implementing control algorithms in robotic systems. 4. Analyze the performance of control algorithms for robotic systems in terms of stability, robustness, optimality, and accuracy. 5. Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills by troubleshooting and improving the performance of control algorithms for robotic systems. 6. Develop communication skills by presenting project results and findings to peers and instructors. 7. Gain practical experience in working with robotics platforms in physics engine robot simulators.In light of the opportunities presented by project-based learning and the challenges of providingaccess to reliable hardware for robotics education, we have developed a sequence of sixproject-based assignments
., classenvironment, course sequence) is vital to improve student learning and persistence in CS.B. CS Curriculum Design There have been great strides in determining potential areas of improvement among CScourses and programs [e.g., 26, 27, 28]. One area of literature focuses on college students nothaving the necessary skills and knowledge to work in the industry [29, 30, 31, 32]. In regard totheir soft skills, graduates tend to struggle with their verbal [31, 33] and writing [28, 30, 34]skills, in particular, clearly articulating their problems when they need help [29]. In regard totechnical skills, graduates often lack the ability to use a number of industry software tools, suchas configuration management and database tools [29, 32, 35]. Another
M Chinese Singapore 096 G16 F Chinese SingaporeData CollectionParticipants were divided into six or seven design teams and guided by academics andindustry mentors to brainstorm, prototype, and assess solutions to industrial challenges. At acertain point in the course, participants were requested to write down their reflections basedon specific questions, such as “What is your approach to identifying the problem statementand problem?”, “How did design thinking and negotiations with your group influence yourapproach to the process?” Each of the reflective questions was answered with over 200words. Five self-reflections by the students were used to compile
question in front ofthe class. While not all students are excited about doing engineering problems in front of theclass, they can all benefit from being called down to the board. Explaining an answer buildshigher-level skills. Having students discuss questions on the board is much more than just whatthey write. Describing how they found an answer requires higher-level thinking skills and helpsstudents better grasp the concept. Half of the class activities in Wireless Communications course were designed to beproject-based learning (PBL). PBL can help students to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world scenarios, making learning more relevant and enjoyable. PBL encourages students to takean active role in their learning. By working on
response was coded as either “affirmative” or “negative, inline with the “yes or no” structure of the questions. Inconclusive or irrelevant responses, as in thecase of a student writing “perhaps” or an answer that was not related to the question, were leftout of the analysis. For question two, answers were coded for each part of the question, resultingin codes like affirmative/affirmative, affirmative/negative, and so on. Some students onlyanswered one part of question two, whereupon their responses were coded in the style ofnull/affirmative. These responses were then tallied up and compared for the sake of easyvisualization. No further quantitative analysis was performed on these counts for this paper.Following this surface-level categorization
facilitating constructivist learningexperiences. They conclude that LEGO robotics-themed projects successfully engageengineering undergraduates in “complex robotics problems” and demonstrate the capacity ofLEGO Mindstorms for “developing students as independent thinkers. . . [who] continuallychallenge their own knowledge and that of their peers” [1].The research of Danahy and his colleagues highlights the capacity of LEGO products to facilitateconstructivist learning experiences in engineering classrooms. Working with LEGO products insuch contexts, however, has been largely restricted to developing technical engineeringproficiencies in robotics and computer programming. In designing the LEGO course for adepartment of Engineering and Society, I aimed
. Thechair needed to demonstrate experience and interest in championing inclusive excellence and acompelling reputation among peers across the college. After identifying a Chair and an“Assistant to the Chair/Vice Chair,” the Dean requested committee member nominations fromdepartment chairs and program directors to comprise the college-level search representativesfrom each tenure home and academic program in the CEAS. Although the number of positions tobe hired had not yet been set by the Provost, the Dean had requested six funded positions andproposed to match each of those with college-level funding. Therefore, although DepartmentChairs were not promised any specific outcomes, there was a general sense that mostdepartments would end up with at
