Supplemental instruction benefits students in an introductory engineering course

Improving the creativity in introductory engineering course applying fuzzy network process: A pilot study

We propose and execute an introductory engineering course for investigating the history of technology and the philosophy of technology. Soft...

Written communication is an important, however often neglected, component of an engineering curriculum. The civil engineering department at North Dakota State University has included word processing in its CE 101 course in order to teach students to write reiteratively and to gain an appreciation for the convenience associated with word processing. Several conclusions were drawn from this first attempt at including word processing in an introductory engineering course. Student comments were generally favorable and they appreciated the exposure to microcomputers. The shareware program that was distributed to each student worked well, but the necessity for each student to purchase the full documentation became evident. Finally, the classical lecture style of presentation was not adequate and will be replaced by smaller computer lab sessions and hands‐on experience.

A discipline-specific first year introductory course has been the norm in engineering education. Most of these courses are often theme-based and use engineering design as a device to emphasize the relationship between the various components of a field like Electrical and Computer Engineering. Online learning has also been incorporated in such common courses to enhance student experiences. As an alternative to a first year discipline-specific engineering course, there have been recent efforts to develop common first year engineering courses that target all engineering disciplines. One rationale for such a common courses has been an early instillation of common engineering education elements like ethical and social dimension of engineering design. A problem-based curriculum is often used in such first year introductory engineering courses to also ensure that students find relevance in the Physics and Math course being taken in the first two years of engineering. Students are also challenged to work on a design project in a multi-disciplinary team. A college wide engineering course allows students to learn about various engineering disciplines and wisely choose an engineering discipline. In this paper, we introduce the "Introduction to Engineering" freshman course offered to all students enrolled in the College of Engineering. The course consists of lectures, labs, recitation sessions, and a competition. Students are introduced to the major responsibilities of engineers, presentation skills, documentation, teamwork, problem solving, design process, ethics, and the basic concepts in each of the six engineering disciplines offered in the College. We evaluate the course outcomes by collecting and analyzing the student's feedback over 2 years. The results are very encouraging and reflect a positive learning experience. We share some of the challenging multidisciplinary project ideas offered to the students. We also discuss the topics covered in the course and the relationship of each topic to the ABET criteria.

Active and collaborative learning instruments were introduced into an introductory electrical and computer engineering course. These instruments were designed to assess specific learning objectives and program outcomes. Results show that students developed an understanding comparable to that of more advanced students assessed later in the curriculum.

This chapter studies the mathematical skills required in technical subjects of bachelor programs in engineering. The interface between mathematical subjects and introductory engineering courses is conceptualized to study this topic. We developed a transferable framework for the analyses of exercises, related problem-solving strategies, and typical sources of errors. In exercises from an engineering exam after the second semester, the transitions between engineering contexts and the use of mathematical methods, whose use and shape can stem from courses on mathematics for engineering or from their use in lectures on engineering themselves, are characterized, also concerning the tensions they create. Finally, we present the results of applying this framework to an exercise used in an exam, which was given after the first year studies in electrical engineering.

Jaskirat Sodhi is interested in first-year engineering curriculum design and recruitment, retention and success of engineering students.He is the coordinator of ENGR101, an application-oriented course for engineering students placed in pre-calculus

