Adventure Engineering: A Design Centered,Inquiry Based Approach to Middle Grade Science and Mathematics Education

Adventure Engineering (AE) is a middle grade science and mathematics outreach initiative that entails the development and implementation of single day to four‐week adventure‐driven, engineering‐based curricula for grade 5 through 9 science and/or mathematics classes. The curricula is inquiry‐based and open‐ended; activities are designed to facilitate the learning and application of concepts identified in national mathematics and science standards, and to immerse students in the engineering design experience. This paper reports the findings from the development and implementation of AE curricula in six different middle grade subjects in urban and suburban schools. Rigorous assessment revealed that the AE curricula have successfully improved mathematics and science content knowledge. Student attitudes towards mathematics and science, and in limited cases engineering, also improved. This paper also presents the results of a survey of urban and suburban student attitudes towards mathematics, science and engineering.     

An Engineering Design Curriculum for the Elementary Grades

The United States has historically excelled in the design of products, processes and new technologies. Capitalizing on this historical strength to teach applied mathematics and science has many positive implications on education. First, engineering design can be used as a vehicle for addressing deficiencies in mathematics and science education. Second, as achievement in mathematics and science is enhanced, a greater number of students at an earlier age will be exposed to technical career opportunities. Third, enhancing elementary and secondary curricula with engineering design can attract underrepresented populations, such as minorities and females, to engineering as a profession. This paper describes a new and innovative engineering design curriculum, under development in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Austin, TX. The philosophic goals upon which the curriculum is based include: integrating the design problem-solving process into elementary schools, demonstrating the relationship of technical concepts to daily life, availing teachers with instructional strategies for teaching applied (as opposed to purely theoretical) science and mathematics, and teaching teamwork skills that are so greatly needed in industry and everyday life. Based on these goals, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade engineering design lessons have been piloted in AISD, in conjunction with a University of Texas program for teacher enhancement and preparation.     

Teaching Mathematics from an Applications Perspective

It is a widespread opinion among engineering faculty that undergraduates could be better prepared in mathematics when taking courses in their professional field of study. The lack of preparation in applying mathematical concepts may be due to the fact that examples from engineering disciplines are not widely used in mathematics courses. Most mathematics departments act as service departments to students majoring in various fields in addition to providing their own degree programs. As a result, it is not economically justifiable for them to custom tailor courses for customers from different disciplines. On the other hand, engineering has a distinct requirement of creatively applying mathematical concepts and principles to engineering problems studied in various courses. Some of the issues that must be addressed to ensure adequate preparation in the application of mathematics include: the mathematical competencies needed in engineering courses; which mathematics courses should cover such competencies; and what examples and problems related to students' major field should be developed and taught in these courses to enhance understanding and application of these concepts. The goal of this paper is not to resolve these issues, but rather to develop a conceptual framework for determining the answers using the Quality Function Deployment approach.     

A Survey of Engineering Education Outside the United States: Implications for the Ideal Engineering Program

Undergraduate engineering programs in fourteen countries are surveyed to determine the status of engineering education outside the United States and to analyze the implications for the ideal engineering program of the future here in the United States. The items surveyed include the number of years required to obtain an engineering degree, title of the engineering degree, high school preparation for engineering programs, cost of education, completion rates for engineering degrees, entrance requirements, mathematical requirements, and support for laboratory work. The most notable aspects of engineering education outside the United States are:

• ? Stronger high school preparation and requirements in mathematics and science
• ? Longer period of time required for an engineering degree
• ? Advanced level of mathematics required in engineering programs
• ? Low cost of education

It appears that in most countries engineering education is more intense and rigorous than in the United States. In formulating the ideal engineering program of the future we must be sensitive to competing programs in the rest of the world.     

论理工科院校数学基础课程的创造性思维与研究性学习

文章探讨了创造性思维与数学研究性学习的各自的内涵和特性,阐述了创造性思维与数学研究性学习的内在联系,进而阐述了创造性思维和研究性学习过程对理工科院校数学基础课程的意义和影响.     

Reassessing the mathematics content of engineering education

This paper reviews the problem of declining mathematical skills and appetite amongst university entrants. This decline necessitates a critical review of the traditional approach followed in engineering education in order to cater adequately for the abilities and preferences of the type of students becoming prevalent in our universities. A minimal-mathematics methodology that does not impact negatively on standards is discussed with examples drawn from telecommunications. Designed to endear rather than deter new students, this approach rightfully puts engineering first and mathematics second, and removes what a growing number of potential recruits now perceive as an unfriendly gatekeeper at the entrance to the study of engineering     

复杂产品优化研制的标准化系统工程模式

在系统工程理论研究和型号标准化实践的基础上,创建了一套复杂产品优化研制的标准化系统工程新模式。该模式应用系统工程方法分析、数学模型优化、技术标准资源支撑,以实现复杂产品研制目标的最佳化。     

