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An example of active learning in Aerospace Engineering
Abstract
This paper is a showcase for an on-going active learning capstone design project in the BSc. programme at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology. In multi-disciplinary teams supervised by tutors from different backgrounds students work towards an Aerospace (related) design. In the exercise students learn about applying knowledge, working in teams, sustainable development, project management, reporting, presenting and design in a semi-professional environment.
... The TU Delft faculty of Aerospace Engineering has already implemented a number of initiatives that reflect the key sustainability competencies. For example, in the bachelor's graduation projects, sustainability is included as an explicit requirement and grading criterion (Brügemann et al., 2005). The aerospace engineering faculty fully supports Green Team Aerospace, a student-led sustainability committee, and hosts frequent seminars and lunch lectures on sustainable development. ...
Training socially conscious engineers and researchers is a core objective of the Delft University of Technology. One of the long-term goals is to give sustainability a central role in all educational programs, acting as a connecting thread. The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology is working towards this common goal through several curriculum changes. This study focuses on the integration of a sustainability learning module into the online course Research Methodologies. Research Methodologies is a self-paced master's course where students start their research project for their master's thesis. The intervention's aim was to encourage students to incorporate sustainability into their master's thesis projects. Students were introduced to the Engineering for One Planet framework and motivated to view their research project through a sustainability lens. The responses of the students to the online discussion questions and their final research plans were examined to determine the effectiveness of the intervention.
... Também, os alunos demonstram um desenvolvimento mais profundo no entendimento da engenharia e seus fundamentos, pois procuram buscar conhecimento por eles mesmos e ativamente usam o know-how para completar seus próprios projetos. Além disso, com aênfase na aprendizagem de contextos do mundo real, os estudantes percebem conexões entre o assunto do curso com seus próprios interesses profissionais [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. ...
Neste trabalho é apresentada uma proposta de criação de uma disciplina, denominada Projeto de Propulsores para Foguetes, que empregará o método de Aprendizagem Baseada em Problemas (PBL) por meio da atividade de projeto, desenvolvimento, construção e testes de um motor de propelente sólido para foguetes executada por estudantes de graduação de engenharia aeroespacial. Os estudantes, que serão agrupados em equipes, calcularão todos os dados relevantes para caracterizar e desenvolver o motor-foguete desde as dimensões da tubeira e da câmara de combustão até a pressão de operação do sistema. As equipes também realizarão a campanha de teste estático do propulsor para verificação dos parâmetros utilizando uma bancada instrumentada. A comparação dos dados obtidos com os dados teóricos esperados deverá ser apresentada ao final da disciplina. Utilizando este método de ensino, é esperado que os estudantes envolvam-se rapidamente com o projeto, adquirindo habilidades de trabalho em equipe, fixação e aplicação dos conhecimentos adquiridos nos cursos de Ciência e Tecnologia e Engenharia Aeroespacial.
... In project based learning, the project results are secondary to the learning process [4]. In order to support the teachers in their role as coach the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology needed a process-oriented system of peer evaluation. ...
Teamwork is an important aspect to the engineering profession. Therefore, students in engineering must learn teamwork competencies, like project management and communication skills as part of their training. In many engineering curricula at least part of the learning process is organized in the format of projects. Starting of with authentic problems, students collaborate as a small team engineers in real life. Different from the real world, in the educational setting the main purpose of this activity is not to solve the problem at hand, but rather to trigger a learning process. Feedback is essential to keep the students focused on this target. A problem for the teacher as a facilitator is that he/she does not have access to all relevant information. In most cases the teacher is not present at all sessions of the group and it takes a lot of time to read all intermediate reports and logbooks. Peer Assessment and peer review are methods teachers can apply to ease this burden. Presently there are numerous software applications available allowing the teacher to engage students in reviewing each other's products and to assess the value of each other's contributions. The use of these instruments has become increasingly popular in particular in the context of problem based and project organized learning. Peer evaluations allow faculty to differentiate in individual grading of group work and prevent free-riders. This paper highlights the development of a peer evaluation instrument at TU Delft, which is part of a project sponsored by the Dutch National foundation SURF.
... For more detailed information on this curriculum and its development the reader is referred to Kamp (2011) and Faculty of Aerospace Engineering (2012). Although there was already a strong presence of project based learning (De Kat & Saunders-Smits, 2009, Brügemann et al., 2005, Saunders-Smits & de Graaff, 2003) at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TUDelft, it was decided to make their presence more central to the theme. Therefore each thematic semester was given its own themed project. ...
