Mascaro, D. J., & Bamberg, S., & Roemer, R. (2011, June), SPIRAL Laboratories in the First-Year Mechanical Engineering Curriculum  Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18688

\bibitem{asee_peer_18688}
  Mascaro, D. J., \& Bamberg, S., \& Roemer, R. (2011, June), \emph{SPIRAL Laboratories in the First-Year Mechanical Engineering Curriculum}
  Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Vancouver, BC.
  10.18260/1-2--18688

Debra J. Mascaro, Stacy Bamberg, and R. Roemer.  "SPIRAL Laboratories in the First-Year Mechanical Engineering Curriculum".  2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC, 2011, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2011.  https://peer.asee.org/18688 Internet.  22 Apr, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_18688}
  Debra J. Mascaro, Stacy Bamberg, and R. Roemer.
  "SPIRAL Laboratories in the First-Year Mechanical Engineering Curriculum".
  \emph{2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Vancouver, BC, 2011, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2011.
  https://peer.asee.org/18688 Internet.  22 Apr, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_18688
author = "Debra J. Mascaro, Stacy Bamberg, and R. Roemer"
title = "SPIRAL Laboratories in the First-Year Mechanical Engineering Curriculum"
booktitle = "2011 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2011"
month = "June"
address = "Vancouver, BC"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/18688}
number = {10.18260/1-2--18688}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -        SPIRAL Laboratories in the First-Year Mechanical Engineering CurriculumAs a primary part of realizing a Student-driven Pedagogy of Integrated, Reinforced, ActiveLearning (SPIRAL) throughout our Mechanical Engineering curriculum, we are implementingnew laboratory experiences in the first and second years of our program. This paper will focus onthe laboratories for our new, required first-year course sequence, in which the traditional topicsof design methodology and computer programming are taught in the context of robotic andmechatronic systems. The laboratories encompass software, mechanical and electrical hardware,and manufacturing, with content driven by the semester-long team-based robotic/mechatronicdesign projects.The general format of the laboratory meetings is a one-hour tutorial followed by a two-hourlesson. During the hour-long Excel® (fall) or MATLAB® (spring) tutorials, students completeintroductory problems with the help of their teaching assistant, and then start working on theirmore in-depth homework assignment if time remains. In the fall, the two-hour lessons coverhand-drawing, computer-aided design using SolidWorks®, engineering topics including springs,pulleys, gears, friction and traction, and manufacturing topics including safety, hand tools,waterjet cutting and sheet metal bending. Some lab time is also dedicated to communications,where students give presentations and meet with graduate communication instructors to discusswriting, oral presentations and teamwork. In the spring, the two-hour lessons include anintroduction to electronics and programming using the Arduino® microcontroller platform,mechanical and electromechanical hardware topics including fourbar linkages, motors, solenoidsand sensors, and advanced SolidWorks and communication instruction.The mechanical/electromechanical hardware labs are designed to give students hands-onexperience that is directly related to the required design project. For example, the fall projectinvolves the design and construction of a mechanically-powered autonomous machine/vehicle,and the students learn how to characterize the static and rolling friction of their vehicles in thefriction lab. In spring semester, the students design an electro-mechanically actuatedmachine/vehicle, and the hardware labs have the students build and test solenoids andcharacterize torque-speed curves of provided motors. Students also synthesize, model (inSolidWorks®), prototype and manufacture (using the waterjet cutter) a fourbar linkage that is arequired element of their device.The laboratories that focus on introductory electronics and Arduino® are taught in the spring,before our students have taken either second-semester physics (electro-magnetism) or therequired introductory electrical engineering class. Thus, for the introductory electronics, thefocus is on basic techniques such as using prototyping breadboards, soldering wires and printedcircuit boards, constructing connectors, and investigating simple circuits and components. Allstudents receive an Arduino®, and in teams, the students build a custom-designed shield boardfor use in the lab and the design project.We expect that the integrated laboratory experiences in our first-year mechanical engineeringclasses will improve the students’ understanding and retention of fundamental engineeringprinciples through the coupling of hands-on laboratory learning with design-based learning. Wewill assess this outcome at the start of the junior year by a competency exam in our Mechatronicsclass. We also anticipate increased student retention, which will be assessed by tracking whichstudents eventually register for Mechatronics.
AU  - Debra J. Mascaro
AU  - Stacy Bamberg
AU  - R. Roemer
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - SPIRAL Laboratories in the First-Year Mechanical Engineering Curriculum
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/18688
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--18688
ER  -