Education Commons^™

Updates To A Sequence Of Thermodynamics Experiments For Mechanical Engineering Technology Students, Roger A. Beardsley

All Faculty Scholarship for the School of Graduate Studies and Research

This paper presents an outline of thermodynamics experiments and lab activities that accompany the introductory thermodynamics course for Mechanical Engineering Technology juniors at Central Washington University (CWU) in Ellensburg, Washington. It outlines and describes the current suite of thermodynamics lab activities, comparing the current suite of seven lab activities to a sequence outlined in an ASEE conference paper presented in 1995. Some lab activities in that paper have been replaced, while others have been updated. For example an experiment to measure the Joule-Thomson coefficient has been replaced with a First Law energy balance activity and the former First Law experiment …

Asynchronous Use Of Engineering (Materials) Education Videos, Craig Johnson, Arthur D. Morken

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Engineering education delivery is dynamic and increasingly asynchronous. An observation that students had very different levels of knowledge and skills as they progressed through our programs, led the authors to use audio/visual media as a leveling intervention. In this effort the authors collected data to determine if audio/visual media can be used to increase performance in the development of a program related task and guide students to higher levels of learning on Blooms Taxonomy through the development of student created learning aids.

One specific need was reflected in the disparate skills of our majority component of ‘transfer’ students in our …

Machine Design Lab: Using Automotive Transmission Examples To Reinforce Understanding Of Gear Train Analysis, Roger A. Beardsley, Charles O. Pringle

Engineering Technologies, Safety, and Construction Faculty Scholarship

In studying mechanical gear train analysis, some students struggle with relatively simple gear design concepts, and virtually all have difficulty with the complexities of planetary gear sets. This paper describes two labs developed for an undergraduate senior level machine design course. One lab uses a three-speed manual synchromesh transmission with parts of the case cut away to demonstrate the operation of the gears, shifting mechanism, bearings, and other aspects of the design. Students then count teeth and analyze the gear ratios using standard gear train analysis methods. The other lab uses a 1924 Ford Model T planetary transmission to observe …

Educational Operations Four Days A Week, Charles O. Pringle, William Bender

Engineering Technologies, Safety, and Construction Faculty Scholarship

Four day work weeks have been employed by industry, state agencies, and recently by higher education. The generally perceived benefit of the four day work week is reduced energy costs. These costs savings include more efficient building operations and less energy consumption driving to a facility. The generally perceived negative impact of four day operations, particularly of state agencies, is a decreased level of service.

How much energy would be saved and could the level of service be maintained in a higher educational environment by switching from five to four day weeks? This study occurs at a regional university within …