to develop and implement workable, appropriatesolutions [7], and that failures to do so can have consequences for their technologies [8]. Whileability to reflect on the context of engineering solutions is associated with their success in theprofession [9], training students to do this—and doing so in ways that are well-integrated into therest of a course—is by no means easy. As historian Atushi Akera has pointed out, althoughcurrent ABET criteria would ideally be considered a space for supporting educationalinnovation, these criteria are often just another set of requirements that educators must developstrategies to meet [10]. Indeed, ABET’s shift to focus on students as emerging professionals hasvaluable outcomes [11], but includes many
#22168Jennifer Turns is a Professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the Univer-sity of Washington. She is interested in all aspects of engineering education, including how to supportengineering students in reflecting on experience, how to help engineering educators make effective teach-ing decisions, and the application of ideas from complexity science to the challenges of engineeringeducation. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2018 Work-in-Progress: Engineering Identity across the Mechanical Engineering MajorAbstractThe Mechanical Engineering Department at Seattle University was awarded a National ScienceFoundation RED (Revolutionizing
that, overall, student reported significant pre-and post-change on only 3 out of 10 items regarding their skills/abilities.IntroductionStudents’ disconnectedness to the presented contents in engineering courses is a challengingissue in engineering education. Even in technical elective classes which students shouldexperience practical aspects of their core classes, they cannot make a connection betweentheoretical materials presented during lectures and real world projects. Wlodkowski’s model ofeffective instruction [1] listed expertise of the presenters/instructors, relevance of content, choicein application, practice and reflection, and group work as motivating factors for adult learners.The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
' time.For each of the tour, students were assigned a trip report. The trip reports assignments requiredstudents to write a summary and reflection about the trip, as well as respond to specific questionslike “ what is the procedure of materials recycles?” “what did you learn from the facility tour?”These questions helped students to attend the tour with a purpose. Not only the students got thechance to visualize the concept learned from class in reality, but also they had a deeper thinkingon the topic. For example, a lot of the students expressed in the trip report “ the material recoverycenter tour was an eye-opening experience” “ the tour made me realize how much waste wecreate and everyone should practice sustainability principles in my daily