Bridging The Historical Technological Gap Between The Past And The Present In Engineering Technology Curriculum
- Conference
- Location
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Publication Date
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June 22, 2008
- Start Date
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June 22, 2008
- End Date
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June 25, 2008
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Engineering Technology
- Page Count
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11
- Page Numbers
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13.259.1 - 13.259.11
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--3608
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/3608
- Download Count
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452
Paper Authors
William Loendorf Eastern Washington University
WILLIAM R. LOENDORF is currently an Associate Professor of Engineering & Design at Eastern Washington University. He obtained his B.Sc. in Engineering Science at the University of Wisconsin - Parkside, M.S. in Electrical Engineering at Colorado State University, and M.B.A. at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. He holds a Professional Engineer certification and was previously an Engineering Manager at Motorola. His interests include engineering management, real-time embedded systems, and digital signal processing.
Terence Geyer Eastern Washington University
TERENCE L. D. GEYER obtained his B.S. in Manufacturing Technology at Eastern Washington University. He is currently completing his M.Ed. in Adult Education in a specially combined program as a Graduate Instructor in the Department of Engineering & Design at Eastern Washington University. His interests include collecting and re-manufacturing older technologies.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Bridging the Historical Technological Gap Between the Past and the Present in Engineering Technology Curriculum
Abstract
In order to be able to compete in the worlds global economy, future engineering graduates need to have an understanding of the full road that technology has traveled on a worldwide basis. This paper addresses the advantages and dynamics of infusing hands-on historical-based engineering technologies into traditionally lecture based classroom situations. The project’s overall goal was to increase the engineering student’s awareness of technology’s historical heritage and foundations.
The topics discussed include how historical skills, equipment, and knowledge were researched, remanufactured, and placed into a display format that brought students into personal contact with technologies from the past. By bringing the past into the present in a tangible format, students developed a more complete understanding of historical technologies along with the engineering challenges they presented, overcame, and all of the steps in between.
The results from this project indicate an increased student awareness, interest, and retention of just how technology has evolved. In addition, graduates of the Engineering Technology Program now have a better understanding of past technological issues that can be used to address future challenging and competitive situations.
Introduction
Engineering students are taught to design, develop, and build things of all sizes, shapes, and descriptions. In most cases, their objectives are to solve a problem, create a new product, or simply improve an old one. This has been the case for centuries; engineers have always faced these types of challenges. However, students rarely have the opportunity to look back into history and study how engineers and technologists from the past solved the critical problems of their time. They concentrate instead on using today’s technologies in proven or new ways.
In order to fill this gap a new course was developed a number of years ago by the Engineering & Design Department at Eastern Washington University. It was titled: Technology in World Civilization (Loendorf7, 2004) and was designed to broaden the students perspective of past technologies and how they were discovered and used. The main objectives of the course were to: (a) promote awareness of technological development, and (b) provide a rudimentary understanding of the social, political, economic, and cultural impact.
The content of this course explores innovations and inventions associated with ancient technologies, agriculture, weapons, time measurement, industrialization, transportation, communication, and the environment (Loendorf7, 2004). These encompass every aspect of engineering and engineering technology including mechanical, electrical, industrial, civil, and
Loendorf, W., & Geyer, T. (2008, June), Bridging The Historical Technological Gap Between The Past And The Present In Engineering Technology Curriculum Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--3608
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