Conference Session

Innovative Teaching Methods

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cyndee Gruden, University of Toledo; Defne Apul, University of Toledo; Maria Diaz, University of Toledo

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

techniques included a background knowledge probe (pre-assessment), teacherdesigned feedback forms (post-assessment), teacher observation, and student performance onsubsequent exams.BackgroundPrecipitative softening is used by many water treatment facilities in the United States to addresshard water issues, which can result in clogged water transmission lines, shortened life of heatersand boilers, and poor lathering of water. Hard water is caused by an abundance of minerals insource waters, specifically polyvalent cations such as calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg). Hardwater is the most common water quality problem reported by US consumers, and it is typicallyattributed to ground water sources with high mineral content 1. In the Midwest, water

Conference Session

Assessment Methods

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abi Aghayere, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

assessment-of-learning or after-the-fact assessment technique -where the students rate the instructor, the course delivery method, the textbook, and otheraspects of the course. However, under this assessment regime, students cannot benefitfrom any course correction that may result from their feedback because the assessment iscompleted by students only at the end of the course. On the other hand, there is a dearthof assessment-for-learning techniques in US colleges and universities.1An assessment-for-learning technique 2, 3 was recently developed and has beensuccessfully implemented in a structural analysis course. The advantages of thistechnique, when compared to assessment-of-learning techniques, include the following: 1. Students are able to

Conference Session

Capstone Design II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lihong (Heidi) Jiao, Grand Valley State University; Jeffrey Ray, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

electrical engineering. The students learned skills inteam building, project management, communication skills, and budgeting. The outcome of thisproject was a fully functional probe station currently used in the solid-state laboratory.1. IntroductionAll engineering students in School of Engineering at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) arerequired to take a multidisciplinary two-course capstone design sequence during their senioryear. The two courses are structured to provide all students with a real-world understanding ofthe practice and principles of engineering and project management. The first course, EGR485 -Senior Engineering Project I, focuses on topics directly related to project management ofindustry projects including teambuilding

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Blair Rowley, Wright State University; Kumar Yelamarthi, Wright State University; Thomas Bazzoli, Wright State University

students towork in teams. A course outline is provided in Table 1.The computer lab exercises involve e-mail and web searching, designing an airplane wing,HTML scripting, MatLab, Excel, and statistics, and how things work as the writing intensiveassignment. The instrument labs cover 2-D and 3-D drawing using TurboCAD and SolidWorks,use of lab instruments, circuit measurements on resistive circuits, and building and testing amultivibrator, decade counter, and flip-flop using integrated circuits. In addition, basic solderingand basic wireless communication is taught using a temperature satellite. Apart from the labs,students also participate in three other teaming activities which are the focus of this paper. Thethree teaming events, three exams and

Conference Session

Computer ET Curriculum

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Paul Lin, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne; Melissa Lin, Exactech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

graduates have an abilityto identify, analyze, and solve technical problems. Figure 1, a cause-effect diagram, shows thatthe AS Electrical Engineering Technology program outcomes 1 through 7 lead to the Page 11.1237.3achievement of the AS EET program educational objective, where the CPET 190 ProblemSolving with MATLAB and ECET 296 Electronics System Fabrication are the two coursesidentified to fulfill AS EET Program Outcomes 5. All ECET students are required to take CPET190, in the second semester, which exposes students to creative technical problem solvingpractice that will be part of their daily lives and future careers.AS EET Prog. Outcomes 1

Conference Session

FPD3 -- Professional Issues for First-Year Courses

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sven Bilen, Pennsylvania State University; Beverly Jaeger, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

time.IntroductionIn addition to conveying engineering content, teaching first-year engineering students entails itsown specific educational issues, some of which are: (1) attracting and maintaining the students’interest and attention at a quality level, (2) helping students generate a sense of relevance Page 11.1315.2between class and engineering in the real world, (3) building a foundation to their technicalpresentation skills, (4) motivating them to be interested and inspired by engineering as a career,(5) making them feel part of the new academic world they are entering, and (6) allowing themto contribute to and participate in their own education. The OME

Conference Session

Defining Technological Literacy

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Douglass Klein, Union College; Robert Balmer, Union College

