Engineering Education Commons^™

Infusing Engineering Concepts: Teaching Engineering Design, Jenny L. Daugherty

Publications

Engineering has gained considerable traction in many K-12 schools. However, there are several obstacles or challenges to an effective approach that leads to student learning. Questions such as where engineering best fits in the curriculum; how to include it authentically and appropriately; toward what educational end; and how best to prepare teachers need to be answered. Integration or infusion appears to be the most viable approach; instead of stand-alone engineering courses squeezing into the already crammed curriculum. An integrative approach whereby engineering is infused into the existing curriculum, within science, technology, mathematics or other courses, appears to be the best …

Incorporating Engineering Design Challenges Into Stem Courses, Daniel L. Householder, Christine E. Hailey

Publications

The National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) invited a small group of experienced engineering educators, curriculum developers, cognitive scientists, and professional development providers to engage in the discussion of guidelines for the selection and development of engineering design challenges suitable for all students in grades 9-12. That effort resulted in seven provocative papers (Carr & Strobel, 2011; Denson, 2011; Eisenkraft, 2011; Hynes et al., 2011; Jonassen, 2011a; Schunn, 2011; Sneider, 2011) that are accessible on the NCETE web site at http://ncete.org/flash/research.php NCETE hosted two Caucuses, each consisting of “a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon cause” …

Final Report: Accomplishments And Findings, Ncete Faculty

Reports to NSF

The National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) was funded on August 15, 2004 under the auspices of the Centers for Learning and Teaching (CLT) program in the Division of Elementary, Secondary and Informal Education. The Program Solicitation (NSF 04-501) provided the following synopsis of the program: The Centers for Learning and Teaching program focuses on the advanced preparation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)educators as well as the establishment of meaningful partnerships with education stakeholders, especially PhD-granting institutions, school systems, and informal education performances. Its goal is to renew and diversify the care of leaders in STEM …

Afit Graduate School Of Engineering And Management Catalog 2012-2013, Graduate School Of Engineering And Management, Air Force Institute Of Technology

AFIT Documents

The Graduate Catalog represents the offerings, programs, and requirements in effect at the time of publication.

The Challenge Of Educating Engineers For A Close, Crowded And Creative World, Ela Krawczyk, Mike Murphy

Books/Book chapters

The world that is emerging based on the development and everyday use of new technologies is a world that can be described as close, crowded and creative. Studies have highlighted that traditional curricula and pedagogical methods for engineering education are deficient in terms of developing and nurturing key skills required by engineers to succeed in this world. The challenge for the engineering academic leaders of today is to begin with the end in mind: to begin with a description of the competences that the engineer of the future should have in order to succeed in their aspirations as an engineer, …

Open-Ended Project Learning Experience In Graphical Communication, Lulu Sun, Christopher Grant

Publications

This paper includes the implementation of Bloom’s taxonomy in the introduction to graphical communication course and shows how students are moved up Bloom’s taxonomy by changing previous guided individual final project to open-ended projects. Instead of following the instructor’s direction to complete the model design, students are required to research the product they want to design, and build the model by themselves. The open-ended projects enable and challenge students to work on higher level of Bloom’s taxonomy by emphasizing design creativity, exploring real engineering design problem, and enhancing their oral and written skills.

A Systems View Of Time-Dependent Ethical Decisions, Hamid A. Rafizadeh, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Every ethical situation has a "system" characteristic with a group of human and nonhuman elements linked in a variety of interactions and interdependencies. The system allows the elements to act in part or as a whole towards achieving a spectrum of goals, objectives, or ends. The systems view asserts that any local and bipolar understanding of an ethical situation would be deficient as it would neglect certain interactions and interdependencies as well as overlook differing orientations of agents towards different goals and objectives. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for a systems-based view of ethics.

The Theological Origins Of Engineering, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Knowledge of our roots can sometimes help us figure out how we ought to proceed. Many claim that engineering began in ancient antiquity with the Egyptian pyramids, Archimedes' inventions, or the Roman aqueducts. Others give contemporary engineering a more recent history, tracing its origins to the Industrial Revolution or the Enlightenment. Yet what is often overlooked is the fact that contemporary engineering owes part of its identity to medieval monasticism.

