Engineering Commons^™

The Decline Of The Car Enthusiasts: Implications For Undergraduate Engineering Education, Mary P. Cardenas

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

Hands-on, project-based engineering education is alive and well. However, anecdotal evidence indicates that we are seeing fewer undergraduate engineering students who arrive on campus already knowing how to ‘use their hands’—having familiarity with tools and mechanical devices, knowing how to connect things, savvy about avoiding leaks in fluid systems, wary of stripping a screw thread or shearing a bolt head—the kinds of things that an archetypal car enthusiast would have learned in high school. For design-build-test project-based engineering educational experiences, having at least one car enthusiast has proven invaluable: more time can be spent on testing and re-designing, rather than …