Over the past four years the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has redeveloped its BSc curriculum to mimic an engineering design cycle. Each semester represents a step in the design cycle: exploration; system design; sub-system design; test, analysis & simulation; verification & validation.
In the curriculum design each semester has an accompanying project allowing students to synthesize their learning. These projects are done in groups of 8-10 students to accommodate our annual intake 400+ students. All projects share a common set up in terms of having a storyline, professional roles for students, having a client for each project and being real-life and authentic. The first project has students discover the possibilities of using UAVs to explore solar systems. The second project allows students to design & manufacture an aerospace structure loaded under bending & torsion. The third project has students design a sub system of an aircraft or spacecraft and in the fourth project students analyse actual scientific test data with a view to write a (mock) scientific article. Finally, in the third year the curriculum is capped by a Design/Synthesis Exercise in which students have to complete an entire design of an aerospace related object. Integrated in the first two year are courses on technical and scientific writing as well as oral communication.
This paper will report on each of the projects, their set up, the experiences of running the project and student evaluations after running a complete three year curriculum also highlighting the challenges of working with such large numbers.
... In the late 90s the Faculty of Aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology went through a major curriculum change. As part of that change traditional lab and design classes were replaced with group based design projects [1], [2]. With that the need started to arise to monitor the group process that took place outside the direct influence sphere of the lecturer and also the need arose to still be able to give an individual grade for a student's contribution to a group project. ...
... The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering has been running a third year Capstone Design project since 1997 (Brügemann et. al., 2005). In 2002 this project was extended by holding a design exercise in cooperation with Queen's University Belfast Northern Ireland. It was whilst running that project that it was observed by the path that there were distinct differences in style and pace in which students from each side were working and communicating and also different exp ...
Since 1997 the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering in Delft has been running a third year Capstone Design project. In 2002 this project was extended by holding a design exercise in cooperation with Queen’s University in Belfast Northern Ireland. To improve the collaboration in these international teams a series of exercises was designed. As a result of these exercises a substantial reduction in communication problems and a much higher level of student and staff satisfaction has been noted.
... Based on the observations given above, it is expected that more and more design projects will have an international nature. In response to this need, two aeronautical schools with a long standing working relationship -Delft University of Technology (TUD) and Queen's University Belfast (QUB) -conceived the idea to perform an international design exercise based on the existing Design-Synthesis Exercise (DSE) as run in Delft since 1999 [1]. Instead of developing a student exchange programme between the two universities, 3 rd and 4 th year students from both universities are selected to conduct a joint design synthesis exercise, with the support of staff on both sides. ...
The globalisation of the engineering workplace has elevated the importance of preparing engineering students for an international working environment. This paper reports on the development and results of an international aerospace design exercise, organised for students from Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Six years of experience has demonstrated that if properly managed, taking into account learning styles and cultural dimensions, international design exercises such as these are extremely worthwhile and provide students with a number of additional competencies not readily encountered in most engineering degree courses, such as the abilities to work with teams of different cultures/learning styles, and to deal with the challenges of long distance communication.
... This implies a deductive reasoning process which is articulated by generating hypothesis, facts, issues, strategies and tactics that are checked as the students move through the problem [13]. Different studies have shown a higher effectiveness of PBL over the lecture/discussion method [14][15][16][17][18]. PBL also plays an important role in the development of teamwork and communication skills [19][20][21][22][23][24] besides other generic competences [25][26]. In [24] the aim is to determine the opinions of tutors and students about the effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning in Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine. ...
The Bologna Declaration and the implementation of the European Higher Education Area are promoting the use of active learning methodologies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects obtained after applying active learning methodologies to the achievement of generic competences as well as to the academic performance. This study has been carried out at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, where these methodologies have been applied to the Operating Systems I subject of the degree in Technical Engineering in Computer Systems. The fundamental hypothesis tested was whether the implementation of active learning methodologies (cooperative learning and problem based learning) favours the achievement of certain generic competences ('teamwork' and 'planning and time management') and also whether this fact improved the academic performance of our students. The original approach of this work consists in using psychometric tests to measure the degree of acquired student's generic competences instead of using opinion surveys, as usual. Results indicated that active learning methodologies improve the academic performance when compared to the traditional lecture/discussion method, according to the success rate obtained. These methods seem to have as well an effect on the teamwork competence (the perception of the behaviour of the other members in the group) but not on the perception of each students' behaviour. Active learning does not produce any significant change in the generic competence 'planning and time management'.
