you evaluate ChatGPT 4.0's explanations of mechanics problems? a. Excellent, very clear and detailed b. Good, mostly clear and detailed c. Neutral d. Poor, unclear or missing details e. Very poor, confusing or incorrect12) Would you recommend using ChatGPT 4.0 for mechanics-related problems to otherstudents? a. Yes b. No13) Do you plan to continue using ChatGPT 4.0 for learning engineering concepts in the future? a. Yes b. No14) What are your suggestions for improving the use of ChatGPT 4.0 in solving mechanicsproblems?15) What specific learning goals or objectives do you aim to achieve when using ChatGPT 4.0for engineering-related topics?16) Do you find that ChatGPT 4.0 helps you achieve a deeper

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 7A

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alexander John De Rosa, University of Delaware; Teri Kristine Reed, The University of Oklahoma Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

then dividing it by thetotal area.”“I'm gonna give you a different perspective… [further discussion of mathematical concepts]…then calculus can be thought of as like the present, the past and the future.”“I was thinking about as well, like, another backup plan would be, if I had access to a PCinstead of trying to remember what this formula was, then I would like write a computer code tolike break this into little pieces. Right? And I would say, Well, if this piece is above the curve, addit. If it's below the curve, don’t. And then average all of that.”In the first comment above, the expert demonstrates their deeper understanding of themathematical underpinnings of the centroid concept and how it relates to the broader idea ofweighted averages

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 6

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Priyantha Wijesinghe, University of Vermont; Varuni A. Seneviratne, University of Vermont; Larry R Medsker, The George Washington University; Courtney D Giles, University of Vermont; Marlee Ottati, University of Vermont

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

scaffolding.These findings emphasize the need for targeted instructional strategies. For foundationalproblems, such as unit conversion and vector addition, students showed stronger performance.However, the persistent gaps in moments and static equilibrium suggest a need for deeperconceptual support, iterative practice, and improved scaffolding. Addressing these challengeswill be critical for refining the SKI and enhancing students' understanding of complexengineering concepts.XI. Future WorkFuture work will include continued use and testing of the SKI at the authors’ institution to assessknowledge transfer during the Learning Map Project. We plan to share these results and analyseswith physics, statics, and dynamics instructors during regular check-ins and

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 1B

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Geoffrey Recktenwald, Michigan State University; Julian Ly Davis, University of Southern Indiana; Amie Baisley, University of Florida

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

several issues including thoserelated to teaching style. At University A, rigid body dynamics is covered quite early in thesemester so students are solving these problems earlier than the students at Universities B and C.At University B, students are given two attempts at each exam and may leave a question blankbecause they solved it on the first exam or plan on solving it on the 2nd exam. Additionally,Universities A and C made the concept problem a regular exam question while University Bmade the concept problems a bonus question.As one can expect, creating rigid study controls across several universities can be challenging.This study is designed to be exploratory in nature, thus we acknowledge that there are limitationsin the data.Exam Problems

Conference Session

Keeping It Real: Real World Examples and Systems Thinking

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Huihui Qi, University of California, San Diego; Changkai Chen; Richard Eugene Vallejo Jr., University of California, San Diego; Trevor Keoki Oshiro; Edward Zhou Yang Yu, University of California, San Diego; Isabella Fiorini

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

manufacturing for inquiry-based learning activity models and demonstrations. He plans on pursuing a fu- ture career in engineering education at the high school level. Outside of academics, Richard is a lead for Triton Robotics at UC San Diego, helping design and manufacture their competition robots for the annual RoboMaster competition. His hobbies also include spending time with friends, cooking new recipes, and creating artwork using spray paint.Trevor Keoki OshiroEdward Zhou Yang Yu, University of California, San Diego Edward Yu is currently an aerospace engineering undergraduate student interested in structural optimiza- tion of load-bearing structures, particularly in relation to rockets and space-flight

Conference Session

Teaching Mechanics: Modes and Methods

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Phillip Cornwell, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Ioan Feier; Nicholas J. Marco; Danielle Ozment

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

flipping affected student performance on commonly graded exams.  Evaluate student engagement in the flipped class based on self-reported participation in pre-class activities.  Identify why some students preferred a flipped structure and other students preferred a traditional structure.  Identify best practices for new instructors who are planning to teach a flipped class.Description of the courseME220 is one of many STEM “core” courses that all students, both engineering and non-engineering majors, are required to take at USAFA. This core course focuses on statics andmechanics of materials, and it is the first engineering course the students take. In the fallsemester of 2022, a total of 508 students took the course

