The Benefits of Interdisciplinary Learning Opportunities for Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students

Isaac Koduah Kumi; Stacie I Ringleb; Francisco Cima; Orlando M Ayala; Krishnanand Kaipa; Jennifer Jill Kidd; Kristie Gutierrez; Pilar Pazos; Danielle Marie Rhemer

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: June 26, 2024
Conference Session: MECH - Technical Session 8: Sustainability and Interdisciplinary Learning
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--48086
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48086
Download Count: 89

Paper Authors

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Isaac Koduah Kumi Old Dominion University

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Isaac K. Kumi is a Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. student at Old Dominion University. He has a B.Sc in Biomedical Engineering and an M.E. in Mechanical Engineering. His research interests are in biomechanics and biomechanical modeling and simulation.

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Stacie I Ringleb Old Dominion University

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Stacie Ringleb is a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Old Dominion University and a fellow of the American Society of Biomechanics. Dr. Ringleb received a B.S. in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve Univer

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Francisco Cima

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Francisco Cima is a PhD student of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at Old Dominion University. He obtained his Masters in Business Planning and Regional Development from the Technological Institute of Merida. His areas of interest are innov

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Orlando M Ayala Old Dominion University orcid.org/0000-0003-0604-8606

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Dr. Ayala received his BS in Mechanical Engineering with honors (Cum Laude) from Universidad de Oriente (Venezuela) in 1995, MS in Mechanical Engineering in 2001 and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2005, both from University of Delaware (USA). Dr. Ayala is currently serving as Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology Department, Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA.

Prior to joining ODU in 2013, Dr. Ayala spent three years as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Delaware where he expanded his knowledge on simulation of multiphase flows while acquiring skills in high-performance parallel computing and scientific computation. Before that, Dr. Ayala held a faculty position at Universidad de Oriente at Mechanical Engineering Department where he taught and developed graduate and undergraduate courses for a number of subjects such as Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Thermodynamics, Multiphase Flows, Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulic Machinery, as well as Mechanical Engineering Laboratory courses.

In addition, Dr. Ayala has had the opportunity to work for a number of engineering consulting companies, which have given him an important perspective and exposure to the industry. He has been directly involved in at least 20 different engineering projects related to a wide range of industries from the petroleum and natural gas industry to brewing and newspaper industries. Dr. Ayala has provided service to professional organizations such as ASME. Since 2008 he has been a member of the Committee of Spanish Translation of ASME Codes and the ASME Subcommittee on Piping and Pipelines in Spanish. Under both memberships, the following Codes have been translated: ASME B31.3, ASME B31.8S, ASME B31Q and ASME BPV Sections I.

While maintaining his industrial work active, his research activities have also been very active; Dr. Ayala has published 90 journal and peer-reviewed conference papers. His work has been presented in several international forums in Austria, the USA, Venezuela, Japan, France, Mexico, and Argentina. Dr. Ayala has an average citation per year of all his published work of 44.78.

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Krishnanand Kaipa Old Dominion University orcid.org/0000-0002-8095-938X

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Dr. Krishnanand Kaipa is an Assistant Professor and director of the Collaborative Robotics and Adaptive Machines (CRAM) Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Old Dominion University. Dr. Kaipa received his BE (Hons.)

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Jennifer Jill Kidd Old Dominion University orcid.org/0000-0001-9800-1690

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Dr. Jennifer Kidd is a Master Lecturer in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Old Dominion University. Her research interests include engineering education and educational technology.

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Kristie Gutierrez Old Dominion University orcid.org/0000-0002-9339-7574

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Dr. Gutierrez received her B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001, M.Ed. in Secondary Science Education in 2005 from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and Ph.D. in Science Education in 2016 from North Ca

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Pilar Pazos Old Dominion University orcid.org/0000-0003-4348-7798

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Pilar Pazos is a Professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA. Her main areas of research interest in Engineering Education include team learning, virtual teams, and team decision-making.

