methods of preserving students aswhole people within these reductionist, mechanistic environments of large-scale undergraduateengineering education.IntroductionThe research context is a next-tier broadening participation program initiated in 2009 at a largeresearch-active public university, with data collected as a part of an extensive programevaluation and assessment from 2012-16, funded in part by the National Science Foundation.Aspects of the performance-enhancing year program have been detailed in prior publications [1–4], thus only an overview is offered below to situate a specific Pre-Calculus for Engineerscourse that is the locus of the data and analysis presented in this paper.The Engineering GoldShirt Program (GS) in the College of
Microfluidics,and introduces them to these topics by utilizing a lab-on-a-chip.There are two versions of this program, but they have many similarities. Both of the courses utilize a2” diameter chip of 1/8” acrylic that has features machined into it that were custom designed bystudent teams. Both introduce the students to common lab and medical supplies such as: rubber(nitrile) gloves, disposable syringes with plastic precision tips, Kimwipes, petri dishes, PDMS, ultrasoniccleaning machines, etc.In one version of the course the students build and calibrate an electrical circuit which is used tomeasure the concentration of a solution of fluorescein. This is accomplished through repeated testingusing a 1000ppm solution of fluorescein to calibrate the
in order to solve problems that theyhave personally identified. Design thinking and iterative prototyping are key Maker activities [1],as is community collaboration, which often takes place at Maker Faires. In these fail-safeenvironments, Makers as young as eight years old feel comfortable pitching their ideas andreceiving constructive criticism on them from other Makers and the general public. Even outsideof these fairs, Makers rely on a strong learning ecology [2] with similar characteristics. In spacessuch as TechShop [3], Makers work on their projects alongside other Makers, providing aplatform for sharing skills, knowledge, and experience. Within these patterns of activity, Makersexhibit the ability to design solutions that require a
partners and collaborators into a series ofactivities intended for use during ongoing Science Center programming. As such, this paperfocuses specifically on the following research questions: 1) How are the types of familiar making activities identified by project participants aligned (or not) with the types of activities commonly associated with the Maker Movement? 2) How do the types of activities created during Making Connections align with the types of activities commonly associated with the Maker Movement? 3) What funds of knowledge were included in the activities developed as part of Making Connections?MethodsThe research questions articulated above are a subset of the larger research endeavors taken upduring the Making
describes three other identity categories: Nature-identity,which is attributed to innate qualities that are presumed to be unchangeable, Institutional-identity, which flows from the roles and responsibilities associated with a specific position withan institution, and Discourse-identity, which relates to characteristics that derive frominteractions with others (See Fig. 1). Describing a person as a “tall, intelligent professor whoplays basketball” provides simple examples of all four identities types. Yet, it may be the casethat each of these identities overlaps or relates, such as height and playing basketball. It wasthese connections and intersections that often brought to light the most interesting findings in ourstudy. Nature-identity
and to inquire into the nature ofthe teacher learning about engineering that transpired over the course of the project. smART Project Background This study took place in two middle schools located in Columbus, Ohio. The firstschool, Metro Early College Middle School, (MECMS), has a student body of 300.MECMS, a semi-public, non-charter STEM school, is open to all students in the state, butmost reside in the city where the school is located. The school is administered by agoverning body comprised of representatives from school districts throughout the state,this study’s university partner, and industry collaborators. The socio-economicdemographics of the school’s student body are described in Table 1
writing courses. Developed and refined over the last 20years, the DocuScope tool has heretofore successfully demonstrated its strength as a researchtool to sort corpora into identifiable genres, for example, identifying the statistically significantpatterns and moves that differentiate histories, comedies, and tragedies in Shakespeare’s plays[1, 2], as well as its potential as an educational tool in writing courses. At Carnegie MellonUniversity, the tool has been used for these purposes in a graduate-level writing course fordesign students [3, 4], which created a writing classroom environment that functioned like acritique-based design studio; a corpus of student texts from the class could be analyzed inaggregate to visualize the rhetorical
