move from what is knowable in our everyday, visible, tangible experience, downward, step by careful step, through layers of previously unseen order, to the deep order we grasp only intellectually… As the history of chemistry reveals, when we reflect on ourselves as knowers, it is clear that we are pattern-seeking and pattern-finding creatures, creatures curiously made to be curious amidst an order curiously designed to be sought.31Wiker and Witt also point out a key systems engineering principle that often shows up in nature;the value of the multifunctional part or subsystem that solves multiple problems simultaneously.Simply put, it’s basically the idea of killing two birds with one stone. They note
modern practice of engineering for technology development & innovation‘has itself changed substantially’ from that portrayed by linear research-driven paradigm ofengineering practice of 1945 U.S. science policy (See Appendix A). 6 Yet, with notableexceptions, the mainstream of U.S. engineering graduate education has not reflected this change.As outcomes of investigating the need for reform of engineering graduate education forcompetitiveness in the UK and in the US, the UK Parnaby Committee and the US NationalCollaborative Task Force have basically reached similar conclusions from essentially twoparallel efforts and from two different national perspectives: UK Parnaby Report Although the UK government had already begun to
inflection in students’ learning trajectory and motivates them to develop anew model to address the new problem scenario.This entire process entails students to reflect on their own thinking. They are now able to engagein metacognitive self reflection of the models that they construct and discuss the underlyingassumptions and recognize the extent of applicability of these models. The students would thusnavigate an OAC as shown in Figure 2. Page 13.1048.11 Figure 2: Navigating the Optimal Adaptability Corridor through successive iterations of Model Development and Model DeploymentMathematics, physics and engineering
1-8, this collaboration has improved teaching methods and design ofteaching materials, made bioengineering faculty more reflective about their teaching methods,and fostered a change in the way bioengineering faculty create a classroom experience. Inaddition, it has brought proven social science research methods to bear on evaluating innovationsin engineering education. Beyond benefiting the individuals at the VaNTH institutions, VaNTH has served as amodel for both improving engineering education practice and furthering engineering educationresearch. Continuing to improve engineering education requires more engineers who knowsomething about educational research and learning theory, like those who took part in VaNTH,and some who pursue
adopted, uniform BOK program outcomes were alignedwith each course goal. Consistent levels of expected student competence were thenestablished, after which two types of useful data aggregations were possible. The highestorder of data aggregation was created at the department-wide curriculum level where allcourses and course goals were reflected across 1-15 ASCE-BOK outcomes and atassigned 1-6 Bloom’s competency levels. Furthermore, sub-aggregations were producedfor discipline specific courses within the major curriculum concentrations includingenvironmental, structural, transportation and geotechinical. This allowed a more detailedanalysis of student learning and instructional continuity across interconnected courseswithin a meaningful context of
variety of learning styles. Using the Felder-Silverman model of learning styles4, one can begrouped based on their preferred input (visual versus verbal), perception (sensory versusintuitive), organization (inductive versus deductive), processing (active versus reflective) andunderstanding (sequential versus global) style. Although it has been suggested that in general,most engineering students are visual, sensing, active, sequential learners5 while most teaching isverbal, intuitive, sequential and deductive6, thus creating a learning / teaching mismatch, it is ourexperience that for the most part, all types of learners will be present in most engineering classes.We have used the online questionnaire developed by Solomon and Felder(http
; alpha =.78) and Inauthentic Self-in-Relationship (AFIS-ISR; alpha = .73). Higher scores on these twosubscales reflect an internalized repressive hegemonic femininity ideology. Page 13.827.7Dependent variables Engineering Aspirations. Students were asked to report “How much do you want to go tocollege to study engineering?” (1 = not at all, 5 = a lot). Responses from the 5-point scale wereused to create a dichotomous variable representing plans to study engineering (“a little” or “alot”) versus lack of interest in studying engineering (“not at all” “not much” or “neutral”). Mathematics Aspirations. Students were asked to report “How
