Implementing the Wright State Model First-Year Engineering Mathematics Course in a Startup School of Engineering

Lynn Albers

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Conference: 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Publication Date: June 23, 2018
Start Date: June 23, 2018
End Date: July 27, 2018
Conference Session: Mathematics Division Technical Session 1
Tagged Division: Mathematics
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--30625
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/30625
Download Count: 432

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Lynn Albers Campbell University

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Dr. Lynn Albers is an Assistant Professor in the newly formed School of Engineering at Campbell University. A proponent of Hands-On Activities in the classroom and during out-of-school time programs, she believes that they complement any teaching style thereby reaching all learning styles. She earned her doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University specializing in thermal sciences where her dissertation research spanned three colleges and focused on Engineering Education. Her passions include but are not limited to Engineering Education, Energy Engineering and Conservation, and K-20 STEM Outreach.
Prior to matriculating at NCSU, she worked at the North Carolina Solar Center developing a passion for wind and solar energy research while simultaneously learning renewable energy policy. She combined these passions with K-20 STEM Outreach while a National Science Foundation Fellow with the GK-12 Outreach Program at NCSU where she began Energy Clubs, an out-of-school-time program for third, fourth and fifth graders to introduce them to renewable energy.

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Abstract

The Wright State Model was first implemented in 2004 with the goal of increasing student retention, motivation and success in engineering. Because students enter their first-year with varied math backgrounds, the model is meant to help fill the gaps. In other words, every student enters their first year in a boat filled with holes. The course helps fill each hole so that at the start of the next semester, all boats can rise with the tide.

“The Wright State Model approach begins with the development of a novel freshman-level engineering mathematics course, "Name of Course." Taught by engineering faculty, the course includes lecture, laboratory and recitation components. Using an application-oriented, hands-on approach, the course addresses only the salient math topics actually used in core engineering courses. … The result has shifted the traditional emphasis on math prerequisite requirements to an emphasis on engineering motivation for math, with a "just-in-time" structuring of the new math sequence.” quote from website, www.cecs.wright.edu/engmath/

A new, school of engineering was created at Campbell University. The school welcomed the first engineering class in the fall of 2016. This course is being taught to approximately a third of the first-year class. This paper reflects the impact of this course on current first-year students and second-year students who completed the course in 2016; the lessons learned for implementing this course by the instructor and changes made for the second year. The students will be surveyed at the end of the course to gauge their impression of the course and their retention in future engineering courses. This data will be incorporated into the paper.

Citation
Format

Albers, L. (2018, June), Implementing the Wright State Model First-Year Engineering Mathematics Course in a Startup School of Engineering Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30625