Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Susan J. Masten; Robert V. Fleisig

interactive poster presentation (second project). Gradingreports and presentations included “peer evaluation” as an integral part of the learning process. A challenge in formulating the design projects is that first-year students lack technical sophistication. With this in mind, thefirst set of seven design projects was developed in conjunction with Engineers without Borders, involving relatively low-techengineering solutions that would benefit disadvantaged communities in developing countries. The remote setting also emphasizedthe importance of understanding the “soft” side of design. Students were required to understand the client needs, opportunities,and benefits and make realistic conclusions about the cost, feasibility, and impact on the

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Jason Salonga

. If we can tional curricula in teaching conceptual design. Whole courses dedicated to creating and justifyingaccept this similitude, then educators in engineering should benefit from learning about the way design concepts have been developed by Paul Gauvreau, a professor in the Department of Civildesign is taught in the visual arts. With this in mind, this paper reflects on the delivery of art stu- Engineering and NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) De-dio courses and reflects upon its pedagogical value with respect to design in engineering. Fur- sign Chair. Gauvreau is also my academic supervisor. Similar progress has been made at thether, it gives suggestions on how elements of art

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Willem H. Vanderburg

Bad Things. New York: Berrett-Kohler, 1996, p.190.8. Vanderburg, W.H., Living in the Labyrinth of Technology, op cit.9. Vanderburg, W.H., “A Future for STS”, Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, Vol.26, No.1, Feb. 2006, pp.3-8.10. Vanderburg, W.H., Living in the Labyrinth of Technology. op cit.11. Vanderburg, W.H., “On the Measurement and Integration of Sustainability in Engineering Education,” op cit.12. Vanderburg, W.H., The Growth of Minds and Cultures: A Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Experience. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985.13. Vanderburg, W.H., “Can the University Escape from the Labyrinth of Technology? Part 2: Intellectual Map Making and the Tension between Breadth and

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Robert Edwards; Gerald Recktenwald

purchased commercially or canbe built at a much lower cost. A key feature of these exercises is the use of low cost, USB baseddata acquisition (DAQ) devices. Many companies are beginning to offer these types of devices,and prices are getting to the point where students may be able to obtain one for about the cost ofa textbook to use throughout their college careers and beyond. Before outlining the suite of exercises, we take a look at the pedagogical framework whichprovides the basis for them. Most undergraduate engineering courses that have laboratorycomponents involve a series of structured exercises that employ preconfigured devices that yieldpredictable results. The students are usually required to follow a particular procedure to run

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

George H. Sutherland

the southwestUnited States. Something has to be done to find out what is going on and make some changes sothe product does what is expected of it, no matter where it is used.” Doing a typical “canned”campus lab experiment would not be particularly helpful preparation for this situation.Why Not have Open-ended ExperimentsOpen-ended experiments can be a real problem for students who have difficulty assessing asituation and making a decision about it. Thus they will spend more time than appropriate forthe credit value of the course just coming up with a test procedure. Other students are theopposite and will just charge forth with the first thing that comes to their mind in terms of aprocedure and will then spend many hours haplessly executing