. Students evaluate themselves and their team mates atmid-semester and end-of-semester. The evaluations are confidential and automated.The overall process is diagramed in Figure 1. Each team member uses a custom “pre-programmed” Excel workbook which stores individual data onto a common server drive. Whenall the team members have submitted their ratings, they can examine their own averages to seehow other team members rated their teamwork skills. Each member is asked to reflect on his orher progress and to suggest ways to improve his or her rating during the next rating period. Figure 1. Teamwork evaluation data entry, storage and retrieval. Enter teamwork SAVE rating values evaluation data
approach thatbetter reflects actual engineering practice. From the beginning, it was clear that a two-semester, Page 13.8.2senior-year, engineering capstone project course would be part of the curriculum for all Olinstudents. Just prior to the first year of instruction at Olin, the Curricular Decision Making Boardput together plans for the senior year, and noted that “by the time students are seniors, they’ll bedoing the real engineering on their own, in a year-long capstone project that will look very muchlike professional practice.” Development work on this program, eventually named SCOPE, theSenior Consulting Program for Engineering, began in
described.Teacher Related ResultsScience Teaching EfficacyThe Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (STEBI) is an instrument based onBandura’s definition of self-efficacy as a situation-specific construct. The instrument wasdeveloped by Riggs and Enochs 7 to measure efficacy of teaching science. The STEBIconsists of 23 statements which are divided to provide two sub-scores, which are randomlyembedded in the instrument. Thirteen of the statements yield scores for the PersonalScience Teaching Efficacy (PSTE) subscale, which reflect science teachers’ confidence intheir ability to teach science. The remaining ten statements yield scores for ScienceTeaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE) subscale, which reflect science teachers’ beliefsthat student learning
’ Academic and Career PlansAbstractUndergraduate research experiences in engineering have recently received significant interest asmechanisms for attracting undergraduates to graduate-level work. In particular, the NationalScience Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) initiative aims to recruitstudents to careers in research. Our work employs a social cognitive theoretical framework toinvestigate how participation in a summer undergraduate research program influencesparticipants’ academic and career plans (specifically plans to pursue a Ph.D.) and their self-efficacy for future scientific research. A mixed-methods approach, incorporating surveyinstruments, interviews, and weekly self-reflective journal entries, was utilized to
0.00 4.79 critical thinking Treats all students in a consistent R12 92.86 7.14 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.93 manner R13 Exams reflect the material covered 85.71 14.29 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.86 Willingly assists students outside of R14 78.57 21.43 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.79 class R15 I found this class to be challenging 64.29 28.57 0.00 0.00 7.14 0.00 4.43 Item
Eastern Europe4. These changes havebrought what some term as a new era5 or supply chain revolution6. This has also caused somecompanies to integrate supply chain management into every facet of their business. In manycases supply chain logistics design has become the means for companies to be more competitiveand advance themselves in the global marketplace. Consequently, supply chain management hasbeen a topic of intense interest for approximately two decades and has been widely examined inboth the trade and academic press.In spite of the attention it has received the field of supply chain is in a state of rapid change anddevelopment. Thompson7 notes that many of the courses in engineering management programsare often reflective of well
operate the equipment – similar to watching a professional athlete “effortlessly”perform their craft at the highest levels. Individuals lacking an accurate understanding of therequired knowledge and skills may see a potential career in manufacturing as simply “pushingbuttons” – reflecting the EGR #4 finding that “…individuals considering manufacturingemployment tend to think in terms that jobs that pay well rather than careers that are personallyfulfilling.” Conversely, advanced manufacturing technology may also intimidate those who areless confident in their abilities, but no less able to succeed in a manufacturing career. The Purdue guitar manufacturing workshop seeks to directly address this disconnect inperceived personal fulfillment by
. For fall 2006 and 2007, there is a stronglink between the course and the peer mentoring program counts.Course Evaluation Data summarizing evaluation of EngE2984 for both runs are presented in Table IV.Those items preceded by an asterisk are student response items that were extracted from theusual SPOT (Student Perception of Teaching) course evaluations administered on the last day oflecture. The values reported for these items are response averages for the fall 2006 and thesummer 2007 runs. The last four items in Table IV reflect actual student success in the course. Page 13.1297.8Table III. A summary of fall participation in the NETS peer
