Making the Makers: Building Hands-on Skills to Help Humanity Through First-Year Design

Pamela L. Dickrell; Lilianny Virguez

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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: First-Year Programs: Design in the First Year
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs
Page Count: 15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--33080
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/33080
Download Count: 620

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Paper Authors

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Pamela L. Dickrell University of Florida

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Dr. Pamela Dickrell is the Associate Director of the Institute for Excellence in Engineering Education, in the UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. Her role as Associate Director of the Institute focuses on effective teaching methods and hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduate student engagement and retention. Dr. Dickrell received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida, specializing in Tribology. Her research areas include first-year design, makerspace education, hands-on learning, diverse student engagement & retention.

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Lilianny Virguez University of Florida

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Lilianny Virguez is a Lecturer at the Institute for Excellence in Engineering Education at University of Florida. She holds a Masters' degree in Management Systems Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech. She has work experience in engineering and has taught engineering courses at the first-year level. Her research interests include motivation to succeed in engineering with a focus on first-year students.

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Abstract

Engineering Design & Society is a hands-on first-year course teaching human-centered design to inspire engineering students to become innovators to help humanity. Students are actively engaged in practicing the human-centered design and prototyping process while learning makerspace and hands-on skills (solid modeling, 3D printing, programming, microelectronics, sensors, actuators, basic hand & power tools). Students then practice and incorporate these skills into the design process in a multidisciplinary team to research, design, build, document, and present on their functional prototype of a solution to help humanity to meet specific desired needs. The course is centered on experiential learning and innovation practice for all engineering freshmen through hands-on education in a classroom structured as a makerspace. Students collaborate at worktables in teams, each team with their own tools, with a dedicated class suite of 3D printers and other maker tools to help students not only design but also physically build and program functional prototypes. The goals and benefits of the Engineering Design & Society course are to: 1) Promote a culture of making in first-year students by introducing solid modeling, programming, sensors, data acquisition, 3D printing, and other maker tools; 2) Help students learn techniques to solve open-ended engineering challenges; 3) Build student self-confidence in their individual making skills (especially for female and minority engineering students) to increase student hands-on participation in engineering societies, innovation challenges, and internships, and 4) Build teamwork and cooperative learning skills through participation in multidisciplinary teams. This work outlines the makerspace structure of the physical environment, and hands-on nature of the curriculum of this first-year course. Impact on students is examined both quantitative and qualitatively through student self-reported surveys from the pilot sections of the course. Survey data examines student perceptions on the how structure and content of the course impact student identity as makers and their self-confidence in making skills. Student self-reported data on gender, ethnic background, major, prior programming experience, and prior building experience are included to examine maker-centered impact across a diverse background of first-year engineering students.

Citation
Format

Dickrell, P. L., & Virguez, L. (2019, June), Making the Makers: Building Hands-on Skills to Help Humanity Through First-Year Design Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--33080

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Engineering Design &amp; Society is a hands-on first-year course teaching human-centered design to inspire engineering students to become innovators to help humanity.  Students are actively engaged in practicing the human-centered design and prototyping process while learning makerspace and hands-on skills (solid modeling, 3D printing, programming, microelectronics, sensors, actuators, basic hand &amp; power tools). Students then practice and  incorporate these skills into the design process in a multidisciplinary team to research, design, build, document, and present on their functional prototype of a solution to help humanity to meet specific desired needs. 
The course is centered on experiential learning and innovation practice for all engineering freshmen through hands-on education in a classroom structured as a makerspace. Students collaborate at worktables in teams, each team with their own tools, with a dedicated class suite of 3D printers and other maker tools to help students not only design but also physically build and program functional prototypes.  
The goals and benefits of the Engineering Design &amp; Society course are to: 1) Promote a culture of making in first-year students by introducing solid modeling, programming, sensors, data acquisition, 3D printing, and other maker tools; 2) Help students learn techniques to solve open-ended engineering challenges; 3) Build student self-confidence in their individual making skills (especially for female and minority engineering students) to increase student hands-on participation in engineering societies, innovation challenges, and internships, and 4) Build teamwork and cooperative learning skills through participation in multidisciplinary teams.
This work outlines the makerspace structure of the physical environment, and hands-on nature of the curriculum of this first-year course.  Impact on students is examined both quantitative and qualitatively through student self-reported surveys from the pilot sections of the course. Survey data examines student perceptions on the how structure and content of the course impact student identity as makers and their self-confidence in making skills.  Student self-reported data on gender, ethnic background, major, prior programming experience, and prior building experience are included to examine maker-centered impact across a diverse background of first-year engineering students. 

AU  - Pamela L. Dickrell
AU  - Lilianny Virguez
CY  - Tampa, Florida
DA  - 2019/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Making the Makers: Building Hands-on Skills to Help Humanity Through First-Year Design
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/33080
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--33080
ER  -