ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Engineering Students for the 21st Century: Student Development through the Curriculum
Author: Cheville, Alan
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering,Engineering Education,Learner Engagement,Student Development,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Reflection,Case Studies,Formative Evaluation,Program Effectiveness,Undergraduate Students,Undergraduate Study,Taxonomy,Academic Education,College Curriculum,Curriculum Development,Educational Change,Cognitive Processes,Graduate Surveys,Student Surveys

Through support of the National Science Foundation's Department Level Reform program, &quot;Engineering Students for the 21st Century&quot; (ES21C) has implemented a ten-course sequence designed to help students develop into engineers. Spread across the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) curriculum at Oklahoma State University, these courses were supported by engaging graduate students, building infrastructure to scaffold student development, and self-reflection on what it means to develop as an engineer. Four case studies from the spectrum of courses illustrate the on-going changes. While the project is still in the process of measuring changes in student learning and attitudes, preliminary project evaluation results are presented along with how formative evaluation has changed the project direction. From participants' experiences, both expected and unexpected, some of the factors that contribute to project successes and failures are outlined. A key finding is that the journey of reforming undergraduate programs needs to be guided by knowledge of both current location and destination. A taxonomy developed under this project to guide, discuss, and measure reform efforts is introduced that helps faculty map pathways to meaningful reform.
Integrated Sensing and Information Processing Theme-Based Redesign of the Undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering Curriculum at Duke University
Author: Ybarra, Gary A.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Undergraduate Study,Career Choice,Curriculum Design,Teamwork,Statistical Analysis,Student Projects,Alignment (Education),Introductory Courses,Electronics,Laboratories,Energy,Magnets,Optics,Computer Networks,Telecommunications,Program Effectiveness,Student Attitudes,Course Evaluation

The field of electrical and computer engineering has evolved significantly in the past two decades. This evolution has broadened the field of ECE, and subfields have seen deep penetration into very specialized areas. Remarkable devices and systems arising from innovative processes, exotic materials, high speed computer simulations, and complex algorithms make ECE an exciting career field. These fascinating developments present greater opportunities for undergraduates to explore the field of ECE as well as greater challenges for them to navigate the curriculum because of the myriad of course and areas of concentration choices they have to make. Reflecting innovations in the field and capitalizing on the collective faculty research expertise, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University has redesigned its undergraduate curriculum around the theme of &quot;Integrated Sensing and Information Processing.&quot; This paper presents details of the ECE curriculum redesign at Duke University including its philosophy and implementation as well as elements of the redesign that are transferable to other universities. Evidence of increased student ability to design a system or component and to work effectively in teams is presented through statistical analyses of student end-of-course course evaluations. Student design project complexity evolution as the curriculum redesign unfolded is also presented, and this provides further evidence that design and teamwork have enhanced student learning throughout the new curriculum.
Lectures and Simulation Laboratories to Improve Learners' Conceptual Understanding
Author: Brophy, Sean P.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Lecture Method,Undergraduate Study,Inquiry,Laboratories,Engineering Education,Computer Simulation,Educational Technology,Plastics,Technology Uses in Education,Physics,Molecular Structure,Visualization,Comparative Analysis,Recall (Psychology),Knowledge Level,Science Process Skills,Experiential Learning,Concept Formation,Pretests Posttests,Statistical Analysis

We studied the use of online molecular dynamics simulations (MD) to enhance student abilities to understand the atomic processes governing plastic deformation in materials. The target population included a second-year undergraduate engineering course in the School of Materials Engineering at Purdue University. The objectives of the study were to help students (i) understand the atomic-level processes that govern plastic deformation in metals, and (ii) develop a more intuitive understanding of how materials look and behave in atomic scales. The treatment consisted of traditional lectures followed by inquiry-based simulation lab activities powered by research-grade computational tools. Two lectures by the instructor reviewed the topic of plastic deformation and presented the basic physics of modeling MD to provide a description of materials with atomic resolution of the forces. Next, the students used a simulated laboratory experience to conduct several inquiry activities using fully interactive online MD simulations. Students needed to use the visualizations provided by the simulation to evaluate the atomic processes responsible for plastic deformation of materials and they computed values of various materials properties. Our first analysis compared differences between students who attended one or two lectures and those who attended no lectures. The results showed that participation in the background and/or pre-laboratory lectures supported student abilities to recall specific facts and behavior of materials explicitly taught during instruction. The lectures did not prepare most students for transferring what they had learned in the lecture or prelab lectures to problems they had not previously encountered, but were first presented in the laboratory activities. However, most students who participated in the laboratory experience demonstrated the ability to transfer what they had learned to predict how an unfamiliar material would behave at the molecular level. This instructional approach can be generalized to other learning experiences designed to help students apply abstract fundamental engineering principles to evaluate a larger context of unfamiliar situations.
Infusion of Emerging Technologies and New Teaching Methods into the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum at the City College of New York
Author: Delale, Feridun
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering,Engineering Education,Teaching Methods,College Curriculum,Curriculum Development,Educational Change,Technology Uses in Education,Mechanics (Physics),Electronics,Heat,Thermodynamics,Systems Approach,Technological Advancement,Student Attitudes,Student Surveys,Self Esteem,Academic Achievement,Laboratory Experiments,Homework

