This also encourages higher level thinking skills and promotes life long learning abilities. Even when a component is learned, it is learned in an applications context. The exercises have many open-ended elements. Student teams are encouraged to learn on their own and bridge the gap between experimental resources provided and expected results by developing their own procedures. We don t attempt to teach students how to use every instrument, software package, or sensor that they might encounter during their working careers.
Students inspect systems designed by experienced professional engineers.
Students use manufacturer specification sheets and catalogs Students discover relationships by observing how systems react to varying inputs. Students evaluate competitive devices. Students develop models to predict performance and compare predictions to measurements. Because the MEL sequence is novel to engineering education, we have introduced it gradually and assessed it carefully over the introduction period. However, they were concerned that MEL may be at the extreme end of what students can handle.