scholarly journals Work in Progress: Formation of an Engineering Identity in First-year Students through an Intervention Centered on Senior Design Projects

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Richards ◽  
Ryan Anderson ◽  
Carrie Myers
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Work In Progress ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Engineering Identity

A Project to Develop Initiative and Innovation through Laboratory Improvement

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 318-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sorin Cioc ◽  
Constantin Ciocanel ◽  
K. Cyril Masiulaniec ◽  
Douglas Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Process Improvement ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
First Year ◽  
Group Project ◽  
Continuous Innovation ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Technology And Education ◽  
Thermal Sciences

In an effort to cultivate initiative and innovative spirit, a new project was introduced in an undergraduate mechanical engineering laboratory, exemplified here by the Thermal Sciences Laboratory. In this project, each student lab group (typically a group of four) had to suggest improvements to a specific laboratory. There were no other imposed restrictions; improvements could be in any area, such as hardware, software, work procedure, technical presentation, and so on. By having the project run in parallel with the typical labs, several objectives were attained. First, students were exposed to the ideas of continuous innovation and product or process improvement. Second, being a group project, students were exposed to the practical aspects and important advantages of teamwork and brainstorming. Third, due to the latest innovations in technology and education, laboratory-based work is always in need of enhancement; students engaged in performing lab work are well positioned to understand the possible shortcomings, and thus propose improvements; each student should be able to have at least one contribution, ranging from very small to significant. Lastly, some of the best solutions can be followed by senior design projects in which the proposed improvements are further developed and implemented in the laboratory. This paper shows how the project was organized, and also presents results obtained during its first year of implementation.

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