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Full-Text Articles in Engineering Education

Using Theory To Improve Design Instruction In A New Common First-Year Programme For Engineers, Una Beagon, Ted Bruke, Shannon M. Chance, C. Fionnuala Farrell, John Mcgrory Jan 2015

Using Theory To Improve Design Instruction In A New Common First-Year Programme For Engineers, Una Beagon, Ted Bruke, Shannon M. Chance, C. Fionnuala Farrell, John Mcgrory

Shannon M. Chance

We represent a group of lecturers teaching a design module in a new common first-year engineering programme, delivered for the first time in the 2014-5 academic year, which provides a single entry point for all honours Bachelor of Engineering majors at our institution. In this paper, we describe the rationale and format of the Design Projects module. We explain how we used theories by Crismond and Adams [1] in the module and what we observed in doing so. The Design Projects module comprises three separate group-based design projects. It has four weekly contact hours over the entire academic year and …


Influence Of Collaborative Learning On Women’S Experiences Of Engineering Education, Shannon M. Chance, Brian Bowe Jan 2015

Influence Of Collaborative Learning On Women’S Experiences Of Engineering Education, Shannon M. Chance, Brian Bowe

Shannon M. Chance

In a study of 55 electrical engineering students, Yadav, et al., found learning gains among students in Project-Based Learning (PBL) to be twice the gains of those taking traditional lecture courses. Du and Kolmos indicate group based PBL is more supportive and appealing to women than traditional lecture formats. Savin-Baden posits that female and minority students are more likely to ask questions in non-competitive PBL environments. This study interrogates the claim that PBL is particularly supportive to female and minority students. This work-in-progress uses a phenomenological research methodology to investigate how collaborative learning (in formal as well as non-formal settings) …


What Matters In College For Retaining Aspiring Scientists And Engineers From Underrepresented Racial Groups, Mitchell J. Chang, Jessica Sharkness, Sylvia Hurtado, Christopher B. Newman Jan 2014

What Matters In College For Retaining Aspiring Scientists And Engineers From Underrepresented Racial Groups, Mitchell J. Chang, Jessica Sharkness, Sylvia Hurtado, Christopher B. Newman

Christopher B. Newman

This longitudinal study examined factors that contribute to the persistence of underrepresented racial minority (URM) undergraduates in STEM fields. The primary source of data came from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s 2004 The Freshman Survey (TFS) and 2008 College Senior Survey (CSS). The sample included 3,670 students at 217 institutions who indicated on the TFS that they intended to major in a STEM field, 1,634 of whom were underrepresented minority (URM) students. Findings indicate that Black and Latino undergraduates were significantly less likely to persist in STEM majors than were their White and Asian American counterparts. Background characteristics and college …


Finding What Women Want: Developing Strategies To Increase Recruitment And Retention In Along With Attracting External And Internal Sources Of Funding, Shweta Chopra, Gary R. Bertoline, Chad M. Laux Jun 2012

Finding What Women Want: Developing Strategies To Increase Recruitment And Retention In Along With Attracting External And Internal Sources Of Funding, Shweta Chopra, Gary R. Bertoline, Chad M. Laux

Shweta Chopra

Numerous reports have discussed the dearth of women in Science, Technology, Engineering; Mathematics (STEM) fields. Almost two-thirds of young children of age group 9-15 state that they enjoy science, but girls’ attitudes and interests change by middle school. During high school, girls and boys take the same number of science courses. In addition, girls perform as well as boys in those courses. Despite comparable performance levels, girls rarely continue studying science at college level. Lack of female progress in STEM education has been observed in STEM fields despite multiple measures taken by universities, colleges, schools, industries, and other organizations dedicated …


Rubric For Assessing Epistemological Development Of Students Who Are Learning Design, Shannon M. Chance Jan 2012

Rubric For Assessing Epistemological Development Of Students Who Are Learning Design, Shannon M. Chance

Shannon M. Chance

There is an extensive base of literature that attempts to describe how college students understand “knowledge” and their role in generating it. Educators draw from this literature to help students develop increasingly sophisticated ways of using knowledge. Although existing research aims for broad generalizability, it is clear that various disciplines have developed their own unique value systems. Scholars of “hard,” physical science are likely to hold very different ideas about the nature of “fact” and “inevitability” than those in the “softer,” social sciences [1]. Various disciplines conceptualize, use, and generate new knowledge in ways that differ dramatically, yet little research …


Introducing New Engineering Students To Mechanical Concepts Through An “Energy Cube” Project, Micheal P. O'Flaherty, Shannon Chance, Fionnuala Farrell, Chris Montague Jul 2007

Introducing New Engineering Students To Mechanical Concepts Through An “Energy Cube” Project, Micheal P. O'Flaherty, Shannon Chance, Fionnuala Farrell, Chris Montague

Shannon M. Chance

The objective of this paper is to describe a problem based learning module, called the “Energy Cube”, offered by Dublin Institute of Technology that is designed to teach mechanical, building services and manufacturing engineering concepts to first year engineering students. The Energy Cube project gives students hands-on experience in areas ranging from heat transfer, lighting and energy efficiency to industrial and product design. In the Energy Cube, students design and construct (using cardboard, clear plastic, and glue) a model of a building that admits as much daylight as possible while being energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing. The students, working in …