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

implications of those technologies for theworld? This paper addresses the concept of technological literacy for 21st centuryundergraduates and proposes an agenda for a new liberal arts curriculum which we call“Converging Technologies” which emphasizes both “technology” and “literacy.”I. Introduction It is high time to address and bridge the historical gulf between engineering and theliberal arts in higher education. Both engineering and liberal arts educators should not merelyview this as an interesting sideline, but rather as an educational imperative in order to introducestudents to the new interdisciplinary ideas that are changing the landscape of global society, andto “minimize the threat of terminal incompetence.”1 How long can we produce

Conference Session

Moral Development, Engineering Pedagogy and Ethics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christan Whysong, Virginia Tech; Jenny Lo, Virginia Tech; Kumar Mallikarjunan, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Biological SystemsEngineering (BSE). There exists a collaborative effort between some faculty of EngE and BSE, Page 11.735.2which is funded under the department-level reform (DLR) program of the NSF. The goal of theDLR project between these two departments is to reformulate curricula within the EngE and BSEprograms by using a theme-based spiral curriculum approach. The twentieth-centurypsychologist, Jerome Bruner, proposed the notion of a spiral curriculum in which basic ideas arevisited repeatedly in an increasingly complex manner. 1 Figure 1 provides a visual description ofthe spiral curriculum being implemented by EngE and BSE faculty

Conference Session

Integrating Math, Science, & Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen Pennell, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Peter Avitabile, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; John White, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

. The first involves a simple RC series circuit (modeled by afirst-order linear differential equation), and the second involves a single-degree-of-freedom Page 11.1205.2forced mass-spring-dashpot system (modeled by a second-order linear differential equation).Although these simple systems are well understood, they are new to the students, and they formthe basis of more complicated models.The RC circuit is illustrated in Figure 1. Using some basic facts from circuit theory, one canreadily derive the following differential equation to model this circuit: dQ 1 R

Conference Session

Mechanical ET Design & Projects

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Dues, Purdue University-New Albany; Nghia Le, Purdue University-New Albany

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

demonstrating fatigue in the classroom, data on the fatiguecharacteristics of metals for more than million cycles is not widely available. Students arepresented with the concept of a fatigue limit in carbon and low alloy steel – a level of stressbelow which the metal would not be expected to fail due to fatigue. For carbon steel, the fatiguelimit transition occurs around a million cycles.1 Demonstrating this fatigue limit in the Page 11.684.2classroom is nearly impossible with a tester operating at 1800 rpm.Lastly, temperature, particularly high temperature, is not a variable controlled during manyfatigue tests. Most fatigue tests are performed at

Conference Session

Knowing Our Students III

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brad Kinsey, University of New Hampshire; Erick Towle, University of New Hampshire; Grace Hwang, University of New Hampshire; Edward J. O'Brien, University of New Hampshire; Christopher F. Bauer, University of New Hampshire

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

different objects in both shaded and no hidden line representations.The web-based software recorded the radial button the student selected for each of thetest questions. To ensure anonymity, an encrypted identification (ITID) was used asopposed to the student’s name for data analysis purposes. Using this identification, theretention of a student could be tracked through the Dean’s Office of CEPS.The self efficacy test includes three example questions to provide instruction to thestudent followed by twenty questions. A question begins with two images of an objectbeing shown on the screen before (left image) and after (right image) rotation (see Fig.1). These images are presented for three seconds and then removed from the screen.This short amount of

Conference Session

Design in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Krisztian Dancs, University of North Florida; Vanja Gadzic, University of North Florida; Tyler Dao, University of North Florida; Truong Nguyen, University of North Florida; Chiu Choi, University of North Florida

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

electronics. The vechicle responded accordingly as designed.When the speed of the vehicle was kept less than 10 miles per hour, it was maneuverable aroundthe testing area easily. Trying to drive the vehicle from a keyboard was somewhat difficult athigh speed and it took time to learn. The work performed in this project can be used for afollow-up project, which goal is to remotely control the vehicle.I. Introduction Page 11.139.2One of the goals of this design project is to explore the possibility of performing all drivecontrols of an automobile by a laptop computer. A block diagram of our design is shown inFigure 1.KeyboardInputs