... This implies a deductive reasoning process which is articulated by generating hypothesis, facts, issues, strategies and tactics that are checked as the students move through the problem [13]. Different studies have shown a higher effectiveness of PBL over the lecture/discussion method [14][15][16][17][18]. PBL also plays an important role in the development of teamwork and communication skills [19][20][21][22][23][24] besides other generic competences [25][26]. In [24] the aim is to determine the opinions of tutors and students about the effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning in Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine. ...
The Bologna Declaration and the implementation of the European Higher Education Area are promoting the use of active learning methodologies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects obtained after applying active learning methodologies to the achievement of generic competences as well as to the academic performance. This study has been carried out at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, where these methodologies have been applied to the Operating Systems I subject of the degree in Technical Engineering in Computer Systems. The fundamental hypothesis tested was whether the implementation of active learning methodologies (cooperative learning and problem based learning) favours the achievement of certain generic competences ('teamwork' and 'planning and time management') and also whether this fact improved the academic performance of our students. The original approach of this work consists in using psychometric tests to measure the degree of acquired student's generic competences instead of using opinion surveys, as usual. Results indicated that active learning methodologies improve the academic performance when compared to the traditional lecture/discussion method, according to the success rate obtained. These methods seem to have as well an effect on the teamwork competence (the perception of the behaviour of the other members in the group) but not on the perception of each students' behaviour. Active learning does not produce any significant change in the generic competence 'planning and time manage-ment'.
... The second semester focuses on conceptual design and is off set by students designing, building and testing a lightweight aerospace structure; the third semester focuses on the preliminary a structural design of a wing and the phase in which it was felt that research skills could best be taught was the test & simulate phase in the fourth semester. This semester is then followed by the minor semester and the aerospace curriculum is then continued with a half semester around the theme of validation & verification and finally capped by the Design Synthesis Exercise [10,11], a 10 week, full time design exercise in which student independently design an aerospace (related) object working in teams of 10. ...
The research – teaching nexus at universities has over the recent years slid too much towards teaching students just knowledge and not always teaching them how to do independent research. If research does occur it is often only in the post graduate phase (MSc or PhD) of education. This paper describes an example of the implementation of research in undergraduate education at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology. It discusses everything from set up and implementation to assessment and lessons learned. Initial experience showed that although the initiative is very worthwhile, it is difficult to motivate students to work on the theoretical parts as they would rather get straight to work with the implementation. Achieving this insight with students will be the core challenge of the project for the years to come.
... In the late 90s the Faculty of Aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology went through a major curriculum change. As part of that change traditional lab and design classes were replaced with group based design projects [1], [2]. With that the need started to arise to monitor the group process that took place outside the direct influence sphere of the lecturer and also the need arose to still be able to give an individual grade for a student's contribution to a group project. ...
Peer and self evaluations are an excellent way to monitor and evaluate group skills in project based design work. Their use has become increasingly popular with increase in popularity of project based learning. Peer evaluations allow faculty to differentiate in individual grading of group work and prevent free-riding. This paper makes a distinction between three types of peer evaluation: ranking students, dividing assets between students and rating students on qualitative criteria. Based on these criteria it compares the system developed at Delft University of Technology with existing systems in Eindhoven (NL) and Sydney (Aus) based on their functionality and cultural dimensions. We also discuss the hurdles faced by all parties in using this tool in grading and how we have overcome them. This results in a clear set of recommendations for lecturers who would like to use peer evaluation in their projects.
... In 2004 one such team came third in the AIAA design competition. References [2] and [3] describe the projects at Aerospace Engineering in more detail. ...
Project-based learning by its nature requires a lot of staff efforts in terms of tutoring of the project groups. At the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, traditionally in the first two years of the BSc degree use is made of senior and Master students to take over part of the tutoring role from the academic staff. This is due to the fact that in the Netherlands the number of PhD students and academic staff per 100 students is relatively low in comparison to the US. This paper describes how these assistants are used in the projects, what their responsibilities are, and the need for training. The pros and cons of using teaching-assistants in project-based learning are also discussed with a clear look at the ethical side of the use of teaching-assistants. Also a close look was taken at the limitations of the use of teaching-assistants
... Thus, this section reports the criteria used to obtain a team's mark, not the mark of a particular member. Generally, grading a PBL experience is a difficult matter, but it should be made as practical as possible (Brügemann et al. 2005; Doppelt 2005). In accordance to this, we decided for the first edition that the final mark of a team would be based on the evaluation of the following concepts: ...