The advantage of remembering this history is the bearing it has on the questions "What is engineering for?" and "How ought engineering be practiced?"

Michael Davis makes the claim that, …

A Teaching Practice Review Of The Use Of Multiple-Choice Questions For Formative And Summative Assessment Of Student Work On Advanced Undergraduate And Postgraduate Modules In Engineering, Aidan O'Dwyer

Articles

This paper reflects on, reports on and evaluates the use of multiple-choice questions, in both formative and summative assessment modes, on control engineering modules taken by advanced undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, over four academic years. The material covered by the modules is analytical in nature. The rationale for examining the assessment strategy was the poor performance by students in a closed book traditional terminal examination on one of the advanced undergraduate modules over some years. The change in assessment strategy has improved student learning, as measured by assessment data; student feedback on the assessment methods is broadly positive. The …

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

Conference papers

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 …

Implementation And Assessment Of A Virtual Reality Experiment In The Undergraduate Themo-Fluids Laboratory, Sushil Chaturvedi, Jaewan Yoon, Rick Mckenzie, Petros J. Katsioloudis, Hector M. Garcia, Shuo Ren

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Results are presented from an NSF supported project that is geared towards advancing the development and use of virtual reality (VR) laboratories, designed to emulate the learning environment of physical laboratories. As part of this project, an experiment in the undergraduate thermo-fluids laboratory course titled "Jet Impact Force" was transformed into a 3-D virtual reality experiment using the widely used MAYA R and VIRTOOLS R software. In order to facilitate students' interactions with the newly created 3-D interactive, immersive and stereoscopic virtual laboratory environment, the human computer interfaces (HCI) were programmed and incorporated in the simulation software. Two immersion levels …

Economics, Innovations, Technology, And Engineering Education: The Connections, John M. Ritz, P. Scott Bevins

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Throughout history the success of economies around the world has in large part been influenced by technological growth and innovations. Along with such growth and innovations came higher living standards and an improved quality of life for citizens residing and participating in those economies. However, not all countries were able to grow and develop at the same rate, resulting in considerable differences in economic welfare across populations. As nations around the world address the 21st century, economic growth and prosperity for some nations will depend upon how well their citizens are equipped and motivated to seek new technological discoveries and …

Impact Of Stem Focused Project Based Learning Activities On Career Education For K-12 And Community College Students, Alok K. Verma

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Low enrollment and high attrition rates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) based degree programs have created a workforce problem in industries like shipbuilding and repair which are important for national security. Part of this problem can be attributed to pedagogical issues like lack of engaging hands-on activities utilized for science and math education in middle and high schools. Lack of student interest in technical careers can also be attributed to lack of an integrated approach in teaching math, science and technical education. To engage student's interest in the technical career path, it is important that students establish a …

Implement Smart Sensors With Wireless Communication Protocols With Embedded Microcontrollers In A Capstone Project Design, Steve C. Hsiung, Cory T. Gleason, Lacides A. Osorio, Charles H. Mcginn

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Wireless communication has become popular and widely used in our daily lives. Their applications are: Cellular Wireless for telephone systems, data collection, voice communication, and other mobile or extremely remote devices, Bluetooth for low-power applications in short range and moderate date bandwidth, Proprietary ISM (industrial, scientific, medical) protocols used in open frequency bands from 260 to 470 MHz, 902 to 928 MHz, and 2.4GHz, 802.11/WiFi in wireless data communications, 802.15/ZigBee for mesh networks of sensors and controllers, and Z-Wave for low speed wireless protocol of home electronics devices to intercommunicate using reliable protocol that easily travels through walls, floors, and …

Software Education For Changing Computing Technology, Steve Eugene Watkins

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Software education has been dominated by procedural-based programming languages such as BASIC, FORTRAN and C, and before that, the assembly languages. The primary reason that this methodology has held such sway in education was that it allowed quick action for the first major users of computers. This approach was the most straight-forward means of utilizing hardware that, over the last 60 years, has gotten faster and more complex through smaller and more densely packed elements. However, traditional advances as described by Moore’s law are now reaching both physical and economic limits. Pure object-oriented programming approaches offer benefits for hardware that …

Sectionality Or Why Section Determines Grades: An Exploration Of Engineering Core Course Section Grades Using A Hierarchical Linear Model And The Multiple-Institution Database For Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development, George Dante Ricco, Noah Salzman, Russell A. Long, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

No abstract provided.

