bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cooperative Learning Instructional Activities in a Capstone Design Course
Authors: Pimmel Russ 
Published: January 2013

AbstractIn developing our capstone design course, we decided to include instruction in design methodology, project management, engineering communications, and professional ethics, along with a comprehensive design project. As this course evolved over a number of years, we found that active and cooperative learning was critical for effective instruction in these topics and we developed a series of instructional activities using this methodology. These activities consisted of short presentations (mini‐lectures) with interspersed team exercises. We describe our course, these instructional activities, and some evaluation data showing that our students found them effective and important. Our experiences convinced us that the cooperative learning approach both enhanced our students' understanding of these topics and encouraged them to incorporate the associated skills into their working skill set. Including team exercises that dealt with various steps in the design process provided a “jump‐start” on these unfamiliar activities in a structured, short duration exercise environment in class. Listening to presentations by other teams and reviewing and discussing another team's results as a part of the team exercises provided an opportunity to see and think about different formulations of the problem they just considered.
Generic Skills Teaching in Materials Science and Engineering
Authors: Hoddinott John , Young David 
Published: January 2013

AbstractUniversity education has been very effective in preparing graduates to be discipline experts but there has been an increased emphasis on students becoming more generalist in their abilities. This paper examines the opinions that instructors and students have about the teaching of generic skills in a School of Materials Science and Engineering in Australia. In interviews, both groups demonstrated a limited understanding of what constituted generic skills, but classroom observation found broad evidence of a range of such skills being taught and practiced. We conclude that it would be an advantage for the students, and their subsequent employers, if instructors worked to make the teaching and practice of generic skills more explicit in their course materials.
Globalization and the Undergraduate Manufacturing Engineering Curriculum
Authors: SWEARENGEN J.C. , BARNES SPENCER , COE STEVEN , REINHARDT CARSTEN , SUBRAMANIAN K. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractAt an ASME panel on manufacturing engineering education, industry representatives emphasized preparation for globalization. The concept has not yet had widespread impact on undergraduate engineering curricula. In this paper the industry updates are summarized, especially as they pertain to undergraduate engineering education for a globalized economy, and synthesized with the literature on the subject. Objectives for manufacturing engineering education are derived and possible ways of introducing the subject into an undergraduate curriculum without lengthening the program are suggested. The findings should be applicable to manufacturing, mechanical, and industrial engineering.
Fire‐Fighting Robot Contest: Interdisciplinary Design Curricula in College and High School
Authors: Verner Igor M. , Ahlgren David J. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis paper describes the Trinity College Fire‐Fighting Home Robot Contest and contest‐related curricular developments at the college level and the high school level. We discuss the learning processes related to team‐based robot design projects and present findings obtained from the contest surveys, pertaining to learning subjects, activities and motivation of the participants.
A Retrospective on Undergraduate Engineering Success for Underrepresented Minority Students
Authors: May Gary S. , Chubin Daryl E. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis paper examines the various factors that contribute to the success of minority students in engineering programs by exploring past and current paradigms promoting success and analyzing models for advancing the participation of members of these populations. Included is a literature review of articles, government reports, Web sites, and archives published since 1980. Student success is correlated to several indicators, including pre‐college preparation, recruitment programs, admissions policies, financial assistance, academic intervention programs, and graduate school preparation and admission. This review suggests that the problem of minority underrepresentation and success in engineering is soluble given the appropriate resources and collective national “will” to propagate effective approaches.
Engineering Design: Examining the Impact of Gender and the Team's Gender Composition
Authors: Laeser Melissa , Moskal Barbara M. , Knecht Robert , Lasich Debra 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis project used Eberhardt's team functions as an observational protocol to examine the team process as it occurred in the Engineering Practices Introductory Course Sequence (EPICS) at the Colorado School of Mines. A design report scoring rubric was used to evaluate the quality of the team‐produced final report. The results of this study suggest that the gender composition of the teams impacted both the interactions that took place during the team process and the quality of the team's final report.Members of majority male teams were more likely to be witnessed clarifying and standard setting during team interactions than were members of majority female teams. During the first course, the final reports that were produced by majority male teams on average were judged to be of higher quality than were those that were produced by majority female teams. The reverse was found to be true in the second course.
Developing an Observation System to Capture Instructional Differences in Engineering Classrooms
Authors: HARRIS ALENE H. , COX MONICA FARMER 
Published: January 2013

