Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Fredrick Cowan; Alan Gravitt; Donna Llewellyn; Marion Usselman

support from NSF Project Number DGE-0086420. Many thanks tothe administration, faculty, and students at Westlake High School. The cost of computer timewas underwritten by the Systems Realization Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology.REFERENCES1. Borning, A., 1977, “ThingLab – An Object-Oriented System for Building Simulations Using Constraints,” IJCAI, Vol. 1, pp. 497-498.2. Chi, M. T. H., Feltovich, P. J., and Glaser, R., 1981, “Categorization and Representation of Physics Problems by Experts and Novices,” Cognitive Science, Vol. 5, pp. 121-152.3. diSessa, A. A., 1988, “Knowledge in Pieces,” Constructivism in the Computer Age, (Forman, G., and Pufall, P. B., eds.), Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 49-70.4

Conference Session

Improving Teaching and Learning

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

H. David Smith; Cara Rieger; David Kanter; Robert Linsenmeier; Ann McKenna

? Washington, DC: American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), 1998.4. Silverthorn, Dee U. (1998), “Physiology Education Today: What Comes Next?” Advances in Physiology Education, December, 20(1): S1-3.5. Krajcik, J., C. Czerniak, and C. Berger (1999), Teaching Children Science: a Project-based Approach. Boston: McGraw-Hill College.6. “The design of learning environments,” in How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School, J.D. Bransford, A.L. Brown, and R.R. Cocking, Eds. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999.7. Giorgio, T.D. and S.P. Brophy, “Challenge-based learning in biomedical engineering: A legacy cycle for biotechnology,” in ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings. Washington, DC: American

Conference Session

Programmatic Curriculum Developments

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

W.B. stouffer; Jeffrey Russell

on their offering time and peer-recommendations, not necessarily based on tie-ins with their civil engineering course.But how to educate contrarian leaders and thinkers, and how to incorporate the right amount of“gray” into a jam-packed curriculum? Engineering students are taking, on average, fewerengineering courses at a time when by almost universal estimation the complexity of the modernengineering project continues to mount (Allenby 2000/2001; Bordogna 1998; Clough 2000;TCFPD 2001). To confront the challenges of the 21st century, engineers need to polish their non-technical repertoire, and this includes developing closer ties with the liberal arts. As programsreform their curricula in response to ABET’s new outcome-oriented criteria, and

Conference Session

Statistics in the CHE Curriculum

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Milo Koretsky

second quarter of the senior lab course(ChE 415) builds on the work done in UO Lab 1. The focus is on working independently,developing a project proposal, completing experimental work and writing a final technicalmemorandum that includes recommendations for future work.During 2001, in serving as a technical consultant for the microelectronics related labs in ChE415, and discussing the statistical analysis of the students throughout the year with the labinstructor, it was determined that the use of statistical methods needed to be enhanced. Reviewof the written reports confirmed this belief. Thus, two “refresher” lectures of ChE 302 wereincluded in ChE 414 during W 2002. One of the three experiments asked students to compare ifdifferent levels of

Conference Session

A Potpourri of Innovations in Physics

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Guido Lopez

project the technological initiatives that can be found behind its principles. In effect, a goodgrasp of the concepts of science inherent to a particular engineering discipline provides a reliableand firm scaffold to engineering students for the practice of their profession. Quite often,however, the teaching of undergraduate physics in engineering programs emphasizes manipulationof formulas and numerical computation instead of deep understanding of inherent concepts. This“cookbook” approach seriously affects the strength of the scientific foundation that physicscourses need to provide to engineering students. The use of computer software in the classroomhelps to minimize this problem substantially. In effect, much of the tedious manipulative

Conference Session

Knowing Students: Diversity & Retention

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Heist; Ann Marie Flynn

receiving an engineering education to firstgeneration, minority students. For example, the Civil Engineering department hosts a two-weeksummer program for approximately 60 minority high school students (only) where students getthe opportunity to visit all of the engineering labs, perform various experiments, complete adesign project (such as a bridge), and spend time with the engineering faculty (other than thedepartment of Civil Engineering). This two-week program culminates with an award ceremonyattended by both parents and faculty. Data collected from this event shows that between 30-40%of those students end up matriculating at Manhattan College and entering the SOE. Because Manhattan College is located in the Bronx, most of its minority