employees in the team” (p.1, 2015)Rationale for the StudyIn educational settings, it is important to provide continuous diversity-related practices and tocreate a culture awareness workforce development plan. Some faculty may be apprehensive ofmoving from a familiar cultural environment to the new multicultural environment, or adaptingto a new work environment that may cause frustrations. Despite legislation and organizationalpolicies that attempt to manage and encourage successful engagement, and retain a diverseenvironment, faculty members are still challenged on how to deal with workplace diversityprofessionally. In order to address these challenges, the research addressed cultural awarenessprograms such as cultural
. Finally, twointerdisciplinary case studies involving nuclear engineering topics are discussed – one frommechanical engineering and one from electrical engineering. These case studies includedescriptions of the projects along with reflections and assessments by students and facultymentors on their impact.IntroductionAn investigation into how interdisciplinary senior design projects emphasizing nuclearengineering applications can best be managed has been conducted, and nuclear engineeringtechnical content areas with the greatest opportunity for interdisciplinary projects are presented.RationaleAs the nuclear industry workforce ages, a new generation of engineers capable of filling this gapis needed [1]. At the same time, emphasis on detection of
Professor in the Department of Integrated Engineering program at Minnesota State University, Mankato, home of the Iron Range and Twin Cities Engineering programs. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017 Managing Transformation to Crack Open Engineering EducationRapid changes in the worldwide engineering ecosystem are creating a compelling rationale torethink engineering education. Tomorrow’s graduate will need to collaboratively contributeexpertise across multiple perspectives in an environment of rapid innovation and technologicalbreakthroughs [1]. Meeting these challenges requires a transformational change rather thanincremental improvements in how we recruit and educate engineering students
listeningcharacteristic of traditional lectures. The disparity in these experiences is one of many reasonsthat several undergraduate engineering subjects are taught with both lecture and lab sessions inparallel. At the University of Delaware, Vibrations and Controls is a junior level class inmechanical engineering that has a 3 credit lecture and 1 credit lab that are co-requisites, but arenot required to be taken in the same semester. This offers a unique opportunity to analyze studentperformance for the three distinct groups of students enrolled in lab only, lecture only, andlecture plus lab. We hypothesized that students in the lecture plus lab group would have highergrades in the lecture course than the students enrolled only in the lecture. Our results
revision process greatly increased student engagement in the classand, as a result, increased student learning effectiveness.I. Introduction Laboratories have long been recognized as excellent tools for allowing students toobserve, discover and test new concepts. It is thus important for engineering schools to integrateinstructional laboratories as part of their undergraduate curriculums. However, good laboratoryinstruction must meet a broad range of objectives that include the capability to conductexperiments, to learn new subject matters, and to solve real world problems 1, 2. Designing anddelivering effective laboratory instruction remains a challenging endeavor for many engineeringfaculty. Since most laboratory instructions are
absolutely or relative to the greater epistemic authority of engineering and the physical andnatural sciences.To support this argument, this paper systematically explores the EELE cases along threedimensions: 1) How engineering inquiry is positioned relative to traditional liberal educationmodes of inquiry; 2) How the interactions between technology and society are framed, includingwhere the motive force for social change is located; and 3) How the “fundamentals” ofengineering are understood in relation to the steering of technology in broader social, political,and organizational contexts. Before elaborating each of these dimensions, we review themethodology used in analyzing the case studies and provide a brief map of those case studies inlight of
experience for students but also because design is, in short, whatengineers do in the real world. Thus, it is important to fully understand how students currently doand, ideally, should engage in the design process. There is a realm of research within theengineering design space on a concept called design thinking, which involves studying how adesigner approaches, works through and solves design problems.24 The research done on howexperts utilize design thinking can be applied to determining the ways that we want students toengage in design. Specifically, studies on design thinking have identified typical steps that areemployed in the engineering design process, derived from how experts design23,25–27, presentedin Table 1