AbstractIn 1999, bioengineering and learning science faculties at four research universities began collaboration on a National Science Foundation‐supported Engineering Research Center. The Vanderbilt‐Northwestern‐Texas‐Harvard/MIT Engineering Research Center for Bioengineering Education and Technology is the first such Center to have a specific focus on postsecondary education. Within this project, educators, learning scientists, and bioengineers collaborated to develop the VaNTH Observation System, an assessment tool to capture quantitatively teaching and learning experiences of the bioengineering classroom. The four components of the instrument address the professor's interaction with students, students' lesson engagement, narrative notes, and research‐based measures of effective teaching. As professors redesigned lessons to incorporate current learning theory as a guide, observers measured differences in bioengineering classroom experiences resulting from these innovations. Results indicate that the observation instrument captures differences in classroom experiences, and these differences relate to a lesson's incorporation of current learning theory.
The Evolution of Curricular Change Models within the Foundation Coalition
Authors: CLARK M. CAROLYN , FROYD JEFFREY , MERTON PRUDENCE , RICHARDSON JIM 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis paper examines one aspect of the curricular change process undertaken by the Foundation Coalition (FC); specifically, how understanding about curricular change held by the FC leaders evolved as they moved through the process of establishing a new curriculum at their institutions. The initial change model was similar to that used for product development and emphasized the role of a pilot program. However, as the curriculum moved beyond the pilot stage to adoption and full‐scale implementation, and then into the final stage where sustaining the new curriculum was the focus, the change model became more complex. Those complexities reflect a parallel evolution in their understanding of what constitutes a curriculum, from their initial conceptualization of it as a product to be carefully designed towards an understanding of it as a dynamic entity whose growth must be sustained.
Engineering Concepts and Communication: A Two‐Quarter Course Sequence
Authors: LENGSFELD CORINNE S. , EDELSTEIN GERALD , BLACK JANET , HIGHTOWER NANCY , ROOT MELISSA , STEVENS KIRA , WHITT MARGARET 
Published: January 2013

AbstractTogether the departments of engineering and English designed and implemented a course sequence that sustains first‐year enrollment in engineering while teaching engineering design and fundamental communication skills. The sequence integrates the goals of four formally separate courses: Critical Reading and Writing, Argument and Research, Engineering Concepts I and II. Linking the courses did not detract from the original course goals nor burden the limited time resources of the participating faculty. We found that the linked courses have increased our first to second year retention rate by up to 30 percent.
Evaluation of a Challenge‐based Human Metabolism Laboratory for Undergraduates
Authors: Linsenmeier R.A. , Kanter D.E. , Smith H.D. , Linsenmeier K.A. , McKenna A.F. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractThis paper discusses an effort to enhance the learning and affective experience of students in a laboratory module in metabolism through the use of the “How People Learn” framework, which is grounded in educational theory and research. The laboratory, which was a component of a systems physiology course in biomedical engineering, was modified such that some students had educational experiences informed by How People Learn principles while other students encountered a more traditional laboratory. Students were compared on a number of dimensions including knowledge acquisition, ability to use information to solve problems, transfer, and perceptions of their course experience. Several differences were observed between groups, with students in the “How People Learn” group out‐performing controls on measures that required a deeper ability to use the material, but not differing in basic acquisition of information. Implications for the development of similar laboratories are discussed.
An Investigation of Students' Conceptual Understanding in Related Sophomore to Graduate‐Level Engineering and Mechanics Courses
Authors: Montfort Devlin , Brown Shane , Pollock David 
Published: January 2013

AbstractInterviews were conducted with students from a sophomore‐level mechanics of materials class, a sophomore/junior‐level structures class, a senior‐level steel design class and a graduate‐level advanced steel design class to investigate students' conceptual understanding of bending and normal stress. The graduate students generally demonstrated higher computational skill and confidence but they were not significantly different from the sophomores in terms of conceptual understanding. Interestingly, the seniors showed markedly lower confidence in their ability to solve the problems posed in the interviews. Common difficulties include a conceptual definition of stress and reasoning involving the normal stresses developed under bending.
Engaging and Supporting Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics
Authors: Jonassen David H. , Shen Demei , Marra Rose M. , Cho Young‐Hoan , Lo Jenny L. , Lohani Vinod K. 
Published: January 2013