Vocational education as preparation for university engineeringmathematics

SARTOR 3 clearly states that A-levels and Advanced GNVQs are suitable preparation for accredited engineering degree courses. In this paper, a comparison is made between the mathematical competence of students with Advanced GNVQs, and those with A-levels. The basis of this comparison is the results of a mathematics diagnostic test taken during induction week at university. The test covers fundamental areas of mathematics which underpin the study of engineering in higher education. The results indicate that A-level students, of all grades, have better basic mathematical skills than those from the vocational route     

Educating electrical and electronic engineers

This article presents and discusses the results of a small-scale survey into the opinions of engineering employer on the education of graduate engineers. Basic engineering knowledge, mathematics and communication skills emerge as the essential pillars of degree courses, and the future direction of electrical and electronic engineering degree courses is considered     

Engineering science and education: requirements imposed by moderntechnology and society

The author considers the responsibility of the engineer towards a society which is increasingly being shaped by technology and the implications of this responsibility for the education of engineers. The author discusses the culture and the teaching of engineering, engineering research and teaching, mathematics education for engineers, and engineering and language     

Exploring the Gender Gap in Engineering: A Re‐Specification and Test of the Hypothesis of Cumulative Advantages and Disadvantages

Researchers using the hypothesis of cumulative advantages and disadvantages argue that the accumulation of small advantages for men and small disadvantages for women contributes to the gender gap in engineering. This paper uses data from a 1998 survey of engineering undergraduates to test a re‐specification of this hypothesis that treats the gender distribution of advantages and disadvantages as an empirical question. We considered four sets of factors that have been shown to promote choice of an engineering major, persistence in engineering, and progress in engineering: family background, high school participation in mathematics and science, university participation in engineering, and integration into engineering. We found gender differences for each set of factors. We also found that men and women accumulate different advantages and disadvantages as they move through the education pipeline. By demonstrating that the accumulation of advantages and disadvantages is gendered, these results highlight the importance of examining the impact of micro‐inequities on the persistence and progress of men and women in engineering.     

多判据模糊决策在工程爆破中的应用

本文介绍了多判据模糊决策的数学模型。该模型可广泛地用于工程爆破中的爆破方案比较,以及爆破试验中的最优爆破参数的决策。该模型的应用将有利于工程爆破试验及设计的计算机程序设计。     

置换通风技术经济性研究

本文以某一工程为例,并以模糊数学作为工具,对置换通风与传统混合通风(以散流器上送风和格栅上侧送风为典型代表)进行全面、多角度的技术经济性研究,为方案的优选提供有力证据(包括数据依据和文字分析).     

Invention before Adam and Eve

Many of man's discoveries and their applications have been anticipated by the so-called `lower orders' of living creature. This article gives some examples and the author suggests that the artificial division between engineering and biology has been a hindrance to our progress which should not be allowed to continue. In particular the author discusses nature's engineering, mathematics in nature, and electricity in nature     

Mathematics for modern precision engineering

The aim of precision engineering is the accurate control of geometry. For this reason, mathematics has a long association with precision engineering: from the calculation and correction of angular scales used in surveying and astronomical instrumentation to statistical averaging techniques used to increase precision. This study illustrates the enabling role the mathematical sciences are playing in precision engineering: modelling physical processes, instruments and complex geometries, statistical characterization of metrology systems and error compensation.     

The Engineering Science of Industrial Engineering: A Viewpoint of the Industrial Engineering Curriculum

This paper outlines the scientific underpinnings of Industrial Engineering and proposes an approach to educating the Industrial Engineer based on this engineering science. The proposed definition of the “Industrial Engineering science” rests on the premise that IE is made up of three main functional areas: (1) production engineering, (2) operational science, and (3) ergonomics/human factors engineering. This paper outlines the various IE activities that fall into these three functional categories, and attempts to show the relationships of those areas to six underlying science bases; namely, (1) Industrial Engineering sciences, (2) general engineering sciences, (3) life sciences, (4) physical sciences, (5) behavioral and social sciences, and (6) mathematics.     

From rocket scientists to financial engineers

In the past, rocket scientists-people with advanced degrees in sciences-have been employed in Wall Street to develop new financial products by using financial engineering models. Today, these people are called financial engineers. Engineering schools and mathematics departments in universities are conducting multidisciplinary courses in subjects that apply science and engineering concepts to finance. Many postgraduate degree holders in engineering choose to study financial engineering on a further postgraduate course. Financial engineering is becoming increasingly important in the new economy. The article explains what financial engineering is, discusses career prospects and professional affiliations, and presents the profiles of students who have enrolled on financial engineering courses     

建筑工程快速估价的一种模型及应用

应用模糊数学的理论和计算方法,建立了一种建筑工程造价的快速估算模型：首先拟定建筑工程的特征元素,建立典型工程的特征值矩阵,然后通过公式转换,建立典型工程隶属度矩阵并确定各典型工程与拟建工程的贴近度,最后由贴近度最大的典型工程来计算拟建工程造价。实例应用表明,该模型具有优越性。