http://hdl.handle.net/2117/7832
The main purpose of this paper is to describe the process by which an initially limited-range practical experience, within the frame of a given subject in an aerospace engineering degree, might be expanded to become the mother-subject itself. Particularly, the practical experience is a Model Rocket Workshop (MRW), where students design, simulate, build, test and launch a small model rocket. The workshop is a Problem Based Learning (PBL) experience that covers a wide spectrum of educational aspects, ranging from theoretical disciplines, such as fluid dynamics and rocket dynamics, to topics more related to experimental work and hardware utilization like the certification of the rockets, as well as the rocket altitude measurements. Students get rapidly involved in the project, and acquire several practical and transversal abilities, while developing a solid knowledge of the physics underlying aerospace engineering. The case study shows some problems and improvements, academic results and lessons learned from the PBL approach. Finally, a series of new ideas related to MRW and the subject it belongs to are presented. The objective is to expand the MRW so that it embraces the totality of the activities that constitute this mother-subject. As a consequence, the former would then become a new subject entirely based on PBL. The strategy aims at enabling an optimum transition from conventional learning to PBL. Peer Reviewed Postprint (published version)
Adopting evidence-based teaching practices, such as active learning, has proven to increase student learning, engagement, and interest in STEM and subsequently, the number and diversity of STEM graduates. Despite these compelling findings, the translation of educational research to classrooms has been slow, in part due to instructors’ concerns about student resistance.
To better understand STEM instructors’ and students’ attitudes and behaviours regarding active learning, we administered surveys to instructors and their students and conducted classroom observations. The instructor survey measured their attitudes towards & use of active learning, strategies used to reduce student resistance, and perceptions of student behaviour. The corresponding student survey asked students to evaluate their instructors’ teaching practices, as well as students’ own attitudes and behaviours during class that day. Classroom observations supplemented these metrics.
Analyses of matched survey datasets (n = 27, n = 758) and observations (n = 13) reveal a disconnect between instructor perceptions of their students’ responses to active learning and students’ self-reported attitudes and behaviours, where instructors overestimate student resistance. In contrast, students report they see value in the activities, enjoy them, and even plan to highly evaluate the course and instructor. Overall, these results suggest that instructors’ fears about adopting these teaching practices are largely erroneous.
Özet
Temel görevleri eğitim, araştırma, tüm evrene ve toplumlara fayda sağlamak olan üniversiteler, bilimsel bilginin üretiminde sorumluluk alan, bu üretim sürecini küresel bağlamdaki değişimin ortaya çıkardığı sonuçlar ile bütünleştiren, dünyayı ve bireyi ilgilendiren her tür probleme yönelik çözüm üretmesi gereken yükseköğretim kurumlarıdır. Üniversitelerin bu nitelikte kurumlar olarak adlandırılabilmesi ve değişimle rekabet edebilmesi için eğitim programlarının da sistem düzeyinde dönüştürülmesi gerekmektedir. Kurumların vizyon, misyon ve değerleri başta olmak üzere, tüm uygulamalarını yansıtan eğitim programlarının bu değişimi doğru yönetecek şekilde geliştirilmesi ve sürekli güncellenmesi, içerisinde bulunduğumuz zıtlık ve