Conference Session

Standards Based Approaches to K -12 Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chris Merrill, Illinois State University; Vincent Childress, North Carolina A&T; Rodney Custer, Illinois State University; Craig Rhodes, North Carolina A&T

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

EducationInfusing engineering-related concepts into K-12 level curriculum is a rather new initiative forpublic school teachers in the United States, especially those who teach technology education.Maurice Thomas, in a paper presented at the Mississippi Valley Technology Teacher EducationConference, stated that “Technology education has the opportunity to become a partner withengineering and benefit from their image, support, and political power. Many argue that we[technology education] would gain a great deal and lose little because engineering content fitscomfortably with technology education objectives and content.”1 Many technology teachers,however, wonder if this new initiative is viable for the future of the technology educationprofession, or that

Conference Session

Innovative Curriculum & non-Technical Skills

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Dues, Purdue University-New Albany

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

calculations needed.1 FEArequires an extremely large number of calculations to solve and is only practical today due tomodern advances in computer speed and capacity. In the 1970’s, general purpose finite elementsoftware was developed due to the increasing availability and power of digital computers.Digital computers in the form of mainframe computers provided an efficient tool to performfinite element calculations. Since then, computer hardware has rapidly increased in speed and Page 11.264.2storage capacity and the FEA software has gained better interfaces, pre and post processing ofthe data and improved graphics.2Since the early days of FEA, there

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott Rogers, Georgia Institute of Technology; Jeremy Noonan, Purdue University; Jaemeen Baek, Georgia Institute of Technology; Sangil Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology; Ulas Tezel, Georgia Institute of Technology; Grant Michalski, Georgia Institute of Technology; Chia-Hung Hou, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

assessment tool.IntroductionObstacles in assessing engineering academic conditions validly and specifically are common andare well-documented. Olds et al.1 in a review of engineering education assessment approachesnoted the efficiency of conducting surveys with respect to other assessment methods as well asthe drawbacks of using surveys. Extrapolating from documented drawbacks, it can be concludedthat obstacles in conducting surveys to assess academic conditions can include generatinginterest in assessment efforts in order to achieve high response rates, transcendingcommunication barriers, preserving confidentiality, minimizing biases from numerous sources,and conducting meaningful statistical analyses. Thus, researchers are still seeking methods

Conference Session

ECE Curriculum Innovations

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Plett, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Rodger Ziemer, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Michael Ciletti, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; R. Dandapani, University of Colordo-Colorado Springs; T. S. Kalkur, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Mark Wickert, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

robotics course had been successful in part because the concept of robotswas not foreign to the students, because there was a high degree of hands-on content in thecourse, and because we had been careful to use modern pedagogy in different learning environ-ments. We have made several decisions that are designed to propagate these successes further:(1) to put a signal processing course first in the systems sequence, followed by two updatedcourses in circuits and systems (previously, we had two circuits courses first, followed by a lin-ear systems course); (2) to combine the lecture and laboratory portions of each of these threecourses into a single entity; and (3) to update the pedagogy of each course to reach, reinforce,and challenge students of

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lihong (Heidi) Jiao, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

electricity, magnetism, and basicideas in optics. CHM 115 includes the structure of matter, nuclear chemistry, periodic properties,bonding, molecular shape, etc. Students have learned atomic theory in CHM 115 course. In EGR255, concepts such as protons, neutrons, electrons, atomic number, and atomic mass arereviewed. To study the particle behavior at an atomic level and to explain questions such as whyatoms are stable, why periodic table has the structure it does, basic quantum theory areintroduced. Problems arise when students first encounter the theory of quantum mechanics. Thefirst problem is that quantum concepts are largely mathematical and the second is that it isdifficult to connect it with “reality”. My approach in this module is to (1

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary and Liberal Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Ollis, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

2006-930: MAKING MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEACHING COMMONPLACEDavid Ollis, North Carolina State University Page 11.907.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Making Multidisciplinary Teaching CommonplaceAbstractThe repeating cry for more campus courses containing multidisciplinary aspects begs thequestion "How is Multidisciplinarity to be identified and assessed?" We discuss threeengineering approaches to this question: 1. "Doing it all yourself" which requires dual initial degrees or extensivemid-career retraining of self. Examples: John Lienhard , University of Houston, author"Inventing Modern: Growing up with X-rays, skyscrapers, and tailfins" and