; Clark et al., 1999; Mercer et al., 2011;Torres et al., 2010; Bair & Steele, 2010; Salvatore & Shelton, 2007). In addition to the adverseeffects on cognition, students of color who are the targets of repeated microaggressions struggleto persist in STEM majors at higher rates than White peers due to a lack of belonging (Johnson etal., 2007; Reid & Radhakrishnan, 2003). Critical race theory (CRT), therefore, is an appropriatetheoretical lens to examine the effects of racial microaggressions. CRT posits that racism isendemic and pervasive throughout American institutions, and education is no exception (DuBois,1920; DuBois, 2004; Gillborn, 2008; Solorzano, 2020). Using a CRT framework in this study,we hope to illuminate how racism may
15 mins of operation followed by 15 mins break. The pumpsare powered by a 1-kW solar PV system connected to a 3-kW inverter and 2 12-V batteriesoperating at 200 Amp.MeasurementsMeasurements are taken via a local weather station installed at the same height as the wind pump’sturbine, a water counter on the pipe leading from the wind pump to the fishpond, handheld devicesmeasuring pH, water temperature, oxygen, and salinity of the water in the fishpond on a regularbasis (every 1-5 days), as well as a field spectrophotometer used to sporadically measureAmmonia, Phosphate, Nitrate, and Iron levels in the fishpond’s water. At the time of writing, datacollection is ongoing and what is presented here is merely a first batch of data that shows how
alumni more likely to be employed full time in non-engineeringareas than white alumni. Gender differences were minimal in the first ten years aftergraduation, but became pronounced after ten years at which point salaries were 25%higher for men than for women with similar experience. Men were also 25% more likely,at the ten-year mark, to be promoted to senior managerial roles than their female peers.Finally, white men expressed the highest levels of job satisfaction and Black and femalegraduates leaned more toward pursuing graduate education than their peers. Morerecently, Sheri Sheppard’s large-scale school to work transition surveys have put careerpath analysis on the engineering education research map.11 Briefly, Sheppard and herteam used two
, industry tours, tutoring, and internship preparation assistance,chosen to address the expected needs of the student population. To select students to enter theprogram, an application with four essays and demographic information was developed. In orderto select applicants from this pool, the team needed a method for analyzing these applications.Rubrics are often used to rate the quality of a submission, whether graded work submitted by astudent, a report or performance for a competition, a paper presented to a journal or conference,or myriad other situations. Faculty are often trying to improve rubrics, and engineering educatorsare no exception – there are 3869 results for the term “rubric” in ASEE’s PEER repository [8],ranging from apps to help
goal and scope of the problem scenario. Further, some groups evidenced use ofproblem typology as a metacognitive aid to direct and redirect their discussion about the problem(e.g. to limit “out of scope” discussion). This differs from the pre sessions, where only one studentexplicitly mentioned the problem type in the pre (but did not get a confirmation from his partner).Similarly, in the pre none of the student groups were reflective about the relevance of their ideasand strategies during the discussion with their peers, which may explain some of the out of scopediscussion. This finding suggests that problem typology can facilitate interaction among studentsin directing their inquiry and supporting discussion along productive problem solving
something you heard (someone else say) in your small group that pushed your thinking? • In the professional workforce, whose responsibility is it to ensure a team’s design process is ethical?Lastly, to wrap up the module, we would engage the entire class in a final discussion to highlightkey themes relating to their small and medium breakout rooms. We envision this type of modulehappening earlier in the semester, thereby later in the semester, we would build on this work byhaving students write individual reflexivity statements to discuss how their identities,background, and lived experiences might relate to the design space in which they are working.AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank the authors of the framework and
, learning environment, andacademic concern. The TA section includes an overall rating for the teaching assistant (TA). Atthe end of each section, a “Comments/Suggestions” box is included, where the students areencouraged to write their comments. These surveys are administered typically at 1/3 (Week 5)and 2/3 (Week 10) of the semester.Based on the findings of each survey, the instructor makes a brief presentation during class,where the most frequent comments/issues are discussed along with actions to address them. Thethird survey further serves as a measure of the efficiency of the adopted actions from the secondsurvey. The fourth survey is administered by the university typically during Week 14 of thesemester and serves as a final assessment
other pre-professional programs)Lessons LearnedThis event is planned and facilitated by a staff member and student planningcommittee working together as a team. The team meets with the keynote speaker inadvance of the event so that the students get to provide their input to the speakerabout what topics they think their peers will be most interested in hearing about,among the possible topics offered by the speaker. Committee members also host andintroduce the speaker on the night of the event, plan an open networking event for thefirst 30 minutes of the event, help the speaker plan for the table discussions after thekeynote, and sometimes manage the question and answer period at the end of theevent. These responsibilities give the