belirsizliklerle dolu çağın yarattığı problemlerle başa çıkmanın en doğru yoludur. Bu çalışmada incelenen proje tabanlı eğitim programları öğrenciler ve gerçek yaşam problemleri merkeze alınarak tasarlanmakta, problemlerin çözümü ve bilgi üretimi sürecine odaklanmaktadır. Çalışma, proje kavramını sadece bir öğrenme-öğretme yaklaşımı ya da yöntemi olarak değil, eğitim programlarının geliştirilmesinde merkeze alınarak oluşturulmuş bir eğitim felsefesi olarak görmektedir. Araştırmanın iki temel amacı bulunmaktadır. Birinci temel amaç Avrupa ve Amerika'da proje tabanlı eğitim programı uygulayan beş üniversitenin eğitim programlarını incelemek ve karşılaştırmak; ikinci temel amaç ise, Türk üniversitelerinde uygulanabilecek proje tabanlı eğitim programı bağlamında kavramsal bir model önermektir. Araştırmanın birinci temel amacı çerçevesinde, Aalborg, Roskilde, McMaster, Delft Teknik ve Worcester Politeknik Üniversitesi eğitim programlarının yapılandırılma, uygulanma ve değerlendirilme boyutları ile dokümanlar incelenerek ilgili özellikler belirlenmiş ve karşılaştırılmış; sonrasında ise bu üniversitelerde çalışan öğretim elemanlarından aynı boyutlara yönelik görüşler alınmıştır. Araştırmanın ikinci temel amacına yönelik olarak ise Türk üniversitelerinde uygulanabilecek kavramsal bir model önerilmiştir. Araştırma, programların yapılandırma, uygulama ve değerlendirme sürecini kendi koşulları içerisinde ve olduğu gibi açıklamaya çalıştığından, betimsel bir araştırmadır ve araştırmada nitel araştırma yöntemleri kullanılmıştır. Bu araştırma, proje kavramını klasik bakış açısının dışında ele alması ve birbirinden farklı üniversitelerin uygulamalarını karşılaştırarak sistematik bir analiz ortaya koyması nedeniyle üniversitelere ve araştırmacılara uygulamaya dönük bilgiler sunmakta olduğundan önemlidir. Ayrıca, proje tabanlı eğitim programı ile ilgili olarak önerilen kavramsal model ile bu araştırma yükseköğretimde kurum düzeyinde yapılandırılmış proje tabanlı eğitim programı bağlamında Türkiye'de yapılmış ilk çalışmadır. Araştırmanın birinci temel amacı kapsamında ulaşılan bulgularına göre, çalışmada incelenen üniversitelerin eğitim programlarındaki uygulamalar arasında bazı farklılıklar olsa da tüm programlarda proje kavramı bir dersin işlenişinde kullanılan bir öğretim yaklaşımı ya da yöntemi olarak değil, kurum düzeyinde benimsenmiş bir eğitim felsefesi olarak görülmektedir. Tüm programlarda öğrenen merkezli ve problem merkezli program tasarım yaklaşımı benimsenmiş ve tüm programlar disiplinlerötesi anlayışa göre düzenlenmiştir. Bu bağlamda, programların yapılandırılması, uygulanması ve değerlendirilmesinde iç ve dış paydaşlar işbirliği içerisinde çalışmakta, projelerin gerçekleştirilmesinde evrene ve topluma fayda ölçütünü göz önünde bulundurarak kolektif bir şekilde hareket etmektedir. Proje tabanlı eğitim programı aracılığıyla öğrencilerin kazanması beklenen yeterlilikler, günümüzde iş yaşamının ihtiyaç duyduğu bilgi, beceri ve yetkinliklerdir. Bu nedenle, dünya çapında birçok üniversite dördüncü nesil üniversite anlayışına uygun olarak eğitim programlarını projeleri merkeze alarak yapılandırmakta ve bu programlar aracılığıyla ortaya koyduğu uygulamalarla dünya sıralamasında en başarılı üniversiteler arasında yer almaktadır. Bu bağlamda, Türk üniversitelerinin de proje ile ilgili sahip olduğu potansiyeli ortaya çıkarması, projeleri sadece bir Ar-Ge ürünü olarak değil, eğitim programlarının geliştirilmesinde kurumsal düzeyde benimsenen bir eğitim felsefesi olarak görmesi gerekmektedir. Çalışmada önerilen proje tabanlı eğitim programı kavramsal modeli Türk üniversitelerinin dönüşümüne ve öğrencilerin bilgi çağı niteliklerine uygun yeterliliklere sahip olmasına katkı sağlayacaktır.
