Improving the Academic Environment for Women Engineering Students Through Faculty Workshops

In this paper we examine the low numbers of women represented in engineering curricula and some of the factors that help to explain their under representation. We examine some of these factors including: isolation, not seeing the relevance of highly theoretical basic courses, negative experiences in laboratory courses, classroom climate and lack of role models. An outline is presented for two engineering faculty workshops, con ducted at the University of California-Davis, designed to help faculty members understand these issues and develop new strategies for overcoming factors that discourage their female students. Evaluation results are presented along with a series of recommendations for planning, implementing and evaluating these types of workshops.     

Improving Learning in First‐Year Engineering Courses through Interdisciplinary Collaborative Assessment

This paper describes a feedback process that assessed first‐year engineering student learning using a mastery exam. The results were used to improve learning and teaching in first‐year courses. To design the initial exam, basic knowledge and concepts were identified by instructors from each of the host departments (Chemistry, Math, Physics and Computer Science). In 2004, the 45‐item exam was administered to 191 second‐year engineering students, and in September 2005, the revised exam was administered to the next class of second‐year engineering students. The exam was analyzed using Item Response Theory (IRT) to determine student abilities in each subject area tested. Between exam administrations, workshops were conducted with the four department instructor groups to present exam results and discuss teaching issues. The exam provided a learning assessment mechanism that can be used to engage faculty in science, mathematics, and engineering in productive linkages for continual improvement to curriculum.     

Research on Digital and Analog Electronic Experiment Teaching Course Management based on UltraLab Network Experiment Platform

Digital circuit and analog circuit courses are basic courses for students of science and engineering universities. Among them,the practical courses are of great significance for students to master the knowledge of electronics. In order to make teachers teaching more efficiently and students studying more quickly,how to update the experimental course in teaching reform is the key point. This paper analyzing the present situation of teaching in the digital circuit and analog circuit courses,the teaching questions in universities. On the basis of it,the innovation measures of experimental teaching methods and contents are discussed. Our school tries to introduce the UltraLab network experiment platform,reform and optimize the teaching methods of related courses.And it' s accelerating the construction and development of emerging engineering education' s process,reducing effectively the teacher's time for managing in equipment,improving the students' ability to use instruments.     

Motivating Students with Disabilities to Prepare for SEM Careers

The National Science Foundation funded the project Enabling SUCCESS (Enabling Students to Undertake the Challenge of Careers in Engineering and Science) at Louisiana Tech University beginning in 1996. The goals of this three‐year project were to: stimulate student interest in science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM); heighten the awareness among middle school students, their families, and their science teachers of the opportunities for persons with disabilities in these fields; and provide them with an understanding of the importance of career exploration and taking appropriate college preparatory courses in high school. The project at Louisiana Tech University built upon twenty years of experience in applying assistive technology to the needs of people with disabilities and a ten‐year history of national educational reform initiatives. The project staff included engineering and science professors, teacher educators, college students, practicing engineers and scientists with disabilities, and rehabilitation technology professionals. A unique feature of this project was its focus on middle school students (grades six through nine) with disabilities, their parents, and their teachers. Through on‐campus workshops and showcases, home science activities, and college student mentoring, the project sought to inform and motivate. This paper summarizes the major activities of the model project and the results of the three‐year effort.     

Fundamentals Of Engineering Energy

Three new Fundamentals of Engineering courses, entitled Energy, Materials and Systems are presented in the sophomore year of the Drexel University E⁴ program. The first focuses on the concept, manifestations, uses, conservation, storage, transformation, and transfer of energy. The second focuses on materials to establish, interpret and utilize the relationships that exist between processing/synthesis, microstructure, properties, and performance-for metals, ceramics, polymers and composites. The third focuses on systems, capitalizing on the up-front-engineering theme of the E⁴ curriculum and the extensive use of computer methods to equip students with concepts and methods of analysis which are common to all branches of engineering. All courses integrate mathematics, science, and engineering as a central theme. The subject matter builds upon the freshman courses to prepare a common strong foundation in the fundamentals of engineering for all students regardless of major. Faculty from science and engineering collaborate in preparing and presenting these courses. This interdisciplinary communication, frequently lacking in the traditional program, is an important feature of the E⁴ program. Student performance in these and upper-division courses indicates that the educational objectives are being achieved. Surveys of student opinions show a high degree of interest in the subject matter and satisfaction with the methodologies adopted.     