From October 2003 to April 2008 a systemic reform of the Mechanical Engineering program at The City College of New York was undertaken with the goal of incorporating emerging technologies (such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), intelligent systems) and new teaching methodologies (such as project based learning, hands-on laboratory experiences, inquiry based learning, home experiments) into the curriculum. This reform activity was supported by NSF and affected all the courses taught by the Department. Almost all faculty participated in the effort. In this paper, we describe the modifications introduced in four courses of the curriculum, namely, Mechatronics, Mechanics of Materials, Heat Transfer and System Modeling, Analysis and Control. The modifications consisted both of topics related to emerging technologies and new teaching methodologies. Results of assessment conducted to ascertain the effect of the changes are presented. For example student opinions about course outcomes before and after the modifications were surveyed for the four courses discussed above. Based on the limited assessment data available thus far, it appears that students' confidence and overall academic performance has improved in some courses following the reform. It is the authors' opinion that these will see further improvement in coming years as the specifics of the reform elements are refined.
Leveraging Multi-University Collaboration to Develop Portable and Adaptable Online Course Content
Author: Frolik, Jeff
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Course Content,College Faculty,Networks,Systems Analysis,Engineering,Engineering Education,Blended Learning,Intercollegiate Cooperation,Equipment,Case Studies

Individual faculty and institutions regularly develop novel educational materials that could benefit others, but these innovations often fail to gain traction outside the developers' circle as barriers to adoption are numerous. We present evidence that development targeting adaptation, rather than complete adoption, of innovative materials and methods may be a more successful approach. Specifically, if faculty members from multiple institutions are involved in the development, agility across diverse academic requirements and institutional cultures informs that process. in the described example, faculty members from multiple institutions developed online learning modules based on their individual areas of expertise related to the topic of wireless sensor networks. The modules integrated learning of systems thinking with traditional sub-disciplines in electrical and computer engineering and were delivered in a blended-learning format. While faculty from three institutions developed the original content for a single course, materials have been successfully utilized in multiple courses at several institutions.
Improving a Capstone Design Course through Mindmapping
Author: Eggermont, Marjan
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Curriculum,Engineering Education,Design,Inquiry,Active Learning,Learning Activities,Web Based Instruction,Blended Learning,Student Projects,Computer Software,College Seniors,College Freshmen,Curriculum Development,Concept Mapping,Instructional Effectiveness,Electronic Learning,Group Activities,Foreign Countries

Our full-year capstone design course, &quot;Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Design Methodology and Application,&quot; focuses on both design methodology and design application. We redesigned the course to more effectively prepare students for the &quot;application&quot; aspect of design. The approach was essentially to implement a short inquiry-based learning exercise that was augmented by web-based teaching modules. This blended learning approach gave the students an immediate sense of team dynamics and project management skills necessary to complete this short exercise (and their year-long project). This paper discusses the design, testing, application and results of this two week design project and focuses specifically on mindmapping freeware. There will also be a discussion of how this project will be made accessible via an e-learning engineering design portal, which houses many projects such as the one described above. [The authors have included a bibliography.]
An Exploration of the Effectiveness of Product Archeology in an Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum: What Can a Five-Hour Curriculum Do?
Author: Okudan Kremer, Gül E.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,College Curriculum,Archaeology,Undergraduate Students,Instructional Effectiveness,Design,Student Attitudes,Courses,Integrated Curriculum,Student Surveys