/ethnicity on the third, outer ring, suggesting that race was tertiary in importance ascompared to the other identities placed in his circle. “Child” and “spouse” were also placed inthe third ring.When Taresh was describing his identities, family seemed to be paramount to him. His parentswere especially supportive of his educational efforts: My parents, they always have my back through thick and thin. Even now, they still encourage me like, ‘Yeah, you're an engineer.’ They really encourage me.Regarding age, Taresh referred to his maturity and “wisdom” as compared to his peers incollege. He was slightly older and felt he had learned to balance the competing challenges ofcollege: I kind of understand a little more that you can have
transition totheir careers. Students setting out for college campuses, getting out of the comfort of the familyfor the first time in life is itself a giant leap in their maturing. Then the experiential learningcoming from open discussions, making deep, meaningful connections, and dispute managementin classes and dorms all significantly contribute to shaping them as responsible future citizens.Students learn not only from the faculty but from their peers. They learn about themselves, theiridentities, their interest, their character, school pride, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence,and a whole host of things. However, even with all its benefits, this residential experience is notaccessible to all groups of students due to its high price tag
ESL courses at Mada Walabu University for over seven years, where he also served the university assum- ing various positions such as being Quality Assurance Director, Teachers Development Leader, Pedagogy Trainer as well as English Language Center Coordinator. Atota was also a principal investigator of the project entitled ”Engendering Higher Education Curricula”, where he, along with four project members, investigated gender issues in higher education and devised comprehensive interventions in the form of training for students, academic, support and administrative staff as well as by writing guidelines for the university. Atota is interested in working to ensure equity and quality in higher education, particularly for
having “complained” about white,heteronormative masculinity in mathematics and: According to Professor Luis Leyva, children are implicaitly taught from an early age to associate innovate problem-solving with masculinity while viewing conformity and "meekness" as feminist traits.14 [sic]The piece contains so many typos it is unintelligible and Leyva’s actual argument is renderedunrecognizable. There was a time when we would have ignored or dismissed such arguments asinvalid, and such shoddy and sloppy writing as drivel. However, many students struggle withinformation literacy and are still developing their ability to evaluate the quality of informationand argument; we cannot afford to ignore this reality. 22It is crucial in our
, Orientation, Introduction to Mechanical Engi- neering, Introduction to Engineering Communication and Report Writing, Introduction to Matlab and plotting. The communication and plotting modules were incorporated to sup- port the laboratory project reporting during the first part of the semester. • Weeks 4-9 (10/5/15 -- 11/9/15): Brief introduction to Mechanical Engineering Principles. These concepts included position, velocity, acceleration, load paths, forces, moments, stress, strain, and thermo-fluid conservation laws. The presentation of theory was intro- ductory and conceptual using examples. • Week 10-12 (11/16/15 – 11/23/15): The Engineering design process, with a focus on De- sign
to presenttheir social problem and solution with an additional five minutes allocated at the end of thepresentation for Q&A. Each group was also tasked with producing a marketing poster for theirproject to highlight their problem and solution. The students were given freedom as to thespecific content and layout of the poster, so long as it effectively advertised their solution. Theposters were hung throughout the engineering building so the general student population couldperuse what their peers had come up with and the students in the class could be proud of theirachievements. Three projects were presented during each section, and the students in the sectionvoted on the top project from each session. From this, 13 projects plus two
mathematics and computing, particularly by authors writing from outsideengineering such as Hacker17, did not take account of the role and contexts in whichmathematics and computing were used. It is suggested as more helpful to look forexplanations in linking concepts of separate and connected knowing18, 19with the disciplines.The much quoted Belenky et al.19 hypothesised that more women than men may be“connected knowers” (where the relationship between the self and the knowledge is important– being able to link topics to personal experience) and that more men than women operated as“separate knowers”. Separate knowing, they suggested, was more like the traditional,objective, rule-seeking ways of evaluating, proving or disproving truth – reflected in
