Asee peer logo

A Project Based Introduction To Mechanical Engineering

Download Paper |

Conference

2001 Annual Conference

Location

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Publication Date

June 24, 2001

Start Date

June 24, 2001

End Date

June 27, 2001

ISSN

2153-5965

Page Count

11

Page Numbers

6.83.1 - 6.83.11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--9684

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/9684

Download Count

2555

Request a correction

Paper Authors

author page

Trevor Tyler

author page

Steven Miner

Download Paper |

Abstract

The Mechanical Engineering Department at the United States Naval Academy has developed and instituted a new introductory course that all mechanical engineering majors are required to take. The goals of the course are to introduce the midshipmen to the major areas of study in mechanical engineering, to enhance the visualization skills of the midshipmen, and to introduce the midship- men to the design process. For all three goals hands-on projects are used as the vehicle to intro- duce the midshipmen to mechanical engineering. The desire is to enhance their understanding and enthusiasm for the major, and to give them a basis for appreciating the sequence of engineering science courses. The course is sixteen weeks long with one lecture period and one laboratory period each week for a total of 2 credits. The design portion of the class takes approximately five weeks, the visualization skills occupy roughly five weeks, and the mechanical engineering topics portion of the class takes five weeks. This paper describes the format and content of the course, and provides a brief description of the projects used to address each goal. In addition, results from the first two offerings of the course are discussed.

Tyler, T., & Miner, S. (2001, June), A Project Based Introduction To Mechanical Engineering Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9684

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2001 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015