Conference Session

Recruiting and Retention

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Clifford Mirman, Northern Illinois University; Xueshu Song, Northern Illinois University; Promod Vohra, Northern Illinois University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

a uniquepartnership with Rock Valley College, which has resulted in the development of a technology3+1 program. With a current enrollment of over 100 students, the program is offered off campusthrough live and distance video formats. The Department is now looking to develop twoadditional programs utilizing clusters of community colleges as program feeders. This programplaces much emphasis on the infrastructure needs, namely articulation, advising, marketing,scheduling, and Inter-college program development. This paper will discuss the modes used todevelop this complex program and to provide the needed communication between the partnersand students.Program NeedThe community college system within the State of Illinois is wide spread and

Conference Session

FPD5 -- Placement & Early Success

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janet Callahan; John Gardner, Boise State University; Amy Moll, Boise State University; Pat Pyke, Boise State University; Cheryl Schrader, Boise State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

many of our students must pass before they can move on to Calculus I. In addition, thestandard Introduction to Engineering course was modified to more directly support studentsconcurrently enrolled in Calculus I. Preliminary results indicate that students who concurrentlyenroll in an engineering course along with the Precalculus or Calculus I achieve higher successrates in their math class.1.0 IntroductionThere are a variety of factors influencing student retention and success in engineering. One ofthese factors is strongly linked to mathematics education in both high school and in the freshmanyear.1 In fact, success in the first semester mathematics class at Boise State University is themost effective predictor of freshman retention among

Conference Session

Computing Tools for Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hassouneh Al-Matar, Oklahoma State University; Afshin Ghajar, Oklahoma State University; Ronald Delahoussaye, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

available to all.Motivation for the Project Before starting this project, the authors were aware of many existing software options forcomputer based heat transfer analysis. Unfortunately, all of them had major drawbacks for ourpurposes. There are professional level programs that can perform highly detailed heat transfer andfluid flow analysis, and most are available at a substantial educational discount. These programshave three major drawbacks: they are not designed to teach numerical heat transfer analysis; thetime required to learn to use these programs is substantial; and the cost to individual students isstill fairly high. Many heat transfer textbooks (see for example References 1 and 2) now include softwareaimed at

Conference Session

Teaching with Technology in Dynamics and Mechanics of Materials

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Salim Haidar, Grand Valley State University; Ali Mohammadzadeh, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

model example, we propose to evaluate the position, velocity and the time at which the 1pound block leaves the surface of a cylindrical surface on which it slides. The block is assumedto have an initial velocity V0 at the top of the cylinder and is subject to a constraint friction forceof kinetic coefficient of friction, µk (See Figure 1). To achieve a stable numerical solution, weassume, without loss of generality, a specific initial speed of 10 ft/s for the block and considerthe coefficient of kinetic friction between the block and surface to be zero in one case and 0.2 inthe other. The radius of cylinder, r = 5 ft. V0 r

Conference Session

FPD3 -- Professional Issues for First-Year Courses

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dwight Tolliver, University of Tennessee; Lauren Hines, University of Tennessee; J. Roger Parsons, University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Tennessee has beenconsistent over the past five years. Thus, a report from 20025 discussed the demographicinformation of these students, which is as follows: 80-84% male, 79-87% Caucasian, 11-13% African American, 1-6% Asian American, average Math ACT score between 26.2-26.8, average composite ACT between 25.5-25.8, and average high school GPA of 3.43.The students’ attitudes and perceptions of group work were assessed by the EngineeringFundamentals (EF) Group Work Survey, developed by the authors. The survey wascomprised of 22 statements, seven of which were negatively worded. Respondentsindicated their agreement on a 7 point Likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree(1) to strongly agree (7). Higher scores, except for the negatively worded

Conference Session

Contemporary Instrumentation

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Hergert, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

well. The function m_CommPort.Open is used to configure an Page 11.371.2RS-232 port. An example that sets the port for 600 baud, 7 data bits, no parity, 2 stop bits, and a13 character buffer would be:m_CommPort.Open(1, 600, 7, Rs232.DataParity.Parity_None, _ Rs232.DataStopBit.StopBit_2, 13)To write a character to the port use the “m_CommPort.Write” function. An example that writesthe character D to the port would be:m_CommPort.Write("D")The m_CommPort.Read() function assumes that bytes are being read. An examples that wouldread 13 bytes would be:m_CommPort.Read(13)Finally m_CommPort.Close()is used to close the RS-232 port.Retrieving