sophomore course entitled“Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Practice,” and is a required course for mechanicalengineering majors. The course comprised of three hour-long lectures every week along with agroup project in reverse engineering. The lecture classes were devoted to the basic elements ofmechanical engineering practice which came from a text entitled “An Introduction toMechanical Engineering.” [1] This text introduced the students to the vocabulary, skills, andapplications associated with the mechanical engineering profession. Chapter 1 of the textintroduces the profession of mechanical engineering, and the next seven chapters talk about thevarious disciplines within mechanical engineering with intent to develop useful design
study published in the International Wood ProductsJournal (Zziwa, Ziraba, & Mwakali, 2010). Testing gave structural engineers using thesematerials another data point with which to compare the reasonableness of their designassumptions. The four species selected were Caribbean Pine, Eucalyptus, Cypress and Musizi.USAFA received two batches of wood samples from EMI. To facilitate fitting into the luggageof individuals transporting them to the U.S. from Uganda, the size and number of samples werelimited to those shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Wood Samples before Harvesting Specimens for Testing.Specimen preparation and testing was conducted as closely as possible in accordance withASTM D143 - Standard Test Methods for Small Clear
constant rate until thedrop deadline. Most students who withdrew did not participate in any or very few in-classactivities. Of the 123 students who were enrolled in the class when final grades were posted, anadditional five students were removed from the study due to low participation in-class activities.All five of the removed students had a final score in the class of <35%. The full demographics ofthe class can be found, broken down by section, in Appendix 1. The gender diversity in thiscourse is slightly better than the national average of female’s receiving a bachelor’s degree inMechanical Engineering. There are approximately 19.5% females who completed the class andwere included in the study, the national average of females who receive
able to forecastdemand, and thus it is important to understand what drives student preferences for particularscheduling time slots. Measuring these preferences can be challenging, however, for at least thefollowing three reasons. (1) Revealed preferences (what students actually choose) can differsignificantly from stated preferences (what they say they will want at a future time), requiring theuse of actual scheduling data to infer preferences or utilities. (2) The utility that students derivefrom particular choices is multifactorial, so that in a computer-based testing facility, for example,students may prefer to take their exam mid-afternoon, but they may also prefer to take it as closeto the end of the exam period as possible, and it can be
Measuring Students’ Subjective Task Values Related to the Post-Undergraduate Career SearchIntroductionSmart capable graduates continue to leave engineering degree and career pathways. To support adiverse, well-qualified engineering workforce, educators need to better understand the careerchoice processes of undergraduate students enrolled in engineering programs and nearinggraduation. While many researchers have examined choices to engage in specific careers, fewhave focused on the experience of students actually acquiring a first position post-graduation.From the engineering education and career development literature,1-3 it is known that interest inother fields account for some diversion of engineering graduates from
figurebelow (figure 1) indicates progress at UD in the area of recruitment and retention since the PAIDgrant. The PAID grant seeded opportunity to engage in more extensive efforts aroundinstitutional change and played an important role in the development of the current NSFInstitutional Transformation (IT) grant. Ag & Natural Resources CAS, Natural Sciences CAS, Social Sciences 2006 Earth, Ocean, Environment Engineering 2015 Health Sciences 0 10 20 30 40
paradigm in Science and Decisions. Figure 1 illustrates the risk assessmentprocess and feedback between scoping and management from this document.Figure 1. Risk Assessment Framework (NRC, 2009)Microbial risk assessment is a scientific process that estimates the likelihood of microbialexposure and resulting public and environmental health impact (USDA and USEPA, 2012). Riskassessment framework is inextricably linked with other components of risk analysis whichinclude risk management, risk communication, and other social as well as economic aspects.Figure 2 shows how these components are linked together.Figure 2. Risk assessment framework and its relationship with other components of risk analysis(USDA and USEPA, 2012)A conceptual model describes or
idealized theoretical continuous beammodel. Second, they use Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Finally, they determine the frequenciesexperimentally. Using student survey data, it is shown that the project bolstered the followingskills: (1) use of measurement equipment to acquire and transmit real-world data, (2) performinga Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and creating the Power Spectral Density (PSD) plot ofempirical data, (3) creating and modifying FEA code in MATLAB to find natural frequencies andtest for convergence of results and (4) connecting the distinct topics of the course together.IntroductionOur Mechanical Engineering program’s Mechanical Vibrations course has been completely basedin theory and simulation. Students did not have hands-on