CurriculumCommittee to be submitted to the Faculty Senate). Again, discussion on the proposed content, aswell as the intent, of the class was discussed. After the initial meeting, there were other meetingheld, however, much of the work was then conducted via e-mail. Revisions, mark-ups, andsuggestions went back and forth over the next four months. The end result produced slightrevisions to existing courses to better reflect current construction industry trends. The newproposed courses now have better direction without having to be taught “a few times” to get abetter feel for how the class should be taught.It was also decided that the entire committee would work together on the curriculum. Having theentire committee involved in all the discussions was at time
answer “journal” questions based on thereading and turn them in at test time. Grading for these assignments was time-consuming,leading to delays in providing feedback to students. The following semester, similar questionswere posted online, but responses were not required; instead reading was checked at thebeginning of class periods through short reflective questions answered through MessageGrid4, aweb-based response system. While this eliminated paperwork, it added set-up time, and somelevel of distraction for the students, as they did not otherwise use their laptops in class. Studentsurvey results indicated that this approach did not do much to increase the students’ emphasis onreading, perhaps due to an overly generous grading policy for the
characteristic of a magnet school is the employment of an educational theme thatattracts a broad spectrum of students. By their nature, academy models focus instruction arounda “theme” or academic discipline. Magnet schools use an academic model to motivate students tostay in school, make learning relevant and fun, and to focus students on their futures (eitheracademic or employment). In addition to developing qualified faculty and rigorous and relevantcurriculum that supports the magnet “theme”, the school’s physical appearance needs to beenhanced to reflect the theme. This visual and sometimes tactile alteration of the school servesas a constant reminder to students, teachers, parents and visitors that the school’s curriculum isanchored to its
datain the microcontroller to reflect the units of the sensor being measured. The microcontrollercould also store the data as it is measured, and dump it into labview later, for self contained datalogging. The freedom to modify the software to suit the project is one of the biggest advantagesto using a microcontroller over a traditional DAQ unit.The DAQ system compares quite favorably to the commercial units, especially considering theparts cost (without the breadboard) is less than $20. A printed circuit board for this design wouldbe small and likely to cost less than $10, so the system cost would be reasonable if assembledinto a dedicated device.The data is logged with less precision (10 bits vs. 12 or 16 on the National Instruments DAQdevices
meeting real community needs. In engineering thestudents become better professionals and better citizens while the community benefits. There aremany other definitions in the literature, for example, service-learning is the integration ofacademic subject matter with service to the community in credit-bearing courses, with keyelements including reciprocity, reflection, coaching, and community voice in projects (Jacoby,1996)1. Service-learning (S-L) has been shown to be effective in a large number of cognitiveand affective measures, including critical thinking and tolerance for diversity, and leads to betterknowledge of course subject matter, cooperative learning, recruitment of under-representedgroups in engineering, retention of students, and
problem often reflected the presuppositions, preferences, and expectations of others in thegroup, along with the acceptable procedures and structures constituting the organization. Themethods participants followed for working on a problem or project depended on instruction andguidance from coworkers and managers reflecting the preferences and expectations of others inthe organization. The complexity and ambiguity of some of the problems reported by the newengineers in this study agrees with the descriptions of ill-structured problems provided byJonasson, Strobel, and Lee46. They characterized the everyday problems of engineering as ill-structured, having multiple, often conflicting goals and multiple solutions. Furthermore, non-engineering
critical aspect of the UbD method is using appropriate assessments to gauge thelevel of apparent understanding. In the second stage of UbD, what and how students areassessed is determined. Evidence of learning must differentiate between understanding andsimply recalling facts. Wiggins and McTighe5 suggest that, “Real knowledge involves usinglearning in new ways (what is often called “transfer”). They [Bloom and colleagues] distinguishthis intellectual ability from knowledge that is based on recall and scripted use” (p. 40). Withthis knowledge “transfer” in mind, UbD presents the six facets of learning that reflect trueunderstanding: • Explanation: ability to thoroughly give an account of facts and data. • Interpretation: ability to