Low-Ses First-Generation Students’ Decision To Pursue Engineering, Michele L. Strutz, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

The ability of this nation to provide a growing economy, strong health and human services, and a secure and safe nation depends upon a vibrant, creative, and diverse engineering and science workforce” (Blue, et al., 2005, p. 4). To address these global opportunities and challenges, and for the U.S. to remain globally competitive, it is necessary for our engineering workforce to be diverse.Nevertheless, the U.S. cannot claim a diverse engineering workforce, and its engineering student bodies are certainly not diverse despite the legislation and programs put in place to increase racial, gender, and socioeconomic (SES) representation. Programs and resources that …

Exploring Cyberlearning Through A Nsf Lens, Jeremi Shavonda London

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Phrases like “Let’s Google it” and “Text me” are familiar to the youth of today. Though simple, the phrases speak to a greater reality—the use of computing technology and high-speed communication is ubiquitous. The pervasive use of technology opens up new opportunities for undergraduate STEM education. The NSF Task force on Cyberlearning defines cyberlearning as“the use of networked computing and communications technologies to support learning” (2008,p5). Since the full potential of cyberlearning has not been fully realized in undergraduate education, Program Officers in the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) are interested in exploring the …

Measuring Undergraduate Student Perceptions Of The Impact Of Project Lead The Way, Noah Salzman, Eric L. Mann, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

A survey was distributed to the entire undergraduate student body at a large public university on students’ experiences in Project Lead The Way, a popular middle school and high school technology and engineering program. The survey included demographic questions including academic major, questions on which PLTW classes the students took in high school, and Likert-type ratings of those experiences.Of the responses to the survey (n=575), slightly fewer than half (n=252) indicated that they had participated in PLTW classes in high school. Approximately half of the respondents were majoring in engineering, one quarter in engineering technology, and the rest were distributed …

Scaffolding Undergraduate Engineering Design Education With The Wellbeing Framework, Lindsey Anne Nelson

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Increasingly, engineering design educators articulate wanting to embed social sustainability into student projects. Some educators observe that global calls, such as the Grand Challenges of Engineering and the Millennium Development Goals, foster social consciousness while supporting open innovation environments. Using a broad social goal like “poverty alleviation” to frame a course design challenge can help students connect engineering design processes to messages that proclaim engineering as a socially engaged profession [1]. Yet scaffolding student learning in engineering design for poverty alleviation should involve more than a simple directive to create a device for a poor person. The purpose of this …

Knowledge-Enabled Engineering Design: Toward An Integrated Model, Michael Fosmire, David Radcliffe

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Librarians and engineering faculty have long understood that design is one of the defining processes of the engineering profession. In an increasingly knowledge-driven society, students need to efficiently locate, assess and integrate relevant information into their design process so that they can develop innovation solutions to emerging complex, global grand challenges. Increasingly, engineering curricula are incorporating design as early as the first year, but a question remains as to how effectively information literacy is being integrated into these early experiences of design. For example, the Engineering Change study found there has been very little improvement to lifelong learning skills in …

A Retrospective Study Of The Elementary School Experiences, Influences, Skills, And Traits Of Talented Engineers, Michele L. Strutz

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

No abstract provided.