A Model Curriculum for a Capstone Course in Multidisciplinary Engineering Design

This paper describes our efforts to develop a curricular and pedagogical model for teaching multidisciplinary design to sen ior-level undergraduate engineering students. In our model, we address concerns of industry and engineering educators about the often narrow technical confines within which engineering design is currently taught. Our two-semester design sequence employs multidisciplinary teams of students working with faculty managers for industrial clients to solve complex, open-ended problems possessing numerous technical and non-technical constraints. After a two year pilot phase, the multidisciplinary senior design (MSD) course sequence is now offered to qualified Colorado School of Mines seniors each academic year and fully meets the senior capstone design requirement in each of the participating academic departments. An on-going formative and summative evaluation process allows us to monitor the perceptions and knowledge levels of our students compared with students completing traditional discipline-specific design courses. Our students, faculty, and clients overwhelmingly agree that multidisciplinary design teams tend to produce better engineering designs because of the broader range of expertise available to the team. MSD students strongly agree that higher order thinking skills such as open-ended problem-solving abilities, engineering analysis, and engineering synthesis are important aspects of the design process. Students also rate the course highly and indicate satisfaction with the course structure and curriculum. In addition, project clients are pleased with the quality of the final designs they receive from our students. Our experience has led us to conclude that undergraduate engineering students can thrive in a carefully designed multidisciplinary environment.     

Integrating Design into the Sophomore and Junior Level Mechanics Courses

Engineering schools across the country are developing ways of integrating design into their curriculum, and a question that often arises is how to best integrate design into the sophomore and junior level courses. Freshman design projects or mechanical dissection courses are designed to give the students hands-on experience in conceptual design and construction, with little if any of the mathematical modeling normally used in engineering design. The capstone senior design project is a true engineering design experience, where students draw from their background to conceptualize, analyze, model, refine, and optimize a product to meet design, manufacturing, and life cycle cost requirements. The sophomore and junior level courses should assist students in making the transition from the “seat-of-the-pants” freshman design approach to the engineering design approach required for the capstone experience and engineering practice. This paper summarizes a three year effort at integrating design into the Mechanics of Materials course, but the principal conclusions drawn would apply to most sophomore and junior engineering science courses.     

Engineering in Context: An Empirical Study of Freshmen Students' Conceptual Frameworks

Calls for curricular reform in engineering include teaching engineering principles in the broader context of society. In this paper, we empirically investigate how freshmen students perceive the broader societal context of science and technology. We explored the questions:

• ? What is the framework of knowledge and attitudes of engineering freshmen on science, technology and society (STS) issues?
• ? How different are their frameworks from those of students in other majors?
• ? We used a structured, open-ended interview methodology to elicit knowledge about two STS issues: “human energy needs” and “global climate change.” Our sample consists of ninety-two students. Each student was interviewed about one topic. First, we found that there was no difference in the attitude expressed about technology by engineering students and students who are not engineering majors. Both groups think science and technology solve problems more often than they create problems. Second, we found that, although the difference is not large, engineering students consistently mentioned more concepts than students with other majors, and they mentioned these concepts more often. Qualitatively, the specific concepts mentioned by the two groups were almost identical for both topics. The engineering students mentioned more technological concepts and students in other majors mentioned more societal concepts for the human energy needs topic. In summary, the knowledge and perceptions of STS issues of freshmen engineering students and students who are not engineering majors are largely similar. This suggests that common, interdisciplinary STS courses are a good approach for providing general technological literacy for both groups.