calculations in order to get computation timedown to a reasonable level. From the experiments the wave number was determined to be1 = 3.8 which is 43% higher than in the simulations. However, the simulations reflect thegeneral roll cell patterns observed in the experiments. The students have learned through thisprocess that it sometimes can be difficult to get good agreement between experimental andsimulated results.AssessmentThere were ten students enrolled in the ME 433 Heat Transfer course. Two projects were givenwith five students in each project. Each student had to write an individual project report at thetime of the completion of the project. The project contributed to ten percent of the final grade inthe course. One of the projects has been
demonstrate the utility of WISE as an assessment tool to identify misconceptions.Figure 1 shows a screen shot of the problem 1 . This problem was adapted from the Thermal andTransport Science Concept Inventory developed by Ron Miller and coworkers .16 The assignedproblem had 4 multiple choice options. However, unlike the Concept Inventory tests, nojustification is given for each choice. Rather, students are asked to provide their own justificationin a short answer text box that accompanies the problem (see Appendix B). We term this activity,a “short answer follow-up”. The use of short answer follow-ups offers students the opportunityto practice reflection on their selection of multiple choice answers. It has been shown thatdescriptions of one's
. though unpopular.̈ … ̈ …Learning JournalsEvery team leader keeps a learning journal,23 which is shared only with the PMP’s instructoracting as his/her coach. Learning journals are kept electronically in the space reserved for thePMP course in the university virtual campus, being easily accessible to PMP instructors.Students are required to make at least one entry each week. These journals play a pivotal role inteam leaders’ leadership developmental process since they provide them with: 1. An opportunity to record and reflect on critical work events, either positive or negative. Exhibit 3 contains a few examples of these events as reported by team leaders. This
to gain insights regarding the motivations ofminority students to study environmental engineering, as reflected by thequestions asked by the students.MethodsIn the summer of 2007, Michigan Technological University held a week longEngineering Explorations summer camp for minority high school studentsconsidering engineering as a major in college. Nine gender separated groups eachattended the hour and a half session about environmental engineering andwastewater treatment. The males were in four groups of 7-10 students each,including a total of 35 male students. The male students were composed of 30African Americans and 5 Hispanic students. The females were in five groups of 6-8 students each, resulting in a total of 36 females. The female
)• contains both technical and business-related problem formulations• must be written in EnglishThe final project demonstrates the interdisciplinary nature of the program and reflects the threemain disciplines of the program, which are engineering, economics, marketing (business studies)and foreign languages. The final project will often only treat one of the technical areas. Theproject must solve one or more essential problems for the company in question, with all parts ofthe project contributing to the solution of these problem(s). Page 13.1077.7Evaluation of the final project takes place within the following three areas: business studies,engineering
applications in this course. This coursehas been taught four times during the past two years. This is a four-credit-hour course consistingof three credit hours of lecture and one credit hour of laboratory. The evaluation and feedbackfrom students show that it is considered as one of the fun courses they had which helps themunderstand many of the topics in computer and network security field, and gain some hands-onexperience and skills to defend computer systems.The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section two discusses course developmentand describes the context, course objectives, references, and laboratory exercises. Section threepresents our teaching experiences and reflections and, finally, Section four presents ourconclusions.2
uninteresting. The central concept which I seek to convey tostudents is the realization that All science was new at some point.With the vast attention to detail in many engineering classrooms, this truism is easily forgotten.This is reflected in the often omission of historical context of topics in both engineering textsand lecture halls. Some texts1 make attempts to provide brief sketches of famous scientists whomade fundamental contributions to the discipline, yet these descriptions are often superficial incontent and rarely enter discussion in the classroom. The proposed course will use excerpts fromthe original publications written by the magnates of science and mathematics who have madefundamental contributions to modern science. Since this course