Engineering Commons^™

Integrating Information Into The Engineering Design Process, Michael Fosmire, David Radcliffe

Purdue University Press Books

Engineering design is a fundamental problem-solving model used by the discipline. Effective problem-solving requires the ability to find and incorporate quality information sources. To teach courses in this area effectively, educators need to understand the information needs of engineers and engineering students and their information gathering habits. This book provides essential guidance for engineering faculty and librarians wishing to better integrate information competencies into their curricular offerings. The treatment of the subject matter is pragmatic, accessible, and engaging. Rather than focusing on specific resources or interfaces, the book adopts a process-driven approach that outlasts changing information technologies.

After several chapters …

The Humanistic Side Of Engineering: Considering Social Science And Humanities Dimensions Of Engineering In Education And Research, Morgan Hynes, Jessica Swenson

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Mathematics and science knowledge/skills are most commonly associated with engineering’s pre-requisite knowledge. Our goals in this paper are to argue for a more systematic inclusion of social science and humanities knowledge in the introduction of engineering to K-12 students. As part of this argument, we present a construct for framing the humanistic side of engineering with illustrative examples of what appealing to the humanistic side of engineering can look like in a classroom setting, and opportunities for research that examines the dynamics the humanistic side of engineering introduces into engineering learning and teaching. The illustrative examples are drawn from interactions …

Secondary Students' Conceptual Understanding Of Engineering As A Field, Devlin B. Montfort, Shane Brown, Victoria Whritenour

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Researchers have long been interested in how to recruit and retain more and more diverse students into engineering programs. One consistent challenge in this research is understanding the impacts of interventions from the point of view of the student, and how their preconceptions may influence that effectiveness. This study investigated how secondary students understand the concept of engineering, including what engineering is and what engineers do. The purpose of this work was to describe students’ conceptions of engineering, and to determine how those perceptions relate to student interest in engineering careers. The investigation was founded on the theoretical framework of …

Validating The Critical Engineering Literacy Test (Celt) With Cognitive Interviews, Margot L. Keimig, Senay Purzer

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The CELT learning assessment focuses on the critical thinking skills of engineering students and allows for the improvement of information literacy, one’s ability identifying and implementing important information. With the pairing of cognitive interviewing, the CELT will allow for the identification of errors and will better determine the reasoning in the decisions made by the students taking the test. The CELT test uses multiple choice and open response questions to evaluate the students and the areas where improvements need to be made. Over the course of the year, the students’ information literacy skills will be expanded and then re-evaluated at …

Visualizing Mechanics: Improving Student Learning Through Video Demonstrations, Blake A. Wetherton, Olumide A. Awofeso, Carolyn E. Creighton, Adam F. Potrzebowski, Charles M. Krousgrill, Jeffrey F. Rhoads

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Purdue Mechanics Freeform Classroom (PMFC) is a project that seeks to reform engineering mechanics education by integrating content and technology; enhancing communication between students, their peers, and instructors; accommodating a broader range of learning styles; and facilitating greater depths of understanding. In an attempt to increase the PMFC’s efficacy, a series of demonstration videos has been produced. As demonstrated by the popularity and pervasiveness of websites such as YouTube, short videos have the potential to captivate audiences. As such, these videos have incredible promise in educational contexts. In the PMFC series of videos, entitled Visualizing Mechanics, each imitates the …

Development Of Pneumatic Robot For Outreach, Eshamogbo E. Ojuba, John Lumkes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

To encourage the current generation of high school and middle school students to pursue careers in engineering, it is important to have challenging hands-on engineering activities for them. Such activities should be interesting, compelling, and, most importantly, educative. A mini-excavator was built for fluid power outreach, but this tool only demonstrates fluid power, without showing other important aspects of engineering. The tool being developed is able to demonstrate fluid power, as well as other important aspects of engineering, such as controls, electronics, and programming. This tool is an electronically-controlled device that allows the user control a pneumatic circuit, coupled with …

Why Do Indiana Pre-Service Technology Education Majors Choose The Profession, Traves L. Freeland

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to look at the factors that influence pre-service technology education majors to choose to become teachers. The pre-service teachers of three Indiana technology education teacher preparatory programs were given an internet survey to collect demographic data and determine what factors influence current pre-service teachers. The results of this study were compared to the results from a study done by Harris (2007). The findings resulted in similar factors that were the most common identified as being influential. Those factors included personal interest or hobbies, high school or middle school teacher, and past experiences in …

Beyond Jee: Finding Publication Venues To Get Your Message To The ‘Right’ Audience, Amy S. Van Epps

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Very few publications exist outlining the different publishing opportunities within engineering education as a discipline. Most researchers think immediately of the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE), and as the primary publication associated with the American Society for Engineering Education it is a logical first thought.

