Assessing Engineering Students’ Practical Intelligence as the Outcome of Performing ‘hands-on’ Laboratory Classes

Experience in an engineering laboratory is important for engineering students and expected to enhance understanding of engineering concepts for which they have learned the theory. Although the aim of the laboratory is an opportunity to learn and gain experience or practical intelligence (PI), the authors do not know much about what actually happens in a typical laboratory class. The development of practical intelligence is expected to be happened when students are performing tasks in the laboratory exercises and they may possibly be able to detect and solve problems or diagnose faults in similar equipment. Thus the purpose of this study is to assess students’ practical intelligence as the outcome of performing laboratory exercises and relating to the ability to diagnose equipment faults. Comparison of novel-expert rating approach is used in this study. The findings demonstrated that practical intelligence can be measured by calculating the difference between students’ ratings and the experts’ ratings.

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An Evaluation of Students’ Practical Intelligence and Ability to Diagnose Equipment Faults

Outcome-Based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-1809-1.ch016 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 328-349 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Zol Bahri Razali ◽

James Trevelyan

Keyword(s):

Engineering Students ◽

Practical Knowledge ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Engineering Practice ◽

Practical Intelligence ◽

Laboratory Equipment ◽

Outcome Based Education ◽

Hands On ◽

Laboratory Experiences ◽

Intelligence Scores

Empirical studies suggest that practical intelligence acquired in engineering laboratories is valuable in engineering practice and could also be a useful learning outcome that is a result from a laboratory experience. To prove this, the author started a project to understand further about the practical learning outcomes from traditional laboratory classes. When tools used by psychologists were applied to measure practical intelligence in an electronics laboratory class, not only could a significant gain in hands-on practical intelligence be measured, but students’ ability to diagnose equipment faults could also be predicted. For the first time, therefore, the author can demonstrate that there are real advantages inherent in hands-on laboratory classes, and supported by Outcome Based Education (OBE) method, it is possible to measure this advantage. It is possible that measurements of practical intelligence may reveal new and more powerful ways for students to acquire practical knowledge. The results firstly demonstrate the ability to devise effective ways to assess the outcomes of practical intelligence acquired by engineering students from their laboratory experiences. The results from the study show that the score on practical intelligence outcomes is proportional with the outcomes of the ability in diagnosing equipment faults. Therefore, the novel results suggest that practical intelligence scores predict the ability to diagnose experiment faults for similar laboratory equipment.

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Novel Method of Assessing Practical Intelligence Acquired in Mechatronics Laboratory Classes

Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics - Handbook of Research on Advancements in Robotics and Mechatronics ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-7387-8.ch028 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 895-928

Author(s):

Zol Bahri Razali

Keyword(s):

Engineering Education ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Explicit Knowledge ◽

Assessment Instruments ◽

Practical Intelligence ◽

Work Related ◽

Novel Method ◽

The Difference ◽

Representative Work ◽

Method Of Assessment

Practical intelligence is often referred to as the ability of a person to solve practical challenges in a given domain. The lack of practical intelligence may be due to the way in which explicit knowledge is valued and subsequently assessed in engineering education, namely via examinations, tests, laboratory reports, and tutorial exercises. The lack of effective assessments on practical intelligence indicates implicit devaluation, which can significantly impair engineering students' ability to acquire practical intelligence. To solve this problem, the authors propose a new method of assessment for measuring practical intelligence acquired by engineering students after performing engineering laboratory classes. The novices-experts approach is used in designing the assessment instruments, based on the behaviors' of novices/experts observed and novices/experts representative work-related situations. The practical intelligence can be measured by calculating the difference between participants' and the experts' ratings; the closer the novices to experts, the higher the practical intelligence acquired.

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Eyes on the Prize

Mechanical Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.2018-mar-2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 140 (03) ◽

pp. 36-41

Author(s):

Lassie Kelly

Keyword(s):

Engineering Students ◽

New Combinations ◽

Hands On ◽

Technical Challenges ◽

The Difference ◽

Start Ups ◽

Eyes On The Prize ◽

Modern Technologies ◽

Manned Spaceflight

This article emphasizes on the role and the importance of engineering competitive events for engineering students. More and more universities are encouraging competitions and integrating them with course curricula. This is because hands-on, competitive engineering lets students do what they came to school to do: innovate and build. In surveys and on internet chatrooms, students complain about the drudgery of learning engineering fundamentals. They learn the same concepts in a competition, but applying them to real challenges makes all the difference. Through competitions, students are fusing together disciplines to navigate a faster and more interconnected future. They are learning to rise to technical challenges, and discovering how to turn people with different skills into an effective team. They have helped commercialize manned spaceflight, launch the autonomous car revolution, design fuel-miser sports cars, and plumb the ocean depths. They are developing new combinations of skills, and laying the foundations for modern technologies and start-ups.