AbstractLearning to solve ethical problems is essential to the education of all engineers. Engineering ethics problems are complex and ill structured with multiple perspectives and interpretations to address in their solution. In two experiments, we examined alternative strategies for engaging ethical problem solving. In Experiment 1, students studied two versions of an online learning environment consisting of everyday ethics problems. Students using question hypertext links to navigate applied more perspectives and canons and wrote stronger overall solutions to ethics problems than those using embedded hypertext links. In Experiment 2, students engaged in a more generative task, evaluating alternative arguments for solutions to the cases or generating and supporting their own solutions. Both groups better supported their solutions and generated more counterclaims than control students. These studies focused on solving realistic case‐based ethics problems as an effective method for addressing ABET's ethics criteria.
An Analysis of Motivation Constructs with First‐Year Engineering Students: Relationships Among Expectancies, Values, Achievement, and Career Plans
Authors: Jones Brett D. , Paretti Marie C. , Hein Serge F. , Knott Tamara W. 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundResearchers have identified many factors affecting undergraduate engineering students' achievement and persistence. Yet, much of this research focuses on persistence within academia, with less attention to career plans after graduation. Furthermore, the relative influence of expectancy‐versus value‐related beliefs on students' achievement and career plans is not fully understood.Purpose (Hypothesis)To address these gaps, we examined the relationships among the following motivation constructs for female and male first‐year engineering students: (a) expectancy‐related constructs that included engineering self‐efficacy (i.e., a judgment of one's ability to perform a task in engineering) and expectancy for success in engineering (i.e., the belief in the possibility of success in engineering); (b) value‐related constructs that included identification with engineering (i.e., the extent to which one defines the self through a role or performance in engineering) and engineering values (i.e., beliefs related to engineering interest, importance, and usefulness); (c) engineering achievement; and (d) engineering career plans.Design/MethodParticipants included 363 first‐year engineering students at a large state university. The students completed an online survey instrument in the first and second semester of their first year.ResultsStudents' expectancy‐ and value‐related beliefs decreased over the first year for both men and women. Men reported higher levels for expectancy‐related beliefs than women. Expectancy‐related constructs predicted achievement better than the value‐related constructs, whereas value‐related constructs predicted career plans better for both men and women.ConclusionsExpectancy‐ and value‐related constructs predicted different outcomes. Thus, both types of constructs are needed to understand students' achievement and career plans in engineering.
Beliefs and Expectations about Engineering Preparation Exhibited by High School STEM Teachers
Authors: Nathan Mitchell J. , Tran Natalie A. , Atwood Amy K. , Prevost Amy , Phelps L. Allen 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundIf we are to effect change in teacher practices and decision making regarding instruction, college preparation, and career success in engineering, then knowledge of teachers' beliefs and expectations about engineering needs to be understood.Purpose (Hypothesis)The primary purpose was to develop a statistically reliable survey instrument to document teachers' beliefs and expectations about pre‐college engineering instruction, college preparation, and career success in engineering, called the Engineering Education Beliefs and Expectations Instrument (EEBEI), and to compare teachers' views.Design/MethodUsing two samples of teachers, EEBEI was established as a statistically reliable survey and was used to examine the beliefs and expectations of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and non‐PLTW teachers. The results were used to further examine teachers' decisions in advising fictional students (described in vignettes) with varying academic and socioeconomic profiles.ResultsHigh school STEM teachers report their instruction was influenced by students' interests, family background, and prior academic achievement. Comparisons between PLTW and non‐PLTW teachers revealed that non‐PLTW teachers agreed more strongly that an engineer must demonstrate high scholastic achievement in math and science whereas PLTW teachers were more likely to report that science and math content was integrated into engineering activities. Although teachers report that students' socioeconomic status was not influential when asked explicitly, it did influence situated decision‐making tasks using fictional student vignettes.ConclusionsFindings address challenges of STEM integration and reveal conflicting purposes of K‐12 engineering education as being for a select few or to promote technological literacy for all students, which affects recruitment, instruction, and assessment practices.
Collaborative Learning in Engineering Students: Gender and Achievement
