Assessments of Ultra-Low-Cost Venturi Nozzle in Undergraduate Engineering Classes
- Conference
- Location
-
Seattle, Washington
- Publication Date
-
June 14, 2015
- Start Date
-
June 14, 2015
- End Date
-
June 17, 2015
- ISBN
-
978-0-692-50180-1
- ISSN
-
2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
-
Chemical Engineering
- Page Count
-
12
- Page Numbers
-
26.266.1 - 26.266.12
- DOI
-
10.18260/p.23605
- Permanent URL
-
https://peer.asee.org/23605
- Download Count
-
574
Paper Authors
Arshan Nazempour Washington State University
Arshan Nazempour completed his undergraduate study at University of Tehran in Tehran, Iran in Chemical Engineering. Currently, he is a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at Washington State University and working under Professor Van Wie's supervision on two projects, synergistic influences of oscillating pressure and growth factor on chondrogenesis in a novel centrifugal bioreactor and hands-on learning solution for students.
Paul B. Golter
Washington State University
orcid.org/0000-0001-8959-6899
Paul B. Golter obtained an MS and PhD Washington State University and made the switch from Instructional Laboratory Supervisor to Post-Doctoral Research Associate on an engineering education project. His research area has been engineering education, specifically around the development and assessment of technologies to bring fluid mechanics and heat transfer laboratory experiences into the classroom.
Cecilia Dianne Richards Washington State University
Dr. Cecilia Richards is a professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University. Dr. Richards received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada. She earned her Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of California at Irvine. She has authored over 100 technical papers and proceedings and holds two patents. She has supervised the research of 26 graduate students.
Robert F. Richards Washington State University
Dr. Robert Richards received the PhD in Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. He then worked in the Building and Fire Research Laboratory at NIST as a Post-Doctoral Researcher before joining the faculty of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University. His research is in thermodynamics and heat and mass transfer. Over the last five years he has become involved in developing and disseminating research based learning methods. He was a participant in the NSF Virtual Communities of Practice (VCP) program in Spring, 2013, learning research based methods to instruct thermodynamics. More recently he introduced the concept of fabricating very low cost thermal fluid experiments using 3-D printing and vacuum forming at the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering Education in October, 2013.
He is presently a co PI on the NSF IUSE: Affordable Desktop Learning Modules to Facilitate Transformation in Undergrad¬uate Engineering Classes, High School Recruitment and Retention.
Bernard J. Van Wie Washington State University
Prof. Bernard J. Van Wie did his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D., and postdoctoral work at the University of Oklahoma where he also taught as a visiting lecturer. He has been on the Washington State University faculty for 32 years and for the past 18 years has focused on innovative pedagogy research and technical research in biotechnology. His 2007-2008 Fulbright exchange to Nigeria set the stage for him to receive the Marian Smith Award given annually to the most innovative teacher at Washington State University.
Abstract
Assessments of Ultra-Low-Cost Venturi Nozzle in Undergraduate Engineering ClassesIt is well known to engineering schools and professors that students pass many courses withoutgaining core concepts. Students learn equations as a fill in the blank formula withoutunderstanding what each term really means. As an illustration, we gave students a venturi nozzlewith manometer attached to it. Air was pumped through the nozzle while water was used in themanometer. Students were confused about whether they should use the density of air or water inthe Bernoulli equation. This and many other examples show deficiency in traditional teachingmethodologies. To improve long-term conceptual learning, teaching methods that stimulatestudent thinking and encourage problem solving ability are needed.One usefulpedagogy is that of hands-on learning because it improves students understandingthrough interactive learning strategies. We have used desktop learning modules or DLMs wherestudents are given a chance to see, touch, feel, and experience real-world engineering systemdesigns and their operation, all of which lead to better understanding. Yet, currently availableDLMs are costly; therefore only small numbers are affordable in most programs, and studentteams must share them with just a short period of time in which to use them in the classroom.However, with the availability of 3D printers for creating molds and vacuum formingmanufacture, ultra-low-cost venturi nozzles can be made available at a price less than $50including the necessary pump, tubing, static head pressure measurement and flow reservoirs.With further refinement these systems, because of their, small-size and low-weight, can be takenhome by students for further study after introduction in the classroom.Our team designed and implemented low-cost venturi nozzles in a junior-level mechanicalengineering fluid mechanics course. A control group just had lecture while an experimentalgroup received a mini-orientation lecture, and participated in a small three-person interactivehands-on learning session. Both experimental and control groups were split among twogeographic locations, with one local and one distance site. To assess impact on conceptuallearning, the two groups were compared through the use of pre- and post-quizzes.In this paper, we report on how pre- and post-quizzes were developed through a mini-Delphitechnique. Briefly, we invited Professors from both chemical and mechanical engineeringexperienced in teaching fluid mechanics courses and asked them about student misconceptionsthey had encountered. Based on their answers, we developed the pre- and post-quizzes with atleast one question from each of Bloom's taxonomy levels. To get to higher levels, we combinedboth multiple-choice and short answer questions. The assessment results are being used todetermine which teaching method, i.e. lecture or DLM, is more suitable for this specific topicand preliminary results are reported here.
Nazempour, A., & Golter, P. B., & Richards, C. D., & Richards, R. F., & Van Wie, B. J. (2015, June), Assessments of Ultra-Low-Cost Venturi Nozzle in Undergraduate Engineering Classes Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.23605
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: © 2015 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