Access And Definition: Exploring How Stem Faculty, Department Heads, And University Policy Administrators Navigate The Implementation Of A Parental Leave Policy, Corey T. Schimpf, Marisol Mercado Santiago, Alice L. Pawley

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Access and Definition: Exploring how STEM Faculty, Department Heads and University Policy Administrators Navigate the Enactment of a Parental Leave Policy A key feature in various reports exploring women’s persisting underrepresentation in STEM faculty positions in the US is the need to disseminate policy information to all stakeholders involved in issues relating to women STEM faculty underrepresentation and retention. Indeed, the National Academies of Science Beyond Barriers and Bias: Fulfilling the Potential of Women Academic Science and Engineering (2007) and the AAUW’s Why so Few?(2010) identify institutional policies, like parental leave, as a way to address an outmoded institutional structure …

Automation Laboratory Development Focusing On Industrial Hands-On Experience, Simulation Software, And Application Research Projects, Cheng Y. Lin, John R. Hackworth

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This paper describes the development of an Automation Control Lab in the Department of Engineering Technology at the University. The lab facility includes pneumatic actuators/sensors, electrical relays/switches, and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). The major goal of the development is to help students gain hands-on industrial experience by conducting simple projects during the lecture hours and more advanced projects during the lab hours. Simulation software is also applied to reduce implementation time when developing complicated pneumatic circuits and PLC programs. In addition, three examples of industrial automation projects using PLC from the Technology Application Center (TAC) are also introduced to students …

Feasibility Analysis Of Estrification Systems With Entrainers, Kang Wook Lee

Dissertations and Theses

(Ethyl Acetate) and IPA (Isopropyl Acetate) production systems are studied in terms of the feasibility analysis. It is not feasible to retrieve pure products by a simple reactive distillation for IPA production system because CCR (Critical Composition Region) covers the entire desired binary edge for IPA system. On the other hand, even though CCR does not cover the entire desired binary edge of the EA system completely, internal reflux ratio (IRR) analysis does not allow the production of the pure product via reactive distillation for EA production system. To overcome the restraints, external entrainers are utilized to take advantage of …

Creativity And Innovation: A Comparative Analysis Of Assessment Measures For The Domains Of Technology, Engineering, And Business, Tyler Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this literature review is to investigate and discuss: (1) the characteristics measured by innovation assessments, and (2) the comparison of characteristics measured by creativity assessments with those of innovation assessments. This will be done by: (1) collecting creativity and innovation assessments, and (2) comparing and contrasting the characteristics measured by each assessment. This study reveals that innovation assessments do not measure the innovation process in its entirety. The findings show that creativity and innovation assessments lack in assessing the entire innovation process, assessing the innovation process on an individual level, and assessing an individual's change or growth …

Ole Miss Engineer 2011-2012

Ole Miss Engineer

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Barriers To Independent Study And Learning In First Year Undergraduate Engineering Students?, Robert Martin Morris

Papers, presentations and other resources

This mixed method case study was carried out in the Technological University Dublin, Ireland and was conducted with the co-operation of four experienced lecturers of engineering and three groups of first year undergraduate engineering students.

The main aim of the research was to identify factors which represent barriers to the independent study and learning of first year engineering students.

Many first year engineering students do not return to college for the second year of their programmes. Many reasons for this are identified in the research, including the failure of students to pass assessments and exams as a result of the …

A Comparison Study Of Project-Based-Learning In Upper-Division Engineering Education, Ron Ulseth, Bart Johnson, Rebecca Bates

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

A new model for engineering education was launched in January 2010 in northeastern Minnesota. The Iron Range Engineering (IRE) model is a project-based-learning (PBL) methodology that focuses on producing graduates with integrated technical and professional knowledge and competencies. A unique and important element of the IRE model has 100% of IRE student learning taking place in the context of industry projects. Students at IRE are upper-division engineering students who transferred from Minnesota community college lower-division engineering programs. To understand the impact that IRE methodology may have on preparing engineers with the competencies needed for the future workplace, a comparison study …

The Iron Range Engineering Pbl Curriculum: How Students Adapt To And Function Within Pbl, Rose M. Marra, Betsy Palmer, Ron Ulseth, Bart Johnson

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

Iron Range Engineering is a unique complete-PBL curriculum for upper division students. Rather than studying about engineering in traditional engineering courses, IRE students solve complex and ill-structured industry problems in mining, milling, and manufacturing industries. To support students’ transition to PBL and to facilitate deep approaches to learning technical and professional competencies required for the engineers of the future, faculty have created a variety of structures. This paper describes IRE’s PBL implementation and reports the results of a qualitative study of their students.