PropCart is a three wheeled model vehicle with a variable pitch pusher propeller and rubber band motor. This paper presents the construction and testing of this vehicle as a platform for teaching concepts of linear and rotational mechanics, and elementary aerodynamics of airfoils applied in aircraft and wind turbines. Building and testing the vehicle is proposed as a 12th Grade STEM project: SCIENCE component: Physics; Linear and Rotational Mechanics with practical determination of basic and derived quantities in particular uniformly accelerated motion. TECHNOLOGY component: Design and construction of the vehicle. ENGINEERING component (overlapping technology): Measurement of thrust of the propeller at different setting angles using video data of propeller angular velocity and cart linear velocity; enabling determination of relative wind and angle of attack, calculation of Reynolds number and identifying stall angle without the use of a wind tunnel. MATHEMATICS component: Data analysis using Excel. A teaching course based mainly on the Khan academy physics programme is provided to support concepts used in the propeller cart project. PropCart is based on a four wheeled vehicle with fixed pitch propeller, devised by David Newton (1999). A redesigned three wheel vehicle with a variable pitch propeller was used in a practical project in a 12 week introductory engineering course at the University of Canterbury (2002) for 15 Petronas students. 12 students completed the project: Test videos for each student were taken in PAL format at 25fps for time intervals of 1–2 seconds for propeller setting angles of 15, 30 and 45 degrees; with student choice of the number of rubber bands used and the number of windup turns. Readings of linear and angular motion were taken with software which could select frame by frame display. Linear and angular displacement against time were plotted against time and time squared. Separate experiments were conducted on the performance of the propeller with the cart fixed with motor axis normal to an annular scale graduated in degrees. The propeller using 2 rubber bands was wound up by 30 turns for each test. Setting angles from 0 to 90 degrees were used. Graphs of angular displacement against time were compared over one second and plotted on a common time axis for setting angles 0 to 90 degrees. The graphs show that stalling occurs at angles greater than 15 degrees. Cart linear motion and propeller angular velocity within a one second time interval were related. Angular velocity of the propeller against time was a piecewise function: At low setting angles near 15 degrees tending to an acceleration sub-function followed by a constant velocity sub-function the latter giving constant thrust and constant linear acceleration of the cart. The angular displacement against time squared graph showed non uniform decreasing acceleration, with the rate of decrease increasing with time squared due to drag; further supported by the test results of the linear motion of the students’ vehicles. A large number of activities are detailed for the teaching of linear and rotational mechanics. For example, the rotational inertia of the propeller can be determined by mounting it as a compound pendulum; this activity importantly uses the parallel axis theorem. Taking the propeller blade as a flat plate airfoil: The relative air flow at mid span can be determined as falling along the resultant of air relative to the cart and air relative to the reference point on the blade: Enabling the determination of flow angle and angle of attack for a given setting angle. A parallel linkage with adjustable link lengths was developed for measuring setting angle by reflecting a laser beam off mirror foil on the blades, this is briefly discussed.

As one component of a college-wide redesign of its introductory engineering courses, a project-based introduction to computer science is being developed using open-source software running under the GNU/Linux operating system. The course components include hardware assembly, operating system and software installation, basic system administration, and a working introduction to the engineering design process through the completion of several collaborative projects involving content-based graphic design and computer animation. Through the three semesters, the course has gravitated away from a module-based survey of fundamental concepts in computer science and engineering toward greater student exploration of fewer topics most relevant to the projects. Continuing assessment of each phase of the course provides formative and summative feedback and has played an important role in the maturation of the course.

ABSTRACT: This paper presents and experimental study that compares the performance of teams of one, three, and six in terms of generation of requirements from given design prompts. Team size has not been fully explored in the literature in comparative experimental studies for requirements generation. The study was conducted with 116 teams of one, 86 teams of three, and 92 teams of six composed of pre-service engineers in an introductory engineering course. Two prompts were used for the in-class activity. Results indicate that the size of the team did not have significant influence on the number of requirements generated. However, this suggests that there is a difference in efficiency of generating requirements. Analyzing the variety, novelty, and completeness of the requirements generated is reserved for future work. This work helps to lay the foundation for justifying team size.

An engineering ethics assignment through student skits was piloted in the spring 2006 with 180 freshman students enrolled in an introductory engineering course at Virginia Tech. Students, assigned into groups of 4-8, were given one of five ethics case studies documenting realistic engineering scenarios, a set of guidelines, a performance assessment rubric, and instructed to prepare a 5-10 minute skit integrating the essential elements of the given case study. The student groups were given two weeks to organize, prepare, and practice before performing their skit for the class. Students were required to complete a hand-out, provided during the skit session, identifying which of twelve Rules of Practice as part of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) ethical codes had been violated and provide a brief response to a set of open-ended ethical questions. Results of the student hand-out, student surveys and focus group interviews are discussed.

