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Full-Text Articles in Engineering Education

Do After-School Robotics Programs Expand The Pipeline Into Stem Majors In College?, Cathy Burack, Alan Melchior, Matthew Hoover Oct 2019

Do After-School Robotics Programs Expand The Pipeline Into Stem Majors In College?, Cathy Burack, Alan Melchior, Matthew Hoover

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

One result of the growing concerns over the numbers of young people moving into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related careers has been the expansion of formal and informal STEM education programming for pre-college youth, from elementary school through high school. While the number of programs has grown rapidly, there is little research on their long-term impacts on participant education and career trajectories. This paper presents interim findings from a multi-year longitudinal study of three national after-school robotics programs that engage students in designing, building, and competing complex robots with the goal of inspiring long-term interest in STEM. Focusing on …


Exercises Integrating High School Mathematics With Robot Motion Planning, Ronald I. Greenberg, George K. Thiruvathukal Oct 2019

Exercises Integrating High School Mathematics With Robot Motion Planning, Ronald I. Greenberg, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper presents progress in developing exercises for high school students incorporating level-appropriate mathematics into robotics activities. We assume mathematical foundations ranging from algebra to precalculus, whereas most prior work on integrating mathematics into robotics uses only very elementary mathematical reasoning or, at the other extreme, is comprised of technical papers or books using calculus and other advanced mathematics. The exercises suggested are relevant to any differerential-drive robot, which is an appropriate model for many different varieties of educational robots. They guide students towards comparing a variety of natural navigational strategies making use of typical movement primitives. The exercises align …


Work In Progress: Teaching Game Design And Robotics Together: A Natural Marriage Of Computing And Engineering Design In A First-Year Engineering Course, Adam R. Carberry, Ashish Amresh Apr 2018

Work In Progress: Teaching Game Design And Robotics Together: A Natural Marriage Of Computing And Engineering Design In A First-Year Engineering Course, Adam R. Carberry, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

The increased dependence on computer programming in engineering has made it essential for engineering students to learn about programming throughout their undergraduate education. In the same vein, computing students benefit when given an opportunity to learn more about engineering design and systematic thinking. This paper discusses how one college embedded computing and engineering into a combined first-year introductory course. The course fuses computing and engineering using game design and robotics as an offering for both cohorts of students to work together in a multidisciplinary environment. Over the course of the semester, students learn introductory computing and engineering design concepts by …


Cross Case Study Of An Elementary Engineering Task, John Heffernan Jul 2017

Cross Case Study Of An Elementary Engineering Task, John Heffernan

Doctoral Dissertations

Designerly play has been identified as a fundamental component of childhood learning (Baynes, 1994; Petroski, 2003). However, as students enter grade one and beyond, the increasing academic focus has resulted in the loss of opportunities for designerly play (Zhao, 2012). At the same time, there are increasing calls to increase the number, skill, and diversity of STEM workers (Brophy, Portsmore, Klein, & Rogers, 2008). The robotics based Elementary Engineering Curriculum (Heffernan, 2013) - used by students in this study - and other similar projects have the potential to increase the STEM pipeline but elementary engineering is not well-understood. Research is …


A Collaborated Process With A Wireless Autonomous Vehicle At It's Center, Thomas B. Stout, Steve C. Hsiung Jan 2014

A Collaborated Process With A Wireless Autonomous Vehicle At It's Center, Thomas B. Stout, Steve C. Hsiung

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Developing partnerships between high schools, community colleges and universities is critical for the successful transitions to a lifelong STEM careers. How do you develop these partnerships? The sharing of a technology platform such as autonomous vehicles can bridge the gap by using a common core group of materials. Collaborations between teachers and faculty indifferent schools that share common interests in teaching control systems and robotics technology can be an excellent start. The university as catalyst in the process by designing the curriculum, system hardware and software then through the common interest deploying them in the high schools and community college. …