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Session 2793

PROACTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE AEROSPACE ENGINEERING CURRICULUM 2000 Brian M. Argrow Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 80303-0429

Abstract

The inception of the Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Aerospace Engineering Curriculum 2000 provided a unique opportunity to introduce the ProActive Philosophy for Teaching and Learning. The curriculum was reformed both in content and teaching methods. It shifted emphasis from compartmentalized basic science, mathematics, and engineering science courses to those designed to integrate topics, provide hands-on experiential learning, and a renewed focus on product design. The new curriculum employs the resources of the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory to incorporate a hands-on component for core undergraduate courses. The ProActive Teaching and Learning Philosophy was implemented with the new curriculum. This philosophy enforces student preparation and capitalizes upon this preparation to replace the conventional, passive lecture with an interactive session in which all students actively participate in topical discussions. In addition, team teaching is now the standard in the sophomore and junior courses.

Introduction

The ProActive Philosophy for Teaching and Learning was introduced with the Aerospace Curriculum 2000 (AE 2000), in the fall of 1997. The new curriculum for the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences (AES) was reformed in content and a new teaching and learning paradigm was introduced. Course content reform primarily focused on horizontal integration of the engineering sciences, hands-on experiments, and design in a teaming environment. There is a renewed emphasis on the implicitness of computing and communications. The MATLAB programming environment is incorporated into most courses and writing and presentation skills are emphasized. The Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory* (ITLL) made the reforms realizable. 2 Seebass and Peterson9 provide a detailed discussion of the motivations and decisions made in creating the AE 2000. In particular, they acknowledge lessons learned from MIT, 3,4 the Universities of Maryland 1 and Cincinnati11, and an industry perception of desired attributes of engineering graduates. 5 They also discuss the enabling potential of the ITLL.

The following discussion is in two major parts. First is a discussion of knowledge and curriculum that motivated the ProActive Philosophy for Teaching and Learning that forms the core of the pedagogical reform. This is followed by the second major part, a status report on the * For a “virtual tour” of the ITLL visit http://itll.colorado.edu.

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Argrow, B. (2002, June), Proactive Teaching And Learning In The Aerospace Engineering Curriculum 2000 Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10767