In this paper, we present our efforts in embedding product archeology inspired curricula into two engineering courses along with assessment results. The assessment focuses on the effectiveness of the embedded curricula in enhancing students' understanding on the global, societal, environmental, and economic (GSEE) implications of engineering design. The results show the significant positive impact of the curricula as perceived by students in comparison to other engineering courses, and thus, is another testament to the fact that carefully crafted curricula can have substantial impact.
Embedding Context in Teaching Engineering Design
Author: Neumeyer, Xaver
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Teaching Methods,Manufacturing,Design,Experiential Learning,Models,Archaeology,Qualitative Research,Student Projects,Tests,Curriculum,Context Effect

Understanding the global, societal, environmental and economic (GSEE) context of a product, process or system is critical to an engineer's ability to design and innovate. The already packed curricula in engineering programs provide few occasions to offer meaningful experiences to address this issue, and most departments delegate this requirement to an early cornerstone or later capstone design experience as a result, making these courses an ineffective &quot;catch all&quot;. To address this challenge, we utilize the paradigm of &quot;product archaeology,&quot; to understand the decisions that led to a product's development. Product archaeology is defined as the process of reconstructing the lifecycle of a product--the customer requirements, design specifications, and manufacturing processes used to create it. By considering products, processes and systems as designed artifacts with a history rooted in their development, we embed GSEE context as a central component in developing design solutions. In the current work, students focus primarily on the useful life of products and their design solutions, rather than on product end-of-life issues. Specifically, in our work we have implemented several approaches to integrate contextual thinking related to GSEE dimensions into a senior level engineering design course. Following Kolb's model of experiential learning and an instructional framework adapted for product archaeology (inclusive of evaluate--explain--prepare--excavate activities) we have restructured the course to embed specific and targeted reflection, dissection, and analysis activities so that student teams effectively address the GSEE factors in their design solutions. This paper provides the theoretical framework of our instructional approach, describes the specific didactic activities we implemented, and summarizes results from our qualitative analysis. Overall, our results suggest that the use of product dissection and GSEE activities is an effective way to equip students with new tools to understand contextual, technical, and functional properties of their design projects.
Implementing Problem Based Learning through Engineers without Borders Student Projects
Author: Wittig, Ann
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Community Programs,Student Projects,Problem Based Learning,Social Problems,Engineering Education,Teaching Methods,Alignment (Education),Concept Formation,Program Effectiveness,Problem Solving,Student Participation,Undergraduate Students,Student Attitudes,Cognitive Style

Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB) is a nonprofit organization that partners student chapters with communities in fundamental need of potable water, clean air, sanitation, irrigation, energy, basic structures for schools and clinics, roads and bridges, etc. While EWB projects may vary in complexity, they are all realistic, ill-structured and challenging, and so have the potential to provide a unique educational opportunity for problem based learning (PBL). Since the number of EWB student chapters on college campuses is large and growing, this paper explores whether EWB is well aligned with PBL, and the extent to which participation in EWB increased student learning in a cohort of engineering students at the City College of New York. Student learning is assessed for various technical and non-technical learning outcomes (i.e., ABET program outcomes). EWB is found to be well aligned with the PBL approach. For the student cohort studied, participation in EWB appears to reinforce technical concepts learned in the classroom and to provide a forum for developing an appreciation for or ability in particular concepts that are difficult to adequately address in a classroom setting: ethical behavior, global perspectives, sustainable solutions, effective communication, decision-making and leadership.
The Relative Pedagogical Value of Disassemble/Analyze/Assemble (DAA) Activities
Author: Dalrymple, Odesma
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Engineering Education,Engineering,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Comparative Analysis,Teaching Methods,Lecture Method,Transfer of Training,Student Motivation,Discovery Learning,College Freshmen,Measures (Individuals),Pretests Posttests,Photography,Quasiexperimental Design

Inherently a discovery-based pedagogy, Disassemble/Analyze/Assemble (DAA) activities start with the artefact--an instance of a typically well-engineered solution. Through systemized disassembly and the subsequent analysis of components, students engage in an iterative process of observation and follow-up probing. In-turn, this process helps students understand the function of the artefact's components and their interconnection with each other and the operation of the artefact. Previous studies have provided highly descriptive accounts of curricula outcomes of DAA activities; but relatively few have compared participants doing DAA activities to a control group learning the same content in a more traditional fashion. To address this issue, a quasi-experiment was conducted as part of a first-year engineering laboratory, where a DAA activity was compared to a lecture on the same content. The results showed that students who engaged in the DAA activity were more motivated and demonstrated higher frequencies of transfer than those receiving lecture. Superior transfer by the DAA condition was found even after controlling for prior knowledge of the transferrable element.
Engineering Laboratory Instruction in Virtual Environment--&quot;eLIVE&quot;
Author: Chaturvedi, Sushil
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Web Based Instruction,Laboratories,Engineering Education,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Program Effectiveness,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Comparative Analysis,Tests,Experiments,Statistical Analysis,Student Characteristics,Student Motivation,Relevance (Education),Hypothesis Testing,Student Surveys,College Students,Likert Scales,Qualitative Research

