Education Commons^™

Dual-Axis Solar Tracker, Bryan Kennedy

All Undergraduate Projects

Renewable energies, and fuels that are not fossil fuel-based, are one of the prolific topics of debate in modern society. With climate change now becoming a primary focus for scientists and innovators of today, one of the areas for the largest amount of potential and growth is that of the capturing and utilization of Solar Energy. This method involves using a mechanical system to track the progression of the sun as it traverses the sky throughout the day. A dual-axis solar tracker such as the one designed and built for this project, can follow the sun both azimuthally and in …

Development Of An Excel® Rocket Simulator For Application In Middle School, High-School, And University Stem Education, Melvin Lee Hortman

All Master's Theses

Water rocket activities are one of the most popular STEM activities used in primary, secondary, and higher education yet are void of engineering, though engineering is heavily implied in the STEM acronym. This study investigated the amount of engineering present in water rocket activities, and options for emphasizing engineering more in water rocket activities using an open-platform flight simulator for use by educators to enable students to predict flight parameters of a water rocket they designed, and test those predictions against experimental data. The simulator was constructed in Excel® with many functions, but the function validated in this study was …

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 …

The Relationship Of Textbooks To Development Of Course Content In The Teaching Of Small Gas Engines, Frank Demchuck

All Master's Theses

This study compares and evaluates the ideas and opinions of practitioners with the ideas and opinions of educational theorists. Information from the practitioners was gathered by questionnaire. Information from the theorists was gathered by a search of the related literature. The findings, showing the relationship or textbooks to the development of course content in the teaching of small gas engines, are presented and evaluated. A small gas engines textbook outline based on information gained from this study is also presented.

Production Of A Video Tape Recorded Supplement For Use In Teaching Electrical Tuned Circuit Theory, William A. Carlson

All Master's Theses

This paper presents a sample of the proceedures utilized to produce a video tape recorded suppliment for use in teaching electrical tuned circuit theory. It is designed so that it could be used as a ready reference for anyone desiring to make a video tape recorded teaching aid. A recomendation is that, with the advent of the simplified video tape recorder, every teacher should become as practiced in its operation and utilization as he now is with the film projector.

A Correlation Study Of The Washington Pre-College Test Scores To Determine Which Scores Are The Best Predictors Of Success In Flight Aviation At The Big Bend Community College, Richard H. Pearce

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine how a student's Washington Pre-College test results and his high school grade point average can best be used in deciding which people have the greatest chance to succeed in the Big Bend Community College flight aviation program. For the past four years of the aviation program it has been necessary to choose approximately seventy students for the program from as many as two hundred applicants. The counseling staff of the college in cooperation with the flight aviation department has used the high school grade point average as a primary tool in order …

An Investigation Of The Need To Correlate Academic Subject Areas With Industrial Arts, Ernest James Boedcher

Graduate Student Research Papers

This study was initiated as a result of a need that became apparent in two industrial arts seminars at Central Washington State College. Studies reveal that industrial arts teachers use principles, laws, and applications of mathematics and science daily, but these are seldom recognized and made meaningful to the students. As a result of this study industrial arts teachers may see a way to use this material to initiate similar situations in their teaching.

An Electronics Course Of Study For The High Schools In The Highline School District, Rual Elmer Tigner

Graduate Student Research Papers

Electronics is now being taught in the Highline District in one course for one year in each of the four high schools. There are no formal district objectives tor this course, no sequence of instruction, no list of course content. The writer has felt the need for the above and has interviewed all four instructors in the district and the assistant superintendent of instruction. It was agreed that in order to provide a more meaningful, correlated program, it would be necessary to have such a district-wide course of study developed. In view of this, the writer has attempted to develop …

Cutting School Building Costs Through Educational And Architectural Planning, Construction Details, And Contracting, Alan Dale White

Graduate Student Research Papers

It was the purpose of this paper to point out the factors pertaining to educational and architectural planning, construction details, and contracting which collectively tend to lower the building expenditures. Specific architectural details such as wall cost comparisons, structural framing, and material recommendations have been purposely deleted. The suggestions presented herein, general in nature, do not seriously restrict architectural imagination, ingenuity, or creativity.