     

Integrating Professional Experience in Geotechnical Class Designs

A significant proportion of younger engineering educators engaged in teaching design oriented courses have little or no industrial experience. Thus, directions for merging professional experience with engineering science in class designs have become a chief concern in engineering educational forums. As one way to address this issue, students in a geotechnical course having both engineering science and design content presented their design projects to an audience of practicing geotechnical engineers. The results of this trial clearly revealed specific areas of a student design where professional judgment based on firsthand experience or other exposure is essential. The experiment also furnished an opportunity for industrial representatives to view the university's geotechnical curriculum and its preparation of students as future engineers. Above all, a dramatic improvement was noticed in the students' motivation to accomplish the class design projects in a successful and timely manner.     

Incorporating Group Writing Instruction in Engineering Courses

Group writing is an important and integral part of the engineering workplace which is rarely addressed in most undergraduate engineering curricula. Virtually every engineering student takes courses in composition and writing; however, these courses inevitably emphasize the development of individual writing skills. Engineering students need to be exposed to different group writing styles and learn to be effective group writers. The key elements to effective group writing include group dynamics and leadership and group members attitudes towards revision and criticism. By discussing with the students the key points to successful group writing, engineering students will turn in better assignments to their instructors and will be better prepared for the engineering workplace.     

A Multidisciplinary Engineering Laboratory Course

The Colorado School of Mines (CSM) curriculum was recently modified by replacing laboratory courses in electrical circuits, fluid mechanics and stress analysis with a sequence of Multidisciplinary Engineering Laboratory courses (MEL I, II, and III). The MEL sequence prepares students for their professional careers by integrating discipline-specific components into systems and building subject-matter depth through a vertical sequence. The experiments move beyond basic theory verification by requiring students to practice higher level thinking. In addition, the systems experiments encourage students to reorganize knowledge and discover the connections among concepts in several courses. The MEL sequence helps students understand relationships among science, engineering science, and engineering design. The MEL experiments develop life-long learning skills by encouraging higher levels of thinking on the Perry scale and requiring students to use a variety of Kolb's learning styles. This paper describes the educational objectives and experiments for the MEL I course. The paper gives assessment results for MEL I and compares it with traditional laboratories.     

Tapping into hidden potential

University departments are going to great lengths to convince potential new recruits that materials science and engineering is for them. In addition to the traditional showcase ‘Open Day’ for pre-university students, outreach staff are facilitating hands-on workshops, problem-solving seminars, and research ‘tasters’ for a far wider audience. High school students are shown how materials science spans traditional subject divides, while teachers receive tips on how to integrate materials-oriented examples into the curriculum. The idea is to show would-be electrical engineers, doctors, and chemists that a degree in materials science could lead to an equally exciting and fulfilling career developing optical materials, biomedical implants, or sensor technology.As the academic year begins, students enrolling at universities worldwide have a treat in store. There is a course on offer that could explain how to cut the cost of street lighting, improve the mobility of an aging population, reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, speedup electronic communication, and detect the first signs of a biological terrorist attack. No surprises, then, for guessing that this course is materials science and engineering. But teenagers versed in the language of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering may not have made the connection. And there in lies the root of a possible recruitment problem.     

Establishing an Early Foundation in Software Engineering: Framework,Experiences and Results*

In the fall of 1994 we reorganized the content of our three-course introductory computer science sequence in order to introduce software engineering concepts early and provide a consistent software engineering focus from one course to the next. To implement these changes, we established detailed documentation and design standards. These standards would serve as a framework for teaching the software engineering principles and techniques that we considered appropriate and essential to novice software developers. In an attempt to assess the impact of this new teaching approach, we examined student performance in upper-level, project-oriented courses with respect to early exposure to software engineering concepts. This paper describes the documentation and design standards, as well as how these standards have been used as a framework for teaching software engineering concepts early in the curriculum. It also reports on what we have learned through assessment of this approach. Results indicate that students exposed early to software engineering concepts are indeed better prepared for upper-level project-oriented courses.     

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     

Student Perceptions of High Course Workloads are Not Associated with Poor Student Evaluations of Instructor Performance

Many engineering faculty believe that when students perceive a course to have a high workload, students will rate the course and the performance of the course instructor poorly. This belief can be particularly worrying to engineering faculty since engineering courses are often perceived as uniquely demanding. The present investigation demonstrated that student ratings of workload and of overall instructor performance in engineering courses were not correlated (e.g., Spearman's rho = 0.068) in data sets from either of two institutions. In contrast, a number of evaluation items were strongly correlated (Spearman's rho = 0.7 to 0.899) with ratings of overall instructor performance across engineering, mathematics and science, and humanities courses. The results of the present study provide motivation for faculty seeking to improve their teaching and course evaluations to focus on teaching methods, organization/preparation, and interactions with students, rather than course workload.     