Abstract
Universities, which mainly serve as to educate, research, benefit to the whole universe and societies in the world, are higher education institutions that take responsibility for the production of scientific knowledge, integrate this production process with the results of the change in the global context and produce solutions for all kinds of problems concerning the world and the individual. In order for universities to be named within this context and to compete with change, curricula they use need to be developed at the system level. The right way for universities to deal with the problems resulted from the era which is full of contrast and uncertainty is to continuously develop and update the curricula that reflect all of their practice, especially the vision, mission and values. The project-based curricula analyzed in this study are centered on students and real-life problems by focusing on the problem-solving and knowledge production process. The study considers the term "project" not only as a teaching and learning approach or method, but also as an educational philosophy that is fully based on certain PBL principles in the curriculum development process. The study has two main objectives. The first main objective is to analyze and compare the PBL curricula of five universities in Europe and America, and the second is to propose a conceptual PBL model that can be applied by Turkish universities. Within the framework of the first main objective of the study, the documents related to the PBL curricula of Aalborg, Roskilde, McMaster, Delft Technic University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute were examined and compared within the dimensions of the structuring, implementation and evaluation. In addition, interviews were conducted with the faculty members working at these universities. For the second main purpose of the study, a conceptual model is proposed to be implemented at Turkish universities. The research is a descriptive study as it aims to describe the structuring, implementation and evaluation process of the curriculum within their own context, and qualitative research methods are used. This study is important because it approaches the concept of project outside the classical point of view and presents a systematic analysis by comparing the practices of different universities. In addition, within the context of curriculum design in higher education, this is the first and only study in Turkey which proposes a conceptual PBL model structured through a university-wide curriculum change. According to the findings of the first main objective of the study, although there are some differences between the practices in the curricula of the universities examined in the study, the concept of project in all curricula is seen as an adopted educational philosophy, not as an instructional approach or method used in a classroom teaching context. All curricula adopt a learner-centered and problem-centered curriculum design approach and they are organized according to an interdisciplinary approach. In this context, both the internal and external stakeholders cooperate in the structuring, implementation and evaluation of the curricula, and act collectively during the project process taking into account the criterion that all projects should be beneficial to the whole universe and society. The qualifications expected to be gained by the students through the PBL curriculum are the knowledge, skills and competencies that business life needs today. For this reason, many universities around the world are structuring their curricula by putting the taking the projects to the center in accordance with the concept of fourth generation university, and they are among the most successful universities in the world with the practice they put through PBL curriculum. In this context, it is necessary for Turkish universities to fulfill their potential for project work and to consider projects not only as a research and development product but also as an educational philosophy adopted at institutional level in the development of curriculum. The conceptual model of the PBL curriculum proposed in the study will contribute to the transformation of Turkish universities in accordance with the information age characteristics and enable students to acquire the related competences.
This work reports a review on some of the ways in which education and research can be used to solve today’s complex problems by taking into account teaching and learning strategies that go beyond traditional teaching strategies. It revisits different teaching approaches and connects them directly to uni-, pluri-, multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary attitudes, and how educational professionals think of the subject of teaching. This discussion reflects on how teachers tend to reproduce procedures they observed in their own graduation programs and why experienced teachers opt for inter- and transdisciplinary attitudes. Using a qualitative approach, this work illustrates the results from a Project-Based Learning strategy applied to a group of Major Engineering students to solve problems at the University’s Campus. Participants included 25 students engaged to Physics Engineering program supervised by different faculty members, experienced undergraduate and graduate students, and technicians, who had mentored the undergraduate students’ teams, all working in subjects closely related to the projects. The products developed by the teams show evidence that the students were motivated and engaged in the projects; this supports the premise that inter- and transdisciplinary approaches drive collaboration in the execution of projects, develop soft skills and permit knowledge development in an articulate and complex way thereby leading to a broader education of the students.
Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal.
This study examined the relationships among peer alignment (the feeling that one is similar in important ways to one's engineering peers), instructor connectedness (the sense that one knows and looks up to academic staff/faculty members in the department), self-efficacy for engineering class work (confidence in one's ability to successfully complete engineering class work), and engineering students' satisfaction with the major. A total of 135 sophomore (second-year university students) and junior (third-year students) engineering students were surveyed to measure these three variables. A multiple regression analysis showed that self-efficacy, peer alignment, and instructor connectedness predicted student satisfaction with the major, and that self-efficacy acted as a mediator between both peer alignment and instructor connectedness on the one hand, and satisfaction on the other. The authors offer suggestions for practice based on the results.
This paper presents the development, implementation, and assessment of a project-based Bioinstrumentation course. All course lectures and hands-on laboratory activities are related to a central project theme: a cardiac pacemaker. The students create a benchtop cardiac pacemaker by applying instrumentation knowledge acquired in the course to each stage of device development. This approach emphasizes both conceptual and practical student learning: The students must apply theory learned in the course to create their devices. Indirect and direct assessment performed with respect to the major course objective demonstrated that course participants were able to successfully design, construct, and test a bioinstrumentation system. The students perceived a marked increase in their instrumentation knowledge, objectively corroborated by their performance on specific exercises related to the creation of their benchtop pacemakers. The outcomes of the course development presented here, along with the course structure and pedagogical methodology, may enhance engineering education by acting as a guideline for the creation of courses in which a central project theme is used as a platform for concept instruction.
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