Authors: Stump Glenda S. , Hilpert Jonathan C. , Husman Jenefer , Chung Wen‐ting , Kim Wonsik 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundCollaboration is an ABET accreditation required component of the engineering curriculum. Research has shown that collaborative learning positively influences student achievement. The relationship between motivation, collaborative learning strategies, and achievement is not well studied in an engineering education context.Purpose(Hypothesis)A set of hypotheses were tested that predicted positive relationships between students' self‐reported informal collaboration, self‐efficacy for learning course material, knowledge building behaviors, and course grade. A second set of hypotheses were tested that predicted gender similarities in reported self‐efficacy, and gender differences in reported collaborative learning activities.Design/MethodOne hundred fifty engineering students were surveyed for study 1 and 513 students were surveyed for study 2. Bivariate correlations were completed to examine relationship between study variables; multiple regression analysis was completed to examine predictive ability of variables on course grade; MANOVA was completed to examine multivariate relationship between variables.ResultsIn study 1, students' reported use of collaborative learning strategies and reported self‐efficacy for learning course material were significantly predictive of their course grade. In study 2, female students reported greater use of collaboration as a learning strategy than their male classmates; among male and female students combined, those who received “B's” in their engineering course reported more collaboration than their peers who received “A's” or “C's” and lower.ConclusionOverall, students' self reported collaborative learning strategies were associated with increased self‐efficacy for learning course material and course grade, particularly for students who received “B's” in the course. Female students reported greater use of collaborative learning strategies than their male peers.
The Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Scaffolded Software Environment to Improve Engineering Students' Disciplinary Problem‐Solving Skills
Authors: Hundhausen Christopher , Agarwal Pawan , Zollars Richard , Carter Adam 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundIntroductory gateway engineering courses are notorious for their high attrition rates. Deficiencies in students' problem‐solving processes may contribute to their failure in these courses. In an empirical study of student problem solving, we observed that students struggle because of misconceptions regarding the basic syntax and semantics of disciplinary diagrams and corresponding mathematical equations.Purpose(Hypothesis)We hypothesize that a scaffolded software environment that provides dynamically‐generated feedback on the syntactic and semantic correctness of students' evolving disciplinary diagrams and mathematical equations can improve engineering students' problem‐solving abilities.Design/MethodWe iteratively developed ChemProV, a software environment to assist chemical engineering students in solving material balance problems. To evaluate ChemProV's effectiveness, we performed two between subjects experimental studies. The first study compared a preliminary version of the ChemProV to pen‐and‐paper. The second study compared a redesigned version of ChemProV with dynamic feedback to the same version of ChemProV without dynamic feedback.ResultsWhile it did not uncover any significant differences, the first study provided insight into how to improve ChemProV's dynamic feedback mechanism. The second study found that the “feedback” version of ChemProV promoted a statistically‐significant advantage in problem‐solving accuracy, significantly more time‐on‐task, and a transfer‐of‐training to an unscaffolded problem‐solving situation.ConclusionA scaffolded software environment like ChemProV can serve as a valuable aid in helping students learn engineering problem‐solving skills. Its software design approach can be used as a model for designing educationally‐effective software environments for other engineering disciplines.
Instructors' Intended Learning Outcomes for Using Computational Simulations as Learning Tools
Authors: Magana Alejandra J. , Brophy Sean P. , Bodner George M. 
Published: January 2013

BackgroundThe computational simulations used by the instructors in this study were originally developed for use as research tools by subject‐matter experts and then incorporated in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in engineering and science. Although some research has been done on students' learning with these computational simulations, less progress has been made toward understanding instructors' goals, or affordances, for incorporating these simulations in their teaching.Purpose (Hypothesis)To identify how computational simulations can be effectively used in teaching and learning environments, this study examined instructors' rationale for using these simulations as learning tools. The study was based on the following research question: What were the intended learning outcomes that guided the instructors' use of computational simulations as learning tools?Design/MethodThis study used qualitative methods based on the theoretical framework of phenomenography. Openended interviews were conducted with 14 instructors teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in science and engineering who were not familiar with the research literature on beneficial ways of using simulations for learning and instruction.ResultsAnalysis revealed an outcome space consisting of eight qualitatively different categories that detailed ways in which the engineering and science instructors in this study conceptualized the use of simulation tools with learning activities into existing courses they taught.ConclusionsThe outcome space of instructors' goals for using computational simulations is consistent with the recommendations found in the literature based on studies of the use of simulations in more restricted research settings.