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The Degree of Subjective Complaints of Students Practice in Mechanical Technology Laboratories

International Research Journal of Engineering IT & Scientific Research ◽

10.21744/irjeis.v4i1.599 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 22

Author(s):

I Ketut Widana

Keyword(s):

Engineering Students ◽

Standing Position ◽

Statistical Test ◽

Rank Test ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Signed Rank ◽

Before And After ◽

Signed Rank Test ◽

The Difference ◽

Paired T Test

The working practice of the engineering students is part of the learning process that is irreducible and indispensable. The composition of lecturing between theoretical and practical one is 40% to 60%. With this condition, the students spend more time at the laboratory. Generally, the students perform in the laboratory work by standing position. The design of research is observational cross-sectional. The method applied is observation, interview and measuring. The subjects of research are practicing students amounting to 21 students. Referring to the analysis of statistical test or Wilcoxon signed ranks test, the difference of effect of work position is significant, namely p < 0.05 towards musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) before and after working. The quantity of the average complaint after working is score 44.62 ± 9.47. The result of Wilcoxon signed rank test shows that there is significant different effects of standing work position, namely p < 0.05 towards fatigue generally before and after working. The degree of the working pulse is on the average of 110.78 ± 17.80 bpm (beats per minutes) which can be categorized into the medium workload. Using paired t-test, the result is p < 0.05.

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Assessment of Collaborative Problem Solving in Engineering Students Through Hands-On Simulations

IEEE Transactions on Education ◽

10.1109/te.2021.3079523 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Faisal Aqlan ◽

Richard Zhao

Keyword(s):

Problem Solving ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Collaborative Problem Solving ◽

Collaborative Problem ◽

Hands On

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Development and delivery of a work experience week programme for mechanical engineering

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education ◽

10.1177/0306419020981043 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 030641902098104

Author(s):

A Gonzalez-Buelga ◽

I Renaud-Assemat ◽

B Selwyn ◽

J Ross ◽

I Lazar

Keyword(s):

Work Experience ◽

Mechanical Engineering ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Impact Analysis ◽

Legal Term ◽

Stage 4 ◽

Engineering Design Problem ◽

Hands On ◽

University Of Bristol ◽

The University

This paper focuses on the development, delivery and preliminary impact analysis of an engineering Work Experience Week (WEW) programme for KS4 students in the School of Civil, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (CAME) at the University of Bristol, UK. Key stage 4, is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs in England, age 15–16. The programme aims to promote the engineering profession among secondary school pupils. During the WEW, participants worked as engineering researchers: working in teams, they had to tackle a challenging engineering design problem. The experience included hands-on activities and the use of state-of-the-art rapid prototyping and advanced testing equipment. The students were supervised by a group of team leaders, a diverse group of undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, technical staff, and academics at the School of CAME. The vision of the WEW programme is to transmit the message that everybody can be an engineer, that there are plenty of different routes into engineering that can be taken depending on pupils’ strengths and interests and that there are a vast amount of different engineering careers and challenges to be tackled by the engineers of the future. Feedback from the participants in the scheme has been overwhelmingly positive.

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Technical writing as part of project management for engineers: using a writing-process approach to teach disciplinary writing requirements

Journal of Academic Writing ◽

10.18552/joaw.v10i1.599 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 136-145

Author(s):

Ruth Wiederkehr ◽

Marie-Thérèse Rudolf von Rohr

Keyword(s):

Engineering Students ◽

Technical Writing ◽

Discourse Markers ◽

Process Approach ◽

Formative Feedback ◽

Project Work ◽

Disciplinary Writing ◽

Environmental Technology ◽

Hands On ◽

Scientific Standards

This article focuses on how formative feedback can be used to help engineering students write precise and coherent management summaries that appeal to a mixed audience. Management summaries are especially challenging to master as students must strive for a balance between adhering to scientific standards and being intelligible for a wider non-expert readership. Students of Energy and Environmental Technology at the school of engineering (FHNW) in Switzerland write a total of six technical reports about their project work (mostly in German). By analysing two management summaries, the focus is laid on the lecturers’ approach of relying on formative feedback which supports and accompanies the students’ iterative writing processes. It is shown how in early semesters lecturers provide hands-on guidance, such as suggesting discourse markers or pinpointing vague references to sharpen students’ awareness of the need to write as concisely as possible for mixed audiences.

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Effective Intervention across Socioeconomic Classes for Improvement in Language Outcomes

Journal of Education and Training Studies ◽

10.11114/jets.v5i1.1913 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 179

Author(s):

Afia Kanwal ◽

Wasima Shehzad

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Effective Intervention ◽

Research Model ◽

Language Outcomes ◽

Improvement Rate ◽

Early Schooling ◽

The Difference

Students in higher education bring with them a difference of linguistic abilities that is often due to the difference in socioeconomic status and early schooling. The lack of linguistic capacity hampers academic pace and introduces discrepancies in performance of learners. This paper examines the persistence of socioeconomic diﬀerences being translated in educational institutes and their influence on language outcomes and it investigates the role of effective intervention through an action research model by Zuber-Skerritt (1992) called CRASP. It is an experimental study based on a sample of 300 engineering students which examines initial and final evaluation of language proficiency through intervention. The tools used to gather data include demographics, language test of writing and speaking skills and sequential assessment. The results showed that intervention is helpful for enhancing language proficiency nonetheless; the improvement rate is nearly negligible and requires a long-term plan to impact early disadvantage of exposure.

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