Designing Freshman Engineering Experiences

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Freshman engineering experiences are critical from the perspective of overall development of students and student retention.These experiences can be particularly challenging to design owing to the differences in student backgrounds, and in levels of prior knowledge/preparation in fundamental scientific concepts.This paper presents an approach for redesigning a freshman engineering design course to introduce students to the fundamentals of the engineering design process through guided and independent scientific inquiry into the problem, and approaches, materials and methods used for solving problem.New course modules draw from current social contexts such as health, sustainability and issues impacting human and social dynamics.Problems are open-ended and creativity and communication are emphasized.Specific examples of redesigned course modules, formal and informal student feedback and plans for future work are offered.