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Teaching Engineering Design in an Academic Makerspace: Blending Theory and Practice to Solve Client-based Problems

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Conference

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

New Orleans, Louisiana

Publication Date

June 26, 2016

Start Date

June 26, 2016

End Date

June 29, 2016

ISBN

978-0-692-68565-5

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Maker Spaces within the University

Tagged Division

Design in Engineering Education

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

18

DOI

10.18260/p.27351

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/27351

Download Count

920

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Paper Authors

biography

Vincent Wilczynski Yale University

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Vincent Wilczynski is the Deputy Dean of the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science and the James S. Tyler Director of the Yale Center for Engineering Innovation & Design. As the Deputy Dean, he helps plan and implement all academic initiatives at the School. In addition, he manages the School's teaching and research resources and facilities. As the James S. Tyler Director of the Center for Engineering Innovation & Design he leads the School’s efforts to promote collaboration, creativity, design and manufacturing activities at Yale’s academic makerspace. His professional interests in Mechanical Engineering are in the areas of data acquisition/analysis and mechanical design. He is the Co-Chair of the Executive Advisory Board of the FIRST Foundation and is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering. Previously, he was the Dean of Engineering at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and has had fellowships at the MIT Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, the Harvard School of Public Health and with the American Council on Education. He has also served as the Vice President of Public Awareness for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and was the 2001 Baccalaureate College Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation, the only national award that recognizes outstanding college teaching.

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Joseph Zinter III Yale University

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Larry Wilen Yale University

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Larry Wilen is a senior research scientist and lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Yale University, working in the Yale Center for Engineering, Innovation, and Design.

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Abstract

Abstract for ASEE Design in Engineering Education Division

Recommended sessions abstract is relevant to: 1. Design Methodology

Teaching Engineering Design in an Academic Makerspace: Blending Theory and Practice to Solve Client-based Problems

The proliferation of academic makerspaces – sites where students, faculty and staff design and build solutions to engineering and other problems – suggests that such spaces have a positive impact on campus. This paper reports on the impact of an academic makerspace on design education. A model of instruction and student engagement, as applied in a collection of courses spanning multiple disciplines is presented, will be presented. Using examples from 8 different courses taught in the profiled academic makerspace, a design-focused pedagogical model has been developed that integrates course instruction, skill development (using the tools within the makerspace), knowledge acquisition (of technical data related to the discipline), and client-based problem solving by student teams. In these courses, clients present a real-world problem within their technical domains that are then assigned as projects to student teams. This instructional model, similar to that used for capstone design courses, has been applied in courses closely aligned with biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, and engineering as a whole (for an introductory course). This academic makerspace model for instruction exploits features common to many academic makerspaces, including open and collaborative communities where participants help each other learn and develop. The paper will present this model for teaching design skills in a collaborative environment and include examples of its use in a variety of courses.

Wilczynski, V., & Zinter, J., & Wilen, L. (2016, June), Teaching Engineering Design in an Academic Makerspace: Blending Theory and Practice to Solve Client-based Problems Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.27351

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