participation had significant positiveeffects on 11 outcome measures: academic performance (GPA, writing skills, critical thinkingskills), values (commitment to activism and to promoting racial understanding), self-efficacy,leadership (leadership activities, self-rated leadership ability, interpersonal skills), choice of aservice career, and plans to participate in service after college. “These findings directly replicatea number of recent studies using different samples and methodologies.”(p.ii) 5 They found thatS-L to be significantly better in 8 out of 11 measures than just service without the courseintegration and discovered “strong support for the notion that service learning should be includedin the student’s major field.”(p.iii)6.Eyler and
.” “Lack of security and promotion possibilities.” “I don’t have a peer group in my department. I don’t get reviewed, and I’m not considered for promotion.” “No guarantee on classes being available. No benefits.” “There is no security. There is no recognition for the work that I do. The university and department have no stake in my success so I often feel like a target instead of a valued team player. Often made to feel like a second class citizen because I don’t have tenure. Still held to a higher standard.”Finally, faculty were asked to rate their work life balance (Q34). Table 6 shows how faculty
towards their learning, and therefore inclined towant more involvement in the process. They also want to relate learning to their life experiences,understanding that education is for life. Young learners, on the other hand, have little experience to drawon, and therefore tend to be dependent on the instructor for guidance. They are also motivated to learnmore by reward and punishment, i.e. good grades, failing grades4. Typically, the traditional lecture isbased on the pedagogical model, with the professor providing information to the student, while theandragogical model allows for more interaction and cooperation between the student, peers, professor,and subject matter (active learning). With both approaches, effective learning can occur. Yet
Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his BS degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and his MS and PhD degrees from Purdue University and is a registered professional engineering in Wisconsin. He has published over 200 technical papers in the areas of contractor failure, prequalification, surety bonds, constructability, automation, maintainability, warranties, quality control/quality assurance, and engineering education. He has published two books—Constructor Prequalification (1996) and Surety Bonds for Construction Contracts (2000. His research has been recognized by his peers through his selection for over
emphasize that by writing Card N = 30 we meanthat N is countably infinite.7. Cardinality of Countably Infinite Sets. There are other countably infinite sets, for example,the set Z of all integers. Table 1 gives an idea of how Z can be counted. It seems naturalassigning to Z the symbol 30: Card Z = 30. Any countably infinite set A can be counted by usingthe bijection A 2 N. Thus, the symbol 30 can be assigned to any countably infinite set A. Wewrite: Card A = 30 for any countably infinite set A, or in other words, for any set A that isequivalent to the set N = {1, 2, 3, 4, ..., n, ...} of all positive integers.8. Equivalent Sets Have the Same Cardinality. Next we ask the question: are all infinite sets weknow countable? Or, are there infinite sets
. oxygenated hemoglobin changes (same BOLD response asfMRI). Experimentally, fNIRS machines use a similar simple setup as EEGs so that participantscan comfortably sit or stand while wearing a cap that is connected to a data acquisition system.One key advantage is that fNIRS can be used while participants walk, talk, operate a computer,write, or otherwise perform the actions we commonly associate with educational settings. Themotion artifacts created by these everyday actions are difficult to control for in both EEG andfMRI methods, but do not pose a significant threat in fNIRS research. Though fNIRS boastsgreater spatial resolution than EEG, it lacks the high spatial resolution of fMRI, and thusprovides little information about sub-cortical brains
service-learning literatureto tie the questions to the course objectives [5]. As such, the questions were chosen to see howstudents viewed the role of engineers in human development and to evaluate the students’perceptions of how CST can inform their work as engineers. The first objective was the mainfocus of the first two critical reflections. The first reflection focused on the role of the individualengineer while the second focused on the impact the project had on the community. The lastwritten reflection addressed the second objective. In addition to the course objectives, theauthors wanted to assess student outcomes, in particular ABET H. The first two reflectionsaddressed this outcome.Students were asked to write a reflection that answered
growth mindset intervention [26].Specifically within an engineering context, first-year students given an open ended problem tosolve showed less of a change towards fixed mindset compared to peers not given such anopportunity [27], and students with growth mindset beliefs were more likely to engage in activelearning and knowledge-building behaviors [18]. The simple framing and proven results havemade mindset theory and the psychological lens attractive and popular, especially in K-12education. The existence of valid and reliable survey items [23] allows educators or researchersto measure these powerful beliefs for a given individual in a rather simple and straightforwardway. Finally, the idea of being able to change each individual’s