Instruction Design of a Mechatronics Course Based on Closed-loop 7E Model Refined with DBR Method

S. M. Mizanoor Rahman

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Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Mechanical Engineering Division Technical Session 1
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering
Page Count: 23
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--32974
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/32974
Download Count: 896

Paper Authors

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S. M. Mizanoor Rahman University of West Florida

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Mizanoor Rahman received Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Systems Engineering and Mechanical Engineering respectively from Mie University at Tsu, Japan. He then worked as a research fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, a researcher at Vrije University of Brussels (VUB), Belgium, and a postdoctoral associate at Clemson University, SC, USA, and New York University (NYU), NY, USA. During his period at NYU, Dr. Rahman served as the lead robotics instructor for the Center for K-12 STEM education, and leaded the implementation of a large NSF-funded project entitled ``DR K-12: Teaching STEM with Robotics: Design, Development, and Testing of a Research-based Professional Development Program for Teachers". During that time, Dr. Rahman received license from the New York City Department of Education to conduct robot-based K-12 STEM education research in different public schools across New York City, trained about 100 public school math and science teachers for robot-based K-12 STEM education, and reached more than 1000 K-12 students across New York City. He then worked as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Tuskegee University, AL, USA. He is currently working as an assistant professor at the Department of Intelligent Systems and Robotics, Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering, University of West Florida (UWF), Pensacola, FL, USA. At UWF, Dr. Rahman contributes to the Ph.D. program in Intelligent Systems and Robotics, and directs the Human-friendly and Interactive Robotics Laboratory (HIR Lab). His research and teaching interests include robotics, mechatronics, control systems, electro-mechanical design, human factors/ergonomics, engineering psychology, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, CPS, IoT, computer vision, biomimetics and biomechanics with applications to industrial manipulation and manufacturing, healthcare and rehabilitation, social services, unmanned autonomous vehicle (aerial and ground) systems for indoor (e.g., home, factory floors, offices, business and social venues) and outdoor (e.g., fields, public places, space) services, and STEM education.

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Abstract

In this paper, a closed-loop novel model of the 7E plan is proposed and implemented for instructing a mechatronics course to mechanical engineering students. The effectiveness of the 7E plan is augmented through associating the DBR (design-based research) with the 7E plan. To do so, a selected topic of the mechatronics course is divided into several (3) lessons. For each lesson, the required activities pertaining to each stage of the 7E plan are carefully determined, and the lesson is instructed to the students following the 7E stages in sequence. Under the DBR method, the classroom environment and intermediate outcomes of the lesson are observed and analyzed, the limitations are identified, and actions are planned to implement in the next lesson (iteration) with an aim of continual refinement of the 7E plan. A comprehensive assessment rubric is developed to evaluate the overall outcomes of the lessons. The evaluation results at the end of the topic (at the end of the 3rd lesson) are then compared with that of instructing a similar topic in mechatronics instructed by the same instructor to the same student population without following the 7E plan and the DBR method. The results show that instruction design of the mechatronics course can be successfully fitted within the framework of the 7E model augmented with the DBR method. The comparison results show that the combination of the 7E and the DBR, which makes the 7E a closed-loop model, significantly improves the teaching and learning outcomes and effectiveness, and the instructor’s instructing quality. The proposed closed-loop 7E model via DBR addition can be a very successful instructional model to instruct mechatronics as well as other similar STEM courses to college-level science and engineering students.

Citation
Format

Rahman, S. M. M. (2019, June), Instruction Design of a Mechatronics Course Based on Closed-loop 7E Model Refined with DBR Method Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32974