A novel application of web-based virtual laboratories to prepare students for physical experiments is explored in some detail. The pedagogy of supplementing physical laboratory with web-based virtual laboratories is implemented by developing a web-based tool, designated in this work as &quot;eLIVE&quot;, an acronym for Engineering Laboratory Instruction in Virtual Environment. Two physical experiments, one each from the thermo-fluids laboratory and the solid mechanics laboratory in the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum, are transformed into web-based virtual experiments for application as pre-lab practice sessions. The key question answered here is as follows: Do the web-based virtual experiments developed for supplementation of physical laboratory instruction enhance students' knowledge of experimental procedure and data acquisition? This question is answered by assessing the performance of a &quot;control&quot; group of students that did not use &quot;eLIVE&quot; and comparing it with the performance of an &quot;experimental&quot; group that availed &quot;eLIVE&quot; prior to the physical experiment sessions. Students' performance in tests and quizzes administered to both the groups prior to the physical experiments was analyzed, using a non-parametric statistical method, to establish the statistical significance of assessed results with respect to &quot;eLIVE&quot; intervention, and demographic parameters such as gender, ethnicity, academic achievement, age, course load, etc. Statistical results as well as students' response to surveys presented in this work point to &quot;eLIVE&quot; as being a very useful technology-enhanced interactive learning tool. The present study clearly establishes the pedagogy of physical laboratory supplementation with web-based virtual laboratories on a firm ground for possible extension to other engineering laboratory courses at ODU as well as at other institutions.
The Role of Personality and Team-Based Product Dissection on Fixation Effects
Author: Toh, Christine
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Role,Personality Traits,Engineering Education,Design,Creativity,Teaching Methods,Teamwork,Undergraduate Students,Brainstorming,Multivariate Analysis,Correlation,Questionnaires

Design fixation has been found to be complex in its definition and expression, but it plays an important role in design idea generation. Identifying the factors that influence fixation is crucial in understanding how to enhance the design process and reduce the negative effects of fixation. One way to potentially mitigate fixation is through product dissection activities since this activity has been shown to increase creativity and design space exploration in engineering design. However, product dissection has not been studied in the context of design fixation, so it is unclear if, or how, this type of activity influences fixation. Additionally, although prior work studied product dissection in a team environment, it did not examine how individual factors such as personality attributes influence one's involvement or exposure to the activity. This is important because the participation of each team member can be affected by individual factors such as personality traits. Therefore, this study explores the role of product dissection and personality traits on design fixation in an engineering design classroom setting. Our results show that exposure to dissection activity was related to the individual personality traits of the team members, and design fixation was, in turn, affected by the individual's exposure to the dissection activity. These findings demonstrate a relationship between personality and exposure to the product dissection activity, and also indicate product dissection as a way to mitigate fixation effects in engineering design education. The results from this study can be used to enhance our understanding of the design process, and help reduce fixation effects in the engineering classroom.
An Overview of the Literature: Research in P-12 Engineering Education
Author: Mendoza Díaz, Noemi V.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Literature Reviews,Engineering Education,Educational Research,Elementary Secondary Education,Preschool Education,Synthesis,Intervention,Behavioral Objectives,Evaluation Methods,Units of Study,Participant Characteristics,Educational Theories,Academic Standards,Course Content,Research Needs,Research Methodology,Search Strategies

This paper presents an extensive overview of preschool to 12th grade (P-12) engineering education literature published between 2001 and 2011. Searches were conducted through education and engineering library engines and databases as well as queries in established publications in engineering education. More than 50 publications were found, including books, articles, and reviews that discussed P-12 engineering education research efforts. With the synthesis of literature and distinct criteria to classify the literature, a rubric was developed. This rubric allowed authors to synthesize retrieved publications in seven ways: (1) overarching agenda, (2) nature of the engineering program or intervention, (3) assessment methods, (4) object of the study/unit of analysis, (5) population/sample of interest, (6) informing theory, and (7) standards addressed. Discussions of the current levels of research based on recommendations of National Agencies are presented along with a set of recommendations for the advancement of the P-12 engineering education research.