Questions arise with new graduate students and young faculty who are trying to learn the scope of engineering education as a research discipline and need to identify possible publication venues. A broad list of publications has been generated and is maintained by the ASEE Student Division in cooperation with the Center for Engineering Learning and …

Educating For Evidence Based Decisions In Engineering: The View As Librarian And Instructor, Amy S. Van Epps

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The First Year Engineering program at Purdue University is regularly reviewed and revised to adapt to the needs of the students, feedback from teaching faculty, and the changing needs of the university curriculum. In the last year, a unifying theme was added to the class to help tie all the different activities together. That theme was “evidence based decision making in engineering”, a perfect fit for introducing and discussing information literacy many times throughout the semester, rather than in a single, isolated session.

As instructor for one section of the class, the author identifies benefits to including this message throughout …

Cleerhub.Org Adoption By Eafit University Engineering Faculty Members: A Longitudinal Study, Diego M. Mendez Mena

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The main purpose of this study is to identify and comprehend faculty members’ perception of attributes of the diffusion of the technological innovation CLEERhub.org at EAFIT University, College of Engineering, in Medellin, Colombia. Moreover, this work attempts to understand causes and motivators that might lead to innovation adoption or rejection. The Diffusion of Innovations Theory serves as the framework to develop an appropriate assessing instrument that allows accurate measuring of user opinions towards the practice of CLEERhub.org in their educational research work in Engineering. In order to correctly assess user perception of the embracement process of such technological/cyberinfrastructure innovation, the …

Theoretical Foundations For Effective Stem Learning Environments, Aran W. Glancy, Tamara J. Moore

School of Engineering Education Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Making The Most Of Site Visits, Lindsey Anne Nelson

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

In order to engage communities, engineering educators must build networks with diverse community organizations. These community organizations primarily act as clients for student design teams. Engineering students are expected to treat clients with respect while developing solutions that solve a real problem found in the community organization. However, engineering students might not view people within the community organization as crucial stakeholders who have valuable information. The purpose of this paper is to explore how engineering students seek information during site visits to community partners.This paper analyzes students in a simulation activity to observe how students interact with different kinds of …

Microcontrollers For Mechanical Engineers: From Assembly Language To Controller Implementation, Noah Salzman, Peter H. Meckl

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This paper describes the evolution of a graduate and advanced undergraduate mechanical engineering course on microcontrollers and electromechanical control systems. The course begins with developing an understanding of the architecture of the microcontroller, and low-level programming in assembly language. It then proceeds to working with various functions of the microcontroller, including serial communications, interrupts, analog to digital conversion, and digital to analog conversion. Finally, the students learn how to characterize first and second order systems, and develop and implement their own controllers for a variety of electromechanical systems. The course takes the uncommon approach of teaching assembly language programming to …

The Dynamics Of Attracting Switchers: A Cross-Disciplinary Comparison, Corey T. Schimpf, George Dante Ricco, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

A Hazards Model Study of Pathway Analysis in Engineering Factors that indicate, explain, or predict if a student will persist or exit an engineering degree have been a subject of a lot of research in engineering education. Findings from these studies identify factors that lead to success or barriers that lead premature exit from an engineering degree; however, they often focus on students who matriculate into engineering or analyze students once they have matriculated into engineering. We propose studying an alternate pathway, students who switch into engineering from other majors. Examining alternate pathways may yield a fuller picture of the …

Assessing Student Design Work In Social Entrepreneurship Projects, Lindsey Anne Nelson