Conference Session

Digital Methods in Mechanics: Teaching with Digital Tools

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Diana Arboleda, University of Miami; James Giancaspro, P.E., University of Miami; Max Cacchione, University of Miami; Mert Okyay, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

issues encountered, and plans for future work. It is hoped that the readerwill gain a holistic view of the efforts invested to create an AR application for engineeringmechanics education.2. ConceptualizationMotivation and goalsThe authors conceived the idea for this app after they developed a prior AR app aimed at helpingundergraduate engineering students understand the concept of distributed forces acting on auniform beam [14]. In that app, students are given the freedom to (a) manually create a virtualbeam, (b) specify the locations of a pin and roller support, and (c) apply vertical forces usingeither a uniform or triangular distribution. The app draws the Free Body Diagram of the beam,displays the resultant force for each distribution, and

Conference Session

Unique Pedagogies for Mechanics Education

Collection

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marguerite Matherne, Northeastern University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

non-traditionalstudents improve their learning and has been adapted into many different teaching contexts. Thebackbone of JiTT involves students completing an online assignment, called a warm-up, basedon an assigned reading. Students have up until a few hours before class starts to complete theassignment. In those few hours before class the instructor reviews student responses and adaptstheir plan for class according to the students’ current knowledge level. This paper describes theimplementation of JiTT in an undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Mechanics of Materialscourse, with the goal of using it to help students achieve learning objectives on the lower end ofBloom’s taxonomy before class. Short answer type questions for learning

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 5

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anyerson Cuervo-Basurto, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE); Hong Tran, Purdue Engineering Education; Edward J. Berger, Purdue University at West Lafayette (PWL) (COE); Fredy Rodriguez, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

Development for adoption and adaptation of new instructional practices. In S. Linder, C. Lee, S. Stefl, & K. High (Eds.), Handbook of STEM Faculty Development (pp. 3–13). IAP.Birt, J. A., Khajeloo, M., Rega‐Brodsky, C. C., Siegel, M. A., Hancock, T. S., Cummings, K., & Nguyen, P. D. (2019). Fostering agency to overcome barriers in college science teaching: Going against the grain to enact reform‐based ideas. Science Education, 103(4), 770–798. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21519 19Estaiteyeh, M., & DeCoito, I. (2023). Planning for Differentiated Instruction: Empowering Teacher Candidates in STEM Education

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 1B

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wayne L Chang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Mikayla R Hoyle, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Melany Denise Opolz, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Jean-Christophe Raymond-Bertrand, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Nikhil Chandra Admal, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Thomas Golecki, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Kellie M Halloran, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Shelby Hutchens, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Callan Luetkemeyer, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Brian Mercer, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Matthew West, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Mariana Kersh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

,contributions from individual instructors can continue to be carried out by future instructors withthe coordinator’s help. The coordinator is the bridge between courses and between semesters.Students and new instructors have greatly benefited from standard course policies and consistentexpectations.Reform Project 2: Integration of computational tools in collaboration with computer science andmath prerequisite coursesThe project aimed to modernize essential undergraduate service courses by incorporatingmeaningful computational tools and exercises. While the focus was initially on Statics, the facultyparticipating in this project is the core of a broader Python Working Group initiative, with plans toimplement similar changes in other courses over time

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 6

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ibukunoluwa Eunice Salami, University of Nebraska - Lincoln; Logan Andrew Perry, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

assistants tocurrent students who are struggling in a course [40], [41]. In our future work, we plan to explorethe impact of learning assistants more comprehensively by comparing the perceptions of bothinstructors and students. This investigation aims to identify and address recurring challenges inengineering statics. By reducing the high rate of failing grades and providing actionablerecommendations for statics instructors, this work seeks to improve students' learningexperiences and manage their expectations of the course.RecommendationsThe following summarizes our recommendations on improving the challenges students face inengineering statics based on this study’s findings:Revisit Prerequisite Concepts: Instructors should allocate time to revisit

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 3

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine F. Goble, Centre College; Martha E. Grady, University of Kentucky

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)

resources required to implement a set ofsix hands-on statics activities. It is well established that active and hands-on learning canimprove student outcomes. However, planning, resourcing, and implementation can be a barrierto their use. Our goal is to lower the implementation barrier for busy faculty that are hesitant toadopt active learning despite awareness of the research. We have created an easily accessiblerepository of the resources required to source, assemble, and implement Statics Shoebox Kits.Five criteria were considered in the development of the kits and activities. 1) Very little prep timeshould be required from the instructor. 2) The materials should be readily available, portable,inexpensive, and reusable. 3) Activity worksheets

Conference Session

Mechanics Division (MECHS) Technical Session 1A

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jacklyn Wyszynski, University of Pittsburgh; David Adam DeFrancisis, University of Pittsburgh; David Pabst, University of Pittsburgh; Lee Allen Dosse, University of Pittsburgh; Matthew M. Barry, University of Pittsburgh

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics Division (MECHS)