Challenges in Teaching Applied Thermodynamics

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Karimi
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Background Knowledge ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Introductory Course ◽  
Assessment Results

Most Mechanical Engineering programs offer a course in applied thermodynamics either as a requirement or as an elective for an undergraduate degree. Student success in this course depends on their preparation on fundamental concepts gained in an introductory course in thermodynamics. The divide in background knowledge among students creates a challenge for an instructor teaching the applied thermodynamics course. This paper explains how students’ background knowledge of the fundamental concepts is evaluated at the beginning of the semester. It provides a description of an approach adapted in teaching the course in order to close the gap in background knowledge among students. Through assessment results, this paper demonstrates how the adapted teaching method has improved student success. Other challenges for instruction and student assessment are discussed in this paper.

A Pillar of Mechanical Engineering Design Education in Australia: 25 Years of the Warman Design and Build Competition

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren F. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
National Committee ◽  
Engineering Design Education ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Institutional Learning ◽  
History Of

The “Warman Design and Build Competition”, running across Australasian Universities, is now in its 26th year in 2013. Presented in this paper is a brief history of the competition, documenting the objectives, yearly scenarios, key contributors and champion Universities since its beginning in 1988. Assuming the competition has reached the majority of mechanical and related discipline engineering students in that time, it is fair to say that this competition, as a vehicle of the National Committee on Engineering Design, has served to shape Australasian engineering education in an enduring way. The philosophy of the Warman Design and Build Competition and some of the challenges of running it are described in this perspective by its coordinator since 2003. In particular, the need is for the competition to work effectively across a wide range of student group ability. Not every group engaging with the competition will be competitive nationally, yet all should learn positively from the experience. Reported also in this paper is the collective feedback from the campus organizers in respect to their use of the competition as an educational experience in their classrooms. Each University participating uses the competition differently with respect to student assessment and the support students receive. However, all academic campus organizer responses suggest that the competition supports their own and their institutional learning objectives very well. While the project scenarios have varied widely over the years, the intent to challenge 2nd year university (predominantly mechanical) engineering students with an open-ended statement of requirements in a practical and experiential exercise has been a constant. Students are faced with understanding their opportunity and their client’s value system as expressed in a scoring algorithm. They are required to conceive, construct and demonstrate their device with limited prior knowledge and experience, and the learning outcomes clearly impact their appreciation for teamwork, leadership and product realization.

scholarly journals SOME METHODS OF EXPERIENCE-BASED LEARNING FOR STUDENTS SPECIALIZED IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-193
Author(s):  
Minh Tan Tang ◽  
Tuan Van Phan
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Creative Potential ◽  
Experience Based Learning ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Practical Capacity

The paper generally presents about integrating soft skills into teaching by using experience-based teaching method. This method is the process in which the teacher plays the roles of organizing, guiding, orienting and implementing activities with learners, helping learners to find new knowledge, values and capabilities. That new knowledge and capacity continue to be verified in the process of experiencing reality, solving tasks posed by teacher, and then sharing the knowledge that has just been acquired with their friends and lecturer. Therefore, learners will be more receptive. Through the article, the authors would like to share teaching methods via practical experience in teaching specialized subjects of Mechanical Engineering to help students have more opportunities to experience, to apply the knowledge into reality, thence, forming skills and practical capacity as well as promoting the creative potential of the learners themselves.

The Role of Gender on Student Success

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuncay Bayrak ◽  
Anil Gulati
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
Management Information Systems ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Management Information ◽  
Introductory Course ◽  
Female Teachers ◽  
Better Than

Numerous studies have investigated why computers are perceived as being a male domain. In this study, the authors examine intra-gender differences among undergraduate and graduate students who enrolled in Management Information Systems (MIS) courses and attempt to answer such questions as do males achieve significantly higher scores in MIS courses? Does instructor gender affect female students' academic achievement? Do females underperform males in achievement at either or both undergraduate and graduate levels? This paper provides findings which demonstrate that female students performed significantly better than their male counterparts in the two introductory undergraduate MIS courses and performed equally well in an upper lever MIS course and an introductory course in the graduate program. Male students were impacted by the gender of the teacher. Even though it was not a main focus of the present study, the authors cannot resist making a casual observation that female teachers were more effective in the classroom.

Skill-Centered Syllabus for Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Education

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos F. Rodriguez ◽  
Alvaro E. Pinilla
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Credit Hours ◽  
High Standards

Recent changes in higher education policy in Colombia (South America) have forced educational institutions and universities to consider reducing undergraduate engineering programs from the traditional 5 or 6 years (170 credit hours) to four years (136 credit hours). This reduction is a worldwide trend, mainly due to a lack of financial resources supporting high standards of professional education. Additionally, institutions are restructuring their curricula to adjust to the broader spectrum of career development opportunities for the graduating engineer and the new challenges faced by practicing engineers. Also, engineering education in Colombia needs to adjust to Colombia's necessities as a developing country. In response to the above-mentioned circumstances, the mechanical engineering department of the Universidad de Los Andes (UdLA) has proposed a new mechanical engineering (ME) undergraduate syllabus. This paper summarizes the process undergone by the ME department of the Universidad de Los Andes to review our syllabus and propose alternative approaches. Our new ME syllabus applies a skill-centered approach structured by four priorities: 1) the primary professional role of an engineer is in project development, 2) the engineer needs an in-depth knowledge of the sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) and mathematics; 3) the engineer also needs a general education in the social sciences and arts and, 4) the engineer should master the core concepts of mechanical engineering. These four priorities agree with the US study of the Engineer of 2020. Our restructured syllabus evenly introduces these priorities early in the undergraduate ME program. Our ME Department implemented the new syllabus for first year students in January 2006. Positive results have already started to emerge. This article provides an overview of the higher education quality assurance system in Colombia and a description of the Universidad de Los Andes new ME syllabus.