the U.S. for instance, the 2014 publication of a workshopsummary co-sponsored by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the AmericanSociety for Engineering Education (ASEE) identifies that “the goal of diversifying engineeringeducation has long been recognized, studied, and subjected to attempted interventions….”1 Onespeaker at that NAE/ASEE-sponsored workshop noted that literature spanning over 40 yearsemphasizes both the importance of ethnic diversity in engineering education and commonapproaches to achieving that goal. However, the percentage of underrepresented minorities inU.S. engineering education still “remains well below their percentage in the population.”1 Ethnicdiversity is not the sole focus of diversity initiatives
questionsin each area. It asked students to report on, 1. Future academic and career intentions; 2.Self-efficacy/motivation in STEM courses; 3. Interest in and perception of STEMmajors/careers; 3. Level and type of participation in MCCP; 4. Academic preparation in highschool; 5. Student demographics. Surveys were collected through email via a secure survey response system housedat the University of Washington. To boost response rates, paper surveys were also available inMESA centers. The paper and email surveys were combined for analysis. Survey respondentsincluded students at all six colleges in Washington state and the two colleges in California. Atotal of 155 completed surveys were collected, which represents about 15-20% of the
experience encompasses all four pillars of manufacturing engineering: “1)Materials and manufacturing processes; 2) Product, tooling, and assembly engineering; 3)Manufacturing systems and operations; and 4) Manufacturing competitiveness13.” Student workin teams of three to four with about 100 students per semester.Educational Goals, Activities, and OutcomesEducational goals of this project include increased excitement for engineering resulting inincreased retention, motivational preparation for further studies in engineering, and gaining aninsight into what engineers do. The practical experience consists of several activities: observationof real metal cutting operations, realizing overhead costs, calculating realistic manufacturing costs,applications
is strong interest in maritime engineering and marine science, such as the CSUM.Although testing could be carried out in the adjoining Carquinez Strait or San Pablo Bay, there isa need for a controlled test environment for educational and testing purposes. This would allowstudents in courses such as Naval Architecture and Marine Science to have an experimental setupwhere they could visualize and measure the effects of low velocity water flows on their field ofstudy.Instructors have demonstrated the clear value of supplementing fluid mechanics theory with flowvisualization. For example, Crimaldi et al. [1] examined the correlation between student learningand student demonstrations of planar laser induced fluorescence for turbulent flow
, duringtheir first semester on the tenure track at a teaching focused institution are summarized.Professional experience of the author is comprised of a combination of consulting, government,and manufacturing industries, while teaching experience consisted of responsibilities as ateaching assistant in graduate school for three (3) semesters, teaching one (1) semester as apart-time instructor, and teaching colleagues on various topics informally and formally.Professors known to have some industry experience from a variety of higher learning institutionswere surveyed. They were asked to rate various factors as being a source of stress when theywere new faculty, and to identify ways their institution made the transition from industry toacademia easier
learn. Teacher preparation and scaffolding are key toimplementation of design based learning and lead to significant student learning gains 1. ProjectTESAL addressed teachers’ knowledge of content and knowledge of pedagogy 2. Teachers needdeep understanding of the mathematics and science they will teach. They also need knowledge ofhow students develop understanding of content, how to set significant learning goals, how toselect and implement appropriate instructional tasks, and how to assess learning 3. Well-designedprofessional development experiences are integral to developing such knowledge and skills 4.National standards documents make it clear that mathematics is an essential tool for scientificinquiry, and science is a critical context
. Her interests focus on broadening participation in engineering through the exploration of: 1) race, gender, and identity in the engineering workplace; 2) discipline-based education research (with a focus on computer science and computer engineering courses) in order to inform pedagogical practices that garner interest and retain women and minorities in computer-related engineering fields.Dr. James L. Huff, Harding University James Huff is an assistant professor of engineering at Harding University, where he primarily teaches multidisciplinary engineering design and electrical engineering. His research interests are aligned with how engineering students develop in their career identity while also developing as whole