The Effects of an Orientation Course on the Attitudes of Freshmen Engineering Students

Increasing the retention rate of beginning students in engineering is an important goal for engineering education. Our study examined the attitudes of freshmen in regard to the academic counseling they received. Orientation classes have been offered in groups of 40 to students on a voluntary basis, and surveys have been done to examine the effectiveness of these courses in increasing students' commitment to and positive perception of the University. A comparison of students enrolled in the orientation course and students in a control group found significant differences in the positive perception of academic counseling. Those students in the orientation course were more satisfied with the counseling they received than those without this course.     

Encouraging Students to Adopt Software Engineering Methodologies: The Influence of Structured Group Labs on Beliefs and Attitudes

This study proposes that structured labs using groups can help foster individual student acceptance of software engineering methodologies. The technology acceptance model (TAM) is employed in an empirical test using students in freshman and sophomore‐level programming courses. Our findings suggest that a structured group lab experience does influence a student's belief system regarding the usefulness of a software engineering methodology, leading to an individual decision to accept and use the methodology on a voluntary basis. On average, the software engineering methodology was accepted by the students sampled. We recommend that structured group labs be designed to use peer groups, reinforce successful results, and use an iterative process design with phase‐by‐phase deliverables.     

建立"工程/机械创新教学”基地,提一高"学生思维综合创新”能力

实施创新教育、提高创新意识,是改进高校工程／机械相关课程教学质量的有效途径。本文针对目前国内高等院校工程／机械技术基础课程群教学、科研的状态,阐明创立“工程／机械创新教学”基地的重要性、迫切性和可行性以及对培养学生思维综合创新能力的促进性,并提出该基地的组建规划和相应的功能－结构模块图。     

Pre‐College Engineering Studies: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Pre‐college Engineering Studies and Student Achievement in Science and Mathematics

Background The U.S. has experienced a shift from a manufacturing‐based economy to one that overwhelmingly provides services and information. This shift demands that technological skills be more fully integrated with one's academic knowledge of science and mathematics so that the next generation of engineers can reason adaptively, think critically, and be prepared to learn how to learn. Purpose (Hypothesis ) Project Lead the Way (PLTW) provides a pre‐college curriculum that focuses on the integration of engineering with science and mathematics. We documented the impact that enrollment in PLTW had on student science and math achievement. We consider the enriched integration hypothesis, which states that students taking PLTW courses will show achievement benefits, after controlling for prior achievement and other student and teacher characteristics. We contrast this with alternative hypotheses that propose little or no impact of the engineering coursework on students' math and science achievement (the insufficient integration hypothesis), or that PLTW enrollment might be negatively associated with student achievement (the adverse integration hypothesis). Design/ Method Using multilevel statistical modeling with students (N = 140) nested within teachers, we report findings from a quantitative analysis of the relationship between PLTW enrollment and student achievement on state standardized tests of math and science. Results While students gained in math and science achievement overall from eighth to tenth grade, students enrolled in PLTW foundation courses showed significantly smaller math assessment gains than those in a matched group that did not enroll, and no measurable advantages on science assessments, when controlling for prior achievement and teacher experience. The findings do not support the enriched integration hypothesis. Conclusions Engineering education programs like PLTW face both challenges and opportunities to effectively integrate academic content as they strive to prepare students for college engineering programs and careers.     

Assessment of the Impact of Freshman Engineering Courses*

This study evaluates whether Purdue University's freshman engineering courses supply entering students with the necessary foundation to persist in engineering because of the skills they acquire in these courses. To measure this, we evaluate longitudinal data on retention and graduation rates of students that start in the standard first semester courses, start in the off-sequence semester, or participate in our tutorial program. The study is based on historical data for the 28-year period from 1966 through 1993.