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Helping People Living in Poverty? Understanding Factors Motivating Social Entrepreneurship Abstract Increasingly, engineering educators look to increase the social relevance of engineering design activities. The emergence of social businesses has sparked interest in creating programs that teach engineers about social entrepreneurship. Social businesses are viable business ventures where businesses adopt a social mission. Some strategists view social businesses as ways to capture market share in countries that have a large emerging consumer class, such as India and Brazil. These strategists speak of finding “the fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” and target consumers earning less than 4USD/day. Other strategists …

Engineering Childhood: Knowledge Transmission Through Parenting, Brianna L. Dorie, Monica Cardella

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Parents are the front line when it comes to the education and development of their children, and are important agents in the educational achievement of their child in a formal setting (Yun et al, 2010; Catsambis, 1995; Fan & Chen, 2001; Seyfried & Chung,2003). Parents purchase toys, read books, take children to museums, and interact with their child on a daily basis. Particular background with a subject, such as science or engineering, can affect the parent’s strategies for educating their children and subsequent understanding of main concepts (Yun et al., 2010). However, many adults and children alike have a minimal …

Reliability Of The Global Real-Time Assessment Tool For Teaching Enhancement (G-Rate), Nikitha Sambamurthy, Jeremi Shavonda London, Jeeyeon Hahn, Jiabin Zhu, Monica F. Cox

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

In response to the need for research-based assessment tools for effective teaching and to provide feedback to graduate teaching assistants about their instructional interactions in a classroom, the Global Real-time Assessment Tool for Teaching Enhancement (G-RATE) has been developed.The G-RATE has a flexible and easy-to-use interface that allows use in lecture and laboratory environments to collect data from a variety of stakeholders, including undergraduate students,instructors, researchers, and administrators.This paper presents a brief overview of the revised version of the Observer function of the G-RATE (Cox, Hahn, McNeill, Cekic, Zhu, & London, 2011) (Figure 1), which collects real-time classroom data framed …

Using Puppets To Elicit Talk During Interviews On Engineering With Young Children, Brianna L. Dorie, Zdanna Tranby, Scott K. Van Cleave, Monica Cardella, Gina Navoa Svarovsky

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Interviewing can be tricky at best, but with a younger audience (< 5 years) there are some additional barriers that inhibit the interview process such as shyness, short attention span,lack of vocabulary, and level of parental guidance (Clark, 1999). When in an interview, a child may try to ‘second guess’ what the researcher wants them to say, especially if they believe that the interviewer may already know the answer (Gallop, 2000). Additionally young children tend to give monosyllabic answers to open ended questions (Tizard &Hughes, 1984), and might require more prompting than adults.One aide that has been recently investigated is the use of puppets to elicit children’s talk for research (Epstein et al., 2008). Puppets have been shown to: • Decrease children’s fears of the interview process • Lower anxiety levels • Help assess children’s knowledge • Help children to adjust to environment • Provide effective communication and teaching tools. Most research focuses on puppets within clinical contexts, but recently the use has been extended towards other applications such as qualitative interviews (Epstein et al., 2008),mathematical lessons (Cauley, 1988), promoting science engagement (Naylor et al,2007), and teaching phonics (Johnston & Watson, ???). However, there has not been any documented use of this research approach within engineering education.There are three common interview techniques involving puppets in practice: the Alien Puppet Interview (API) (Krott and Nicoladis, 2005), the Puppet Interview (PI) (Cassidy,1988; Verschueren, Buyuk and Marcoen, 2001) and the Berkeley Puppet Interview (BPI) (Measelle et al., 1998; Ablow et al., 1999). Each technique has a different strategy depending on how the child interacts with the puppet.As part of a larger project, children ages 3-5 were interviewed about an engineering task that they had just completed with their parents during a museum event. The interview was a hybrid mix of the Alien Puppet Interview and the Puppet Interview, depending on the way in which the child interviewee chose to interact with the puppet. Thirty interviews were analyzed for children’s interaction, quality of answers, and behavior toward the puppet.In the paper, we will provide more details about the specific interview approach used for our study (as well as insights into how children responded to this interview approach) in addition to a larger discussion of the three interview techniques in order to provide a research methodology resource for other pre-college engineering education researchers to use.