Improving academic outcomes for minority students by highlighting the work of Norbert Rillieux

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. w. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994) and general social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1999, 2000) posit somewhat different relations between contextual variables and choice actions. The authors tested the predictions of these 2 model variations. Participants (328 students in an introductory engineering course) completed measures of SCCT's person (self-efficacy, coping efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, academic goals) and contextual variables (environmental supports and barriers) related to the pursuit of engineering majors. Findings indicated good support for a model portraying contextual supports and barriers as linked to choice goals and actions (i.e., persistence in engineering) indirectly, through self-efficacy, rather than directly, as posited by SCCT. Implications for future research on SCCT's choice and environmental hypotheses are discussed.

Introductory engineering courses can benefit from the flipped classroom model as these courses develop hands-on skills such as engineering design and critical thinking skills. Providing students with instruction outside the classroom with e-learning tools frees up class time to engage in activities that promote deeper learning, e.g. classroom discussions, problem-solving sessions, design activities, etc. In this paper, we discuss the implementation of a flipped classroom version of an introductory engineering design course. We evaluate student performance and perception of a flipped classroom version using data collected during the course. We also discuss elements of the course that were found to be the most beneficial for the students.

Look at Us Breathing Analía Villagra (bio) Since breaking up six months ago, Ana and Giovanni no longer take their shirts off when they have sex. Ana is pretty sure Giovanni has a new girlfriend, but he still calls. “I worry about you,” he says over the phone, whispered and sweet. “You’re going to have to move on, you know,” as the condom snaps off. She doesn’t remind him he’s the one who called. Once he leaves, she puts her sweatpants on and returns to her desk. She’s almost finished with her paper on obsessive-compulsive disorders in children, and when that’s done, she has a test to study for. She’s a senior but she’s taking an introductory engineering course for fun. Her cousin Monica thinks she’s crazy. Doesn’t she want a break before she starts grad school in the fall? If he knew her current schedule, Giovanni would be critical too, though for different reasons. It had annoyed him when Ana got invested in classes outside her major—she was so flighty, he said, unfocused. Not focused on him, Monica translated. Whatever they say, Ana likes the weight of a full course load. She is patient and methodical by nature, the perfect recipe for a good student. It’s going to make her a good social worker too, which has been her goal since high school. Monica, terrorizer of school administrators since age 11, laughed and wished her luck when Ana started researching Masters programs. Giovanni was more skeptical as she worked on her graduate school application last fall. “I don’t think you really know what you want,” he said. “I can’t even tell if you want to be with me.” Ana, mystified by the change in subject, listened to him talk about his roommates’ girlfriends. How they made dinner for the whole apartment, how they came to the park on Sunday to watch the guys play flag football while Ana rushed back to her dorm to study. His litany of disappointments continued for weeks. How could she plan for the future when she couldn’t commit to the present? Then, right before Thanksgiving, “This isn’t working,” he said. “It’s over.” Good riddance, Monica told her. Ana didn’t tell her cousin when he started calling again a few weeks after dumping her—always late, sometimes drunk. She answers every time. After two years together their bodies have their own rhythm, and it’s only their bodies now, they don’t speak much—a change for Giovanni, no different for Ana. She appreciates the new arrangement for its simplicity. [End Page 101] She knows what he wants from her, and it’s easy to give. He calls once or twice a week, they have sex, and he leaves. They’ve used condoms consistently since about March, which is what makes Ana think he’s seeing someone, and she finds it sweet really—he’s such a conscientious cheater. ________ Monica calls at 1:53 a.m.; Ana is awake because she’s still studying. Monica is up because she’s drunk. “We broke up,” Monica says. “For real this time. A week before our fucking graduation! God, Jesse is such an asshole. We should go somewhere. On a trip.” All four years of college, Ana has been grateful she doesn’t go to school in New York with her cousin. If she did, Monica would be at her door every other week with an overnight bag, a purse stuffed with cash taken from her dad’s account, and a new scheme. “Okay,” Ana says. “Okay?” “Let’s go on a trip.” “You’re in?” “Sure.” “You’re amazing! I’ll call you tomorrow.” Monica hangs up, and Ana congratulates herself on getting rid of her in record time—she loves her cousin, she does, but nothing good ever comes from these late-night phone calls. She is shocked when Monica actually calls back at 10 the next morning. “I need your passport number,” she says. “My what?” “Please God tell me you have a passport?” “I do.” She knows it’s valid because Giovanni...