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Danielle Marie Rhemer Old Dominion University

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Abstract

Two project-based learning approaches were implemented in a 100-level information literacy class in the Mechanical Engineering program at a mid-Atlantic university. One approach, the treatment group, partnered engineering students with education students to develop and deliver engineering lessons to elementary school students. In the second approach, the comparison group, engineering students were partnered with their engineering classmates to work on an engineering problem using the engineering design process. The two projects were designed to have similar durations and course point values. For both projects, teams were formed, and peer evaluations were completed using the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) survey. This study examined how the two project-based learning approaches affected students' teamwork effectiveness. Data were collected from undergraduate engineering students assigned to groups in the comparison and treatment condition from Fall 2019 to Fall 2022. Data was collected electronically through the CATME teammate evaluations and project reflections (treatment, n = 137; comparison, n = 112). CATME uses a series of questions assessed on a 5-point Likert scale. Quantitative analysis using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Covariance (ANCOVA) showed that engineering students in the treatment group expected more quality (p-value = 0.004), were more satisfied (p-value = 0.05) and had more task commitment (p-value = 0.003) than engineering students working within their discipline. However, no statistically significant differences were observed for teamwork effectiveness categories such as contribution to the team’s work, interaction with teammates, keeping the team on track, and having relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities. This result suggests that engineering students who worked in interdisciplinary teams with an authentic audience (i.e., children) perceived higher quality in their projects and had higher levels of commitment to the task than their peers in the comparison group. A thematic analysis of the written reflections was conducted to further explain the results obtained for the three categories: expecting quality, satisfaction, and task commitment. The thematic analysis revealed that the treatment or interdisciplinary groups exhibited considerably more positive reflections regarding the project in all three categories, supporting results obtained quantitatively.

Citation
Format

Kumi, I. K., & Ringleb, S. I., & Cima, F., & Ayala, O. M., & Kaipa, K., & Kidd, J. J., & Gutierrez, K., & Pazos, P., & Rhemer, D. M. (2024, June), The Benefits of Interdisciplinary Learning Opportunities for Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--48086

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Two project-based learning approaches were implemented in a 100-level information literacy class in the Mechanical Engineering program at a mid-Atlantic university. One approach, the treatment group, partnered engineering students with education students to develop and deliver engineering lessons to elementary school students. In the second approach, the comparison group, engineering students were partnered with their engineering classmates to work on an engineering problem using the engineering design process. The two projects were designed to have similar durations and course point values. For both projects, teams were formed, and peer evaluations were completed using the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) survey. This study examined how the two project-based learning approaches affected students&#39; teamwork effectiveness.
Data were collected from undergraduate engineering students assigned to groups in the comparison and treatment condition from Fall 2019 to Fall 2022. Data was collected electronically through the CATME teammate evaluations and project reflections (treatment, n = 137; comparison, n = 112).  CATME uses a series of questions assessed on a 5-point Likert scale. Quantitative analysis using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Covariance (ANCOVA) showed that engineering students in the treatment group expected more quality (p-value = 0.004), were more satisfied (p-value = 0.05) and had more task commitment (p-value = 0.003) than engineering students working within their discipline. However, no statistically significant differences were observed for teamwork effectiveness categories such as contribution to the team’s work, interaction with teammates, keeping the team on track, and having relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities. 
This result suggests that engineering students who worked in interdisciplinary teams with an authentic audience (i.e., children) perceived higher quality in their projects and had higher levels of commitment to the task than their peers in the comparison group. A thematic analysis of the written reflections was conducted to further explain the results obtained for the three categories: expecting quality, satisfaction, and task commitment. The thematic analysis revealed that the treatment or interdisciplinary groups exhibited considerably more positive reflections regarding the project in all three categories, supporting results obtained quantitatively. 

AU  - Isaac Koduah Kumi
AU  - Stacie I Ringleb
AU  - Francisco Cima
AU  - Orlando M Ayala
AU  - Krishnanand Kaipa
AU  - Jennifer Jill Kidd
AU  - Kristie Gutierrez
AU  - Pilar Pazos
AU  - Danielle Marie Rhemer
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Benefits of Interdisciplinary Learning Opportunities for Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/48086
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--48086
ER  -