Conference Session

Women Faculty Issues and NSF's ADVANCE program

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jana Renner Martinez, University of Texas-El Paso; Evelyn Posey, University of Texas-El Paso

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

colleagues; lack of support from peers and administration;3,6,7,11 and dual careersituations where the spouse did not find work.7 Family issues also derail women, as they try totime additions to the family and tenure. In Sue Rosser’s study of academic women’s struggles,over 60 percent of women interviewed reported that balancing their career and family was aconcern.11The National Science Foundation funds the ADVANCE Institutional Transformation for FacultyDiversity program with the goal of increasing the representation of women in academic scienceand engineering careers. At the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), the ADVANCE missionis twofold: 1) to value a talented, diverse faculty and recognize that a collegial, productiveenvironment can be

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Salim Haidar, Grand Valley State University; Ali Mohammadzadeh, Grand Valley State University

system response to the rough terrain.To lower the intensity of the annoying pitch motion of the vehicle SIMULINK, as a design toolthis time, was used to find a proper damping for suspension system to achieve this goal.Students’ feedback with respect to the project was very positive. They all enjoyed working withSIMULINK especially due to the relative ease in building the system model in comparison withthe corresponding MATLAB model. In short, students indicated that SIMULINK helped them alot in achieving a deeper, holistic understanding of the course material and its objectives bypromoting a virtual laboratory for vibration concepts.Problem Statement Figure 1 l1

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amir Rezaei, West Virginia University Inst. of Tech.; Marco Schoen, Idaho State University; Gurdeep Hura, West Viginia University Inst. of Tech.

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

engineering created in new software tools and share the experiencewith other engineering educators to enhance teaching in the classroom. Page 11.769.2I. IntroductionBasic animation and simulation can significantly improve the instructional process relative to thetraditional blackboard approach[1]. Textbook homework problems and examples presented to thestudents on the board during the class period are helpful but even then, a student may havedifficulty visualizing what a mathematical solution to a problem means. Using computationalsoftware equipped with simulation capability during the class period will enhance studentunderstanding of the fundamental

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Hanson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

with a description of fourcategories of errors in structural analysis and design: idealization of the real structure,assumptions inherent to the analysis method or design equations, roundoff error, and humanerror. 1. Idealization of the real structure. This category includes all of the assumptions we intentionally make in order to model a structure. Some examples include assuming unrestrained rotation at every joint of a truss, exactly straight members, or perfectly rigid Page 11.1225.2 diaphragms. Fortunately, many of the errors induced by the idealization of the structure have a relatively small impact. The load and strength

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Melinda Hess, University of South Florida; Autar Kaw, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

ASSESSING TEACHING METHODS FOR A COURSE IN NUMERICAL METHODSAbstract Effectiveness of four instructional delivery modalities – 1) Traditional lecture, 2) Web-enhanced lecture, 3) Web-based self-study, and 4) Combined web-based self-study & classroomdiscussion, was investigated for a single instructional unit (Nonlinear Equations) over separateadministrations of an undergraduate course in Numerical Methods. Two assessment instruments– 1) student performance on a multiple-choice examination, and 2) a student satisfaction surveywere used to gather relevant data to compare the delivery modalities. Statistical analysis of theassessment data indicates that the second modality where web-based modules for instructionwere

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Thompson, Oklahoma State University; Mwarumba Mwavita, Oklahoma State University

” was coded as “5”, grade “B”as “4”, grade “C” as “3”, grade “D” as “2”, and grade “F” as “1”.ResultsStatistical analyses were conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS). First, means and standard deviations were calculated (Table 2).Table 2: Mean and Standard deviation of calculus grade and help-seeking variables Variable N Mean Standard Deviation Calculus grade 243 3.51 1.4 Page 11.682.4 Help-seeking 294 13.7 6.1The results indicated freshmen engineering students in this sample on average achieved ahigh “C” grade. On the other hand, the students exhibited low help-seeking behaviors.Further