Combined Mechanical Engineering Materials Lecture and Mechanics of Materials Laboratory: Cross-Disciplinary Teaching

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Soft Tissues ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Tensile Shear ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Mechanics Of Materials ◽  
Engineering Materials ◽  
Selection Of

We have developed a course combining a Mechanical Engineering Materials Laboratory with a Materials Science lecture for a small combined population of undergraduate Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering students. By judicious selection of topic order, we have been able to utilize one lecture and one laboratory for both Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering students (with limited splitting of groups). The primary reasons for combining the Mechanical and Biomedical students are to reduce faculty load and required resources in a small university. For schools with medium or small Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering programs, class sizes could be improved if they could include other populations. The heterogeneous populations also aid in teaching students that the same engineering techniques are useful in more than a single engineering realm. The laboratory sections begin with the issues common to designing and evaluating mechanical testing, followed by tensile, shear, and torsion evaluation of metals. To introduce composite materials, wood and cement are evaluated. While the Mechanical Engineering students are evaluating impact and strain gauges, the Biomedical Engineering students are performing tensile studies of soft tissues, and compression of long bones. The basic materials lectures (beginning at the atomic level) are in common with both Mechanical and Biomedical student populations, until specific topics such as human body materials are discussed. Three quarters of the term is thus taught on a joint basis, and three or four lectures are split. Basic metal, plastic and wood behavior is common to both groups.

Current Trends of Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Curricula in California

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chean Chin Ngo ◽  
Sang June Oh
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Private Universities ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
General Criterion ◽  
College Level ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Minimum Requirement

Abstract This paper reviews and compares 29 ABET accredited mechanical engineering undergraduate curricula in California which include 13 programs from the California State University (Cal State or CSU) System, 8 programs from the University of California (UC) System and 8 programs from private universities. The programs examined in the present paper include both Ph.D.-granting and non-Ph.D.-granting institutions in public and private universities. Some CSU mechanical engineering programs have been taking steps to implement changes recently in their curricula to reduce the total required degree requirement to 120 units and yet satisfy the minimum requirement of general education units. This paper presents a summary of the current curricula structure of these programs in Cal State universities by delving into the study of their degree requirements and compare with that of UC and private universities. For example, the number of units of college level mathematics and basic science required by the program is examined closely and determine if it is beyond the one-year requirement by ABET General Criterion 5 Curriculum. In addition, one of the ABET program criteria requires the mechanical engineering program to prepare students to work professionally in either thermal or mechanical systems. As such, this present paper also examines how each program is proportionately distributing courses in each of these two areas. Attention is also given to how each program integrates first year experience, senior capstone design experience, hands-on laboratory experience and internship experience (if any) in the curriculum. In January 2016, CSU launched the Graduation Initiative (GI) 2025 to increase graduation rates of CSU students while eliminating opportunity gap for underrepresented minorities and Pell-eligible students. One of the main goals of GI 2025 is to increase the freshman 4-year graduation rate of CSU students to 40% by 2025. Part of the strategies for GI 2025 from some CSU campuses is to review the curriculum and identify potential barriers to timely graduation and find strategies to eliminate them. The goal of this paper is to provide educators a timely summary of reference while examining their own curricula. Although different institutions carry curricular revisions that stem from different motivation, the ultimate goal will be the same — provide students optimally the best curriculum to better prepare them for the industry workforce and have positive impact for the society.

scholarly journals Practical Elements of Mechanical Engineering – An Enrichment to University Engineering Education

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Straatman
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Materials Engineering ◽  
Enrichment Program ◽  
Applied Arts

Practical Elements of Mechanical Engineering (PEME) is an enrichment program developed by the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Western University in collaboration with Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology. The PEME program was developed mainly in response to the changing backgrounds of students entering university engineering programs, and to provide an opportunity for students to get exposure to practical courses in machining, welding, metrology, and other practical areas, which complement the traditional Mechanical engineering curriculum. The PEME program is thus a formal avenue whereby students have an opportunity to gain some additional practical knowledge of their profession.

Benchmarking the Integration of Complex Systems Study in Mechanical Engineering Programs in the Southeastern United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Kellam ◽  
Michelle Maher ◽  
James Russell ◽  
Veronica Addison ◽  
Wally Peters
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
University Websites ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
The University

Complex systems study, defined as an understanding of interrelationships between engineered, technical, and non-technical (e.g., social or environmental) systems, has been identified as a critical component of undergraduate engineering education. This paper assesses the extent to which complex systems study has been integrated into undergraduate mechanical engineering programs in the southeastern United States. Engineering administrators and faculty were surveyed and university websites associated with engineering education were examined. The results suggest engineering administrators and faculty believe that undergraduate engineering education remains focused on traditional engineering topics. However, the review of university websites indicates a significant level of activity in complex systems study integration at the university level, although less so at college and department levels.

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