Teaching Database Courses to Engineering Students

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abe Zeid
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Teaching Approach ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Hands On ◽  
New Perspective

The teaching of databases to engineering students at the undergraduate level has proven challenging for multiple reasons. First, the course is a nontraditional engineering course. Second, the concepts of databases are highly abstract. Third, engineering students prefer the problem-solving, hands-on, and project-based method of learning over the coverage of database design concepts. Fourth, there is a lack of engineering-oriented database textbooks. This paper presents an effective teaching approach that overcomes these challenges. The approach mixes and integrates the database abstract concepts with hands-on and capstone-based learning activities. The approach incorporates engineering students' feedback during the course. The paper discusses the database course objectives, content, project requirements, the skill set students learn, the software tools they use, and assessment tools. Sample projects and students' comments are included. The paper concludes with some observations that can be useful to use in traditional engineering courses to provide a new perspective of teaching in engineering.

scholarly journals Supervisory Conversations: A Key to Reflective Experimentation

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Gwyn-Paquette
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Knowledge Construction ◽  
Cooperating Teachers ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Teaching Approach ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Stimulation Of

Using a qualitative approach, in this article, the author explores the conversations which take place between preservice teachers and their university supervisor, analysing sequences which serve as support for experimentation of a ‘new’ teaching approach and situations of knowledge construction by preservice teachers. They were asked to use cooperative learning activities during student teaching although such strategies were not necessarily modelled by their cooperating teachers or familiar to the students. As their researcher/supervisor, the author provided support in planning conferences and coaching through post-observation conferences. It is suggested that there is more to supervisory conversations than simply providing moral support for the preservice teachers or evaluation of their performance. They are occasions for knowledge construction, notably, through problem-solving and solution finding, stimulation of reflection and discussion of theory.

scholarly journals Gaming and Interactive Visualization for Education: A Multi-Disciplinary and Multi-University Collaborative Project

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunjun Xu ◽  
Charles Miekas ◽  
Zahed Siddique ◽  
Chen Ling ◽  
Sagar Chowdhury ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Situated Learning ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Interactive Visualization ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Collaborative Project ◽  
Module Design

Most people are more perceptive to the geometric rather than the symbolic representation of information. In engineering disciplines, visualization combined with game characteristics can provide an essential mode to facilitate students’ understanding of important and abstract concepts, and improve students’ willingness to learn. In this project, game characteristics are introduced into course module design, but different from commercially available games in that the level of the contents and assessment tools in this project are meaningful to teachers, students, and parents. This paper focuses on the design of the Gaming and Interactive Visualization for Education system. Specifically, some initial design results from the three universities for three different courses plus the development of evaluation system will be presented. The system is expected to (1) offer interactions with gaming scenarios that can excite emotions, (2) provide an engaging learning experience of understanding engineering concepts by allowing students to visualize and interact with 3-D objects in a game scenario, (3) employ situated learning by exposing students to the type of challenges they will face in industry, and (4) fit better with the learning styles of the majority of engineering students.

Getting Hands-On Experience From Simple Experiments and Model Development in Thermal-Fluid Courses

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianchang Li ◽  
Jiang Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Mechanics ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Model Development ◽  
System Model ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Physical Problems ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Major Loss

When the engineering students transition from their sophomore to junior year, they start experiencing a large number of abstract concepts each semester. For most of students who do not have much experience in engineering, it is difficult to link these new concepts to physical problems, and the formulas associated with the new concepts make little or no sense to them. To help students get more experience, hands-on experiments can be effective. This paper first describes several simple experiments that can be demonstrated in classroom and conducted at home. Fluid Mechanics was chosen as a trial course in this study. The experiments are designed to cover the important aspects of Fluid Mechanics such as the minor/major loss of a pipe flow, the drag of an immersed object, and the application of linear momentum equations. The second approach to enhance the learning experience is to make a physical model. For both fluid mechanics and thermodynamics, an open-ended course project was assigned to the students, and the project required the students to develop a system model and complete the analysis. The outcome was evaluated through the student feedback as well as coursework, and the results indicate that this practice can help the students understand the concepts better and sustain their interest in the topics.

Hands-On Experiences for Problem Solving in Engineering Education Based on Trees and Plants

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Vargas-Silva ◽  
Mariappan Jawaharlal
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Plant Kingdom ◽  
Conflicting Objectives ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Learn Problem

We teachers know that problem solving is a crucial skill for our students. It is indispensable for developing original and creative thinking. We also know that deep learning of engineering fact can be assisted by using non-conventional tools and heterodox ideas for teaching, learning and presenting technical concepts. On that sense, we propose that engineering students could learn how to solve hands-on problems from nature; in particular from the plant kingdom. In addition, we engineers should not turn our back to nature. We should start a new voyage of discovery, seeking new landscapes with a different outlook. But how? The present paper presents an approach to integrate trees and plants into engineering education to learn problem solving hands-on experiences. The aim of this approach is to teach engineering design using trees in the local area with an emphasis on structural strategies. Students taking courses such as statics, dynamics, strength of materials, stress analysis, material science, and design courses can benefit tremendously from studying trees. Furthermore, this approach provides an exciting opportunity for students to understand the complexities of real world living systems, appreciate the genius of nature’s design, and develop methods to create sustainable designs. We think that those kind of natural realistic problems are complex: they have conflicting objectives, multiple solution methods, non-engineering success criteria, non-engineering constraints, unanticipated issues, interactions, collaborative activity systems, and multiple forms of problem representation. From an educational point of view, using a tree can bring tremendous practical benefits for problem solving in engineering education. Trees are everywhere, and they can easily integrate them into the classroom. Trees offer unlimited potential for teaching and research. For example, each student will have a different tree, and there are plenty of them, so each problem will be original and creative for each student providing a genuine learning experience. The present work puts on view a new development for teaching structural mechanics based on plant biomechanics, i.e. the study of the structural strategies of plants (and trees). The goal is to understand and emulate structures and functions of the plant kingdom to develop structural solutions in engineering. Therefore this paper presents teaching results and novel concepts for problem solving in engineering education, seeking new landscapes.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTING A COMMON APPROACH TO PROBLEM SOLVING IN THE SECOND YEAR OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Meunier ◽  
Nicolas Hudon
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
Concept Map ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Graduate Studies ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Structured Approach

At the undergraduate level, chemical engineering students must learn how to solve complex problems, but many students fail to apply effective problem-solving techniques taught in fundamental science courses. Because these techniques are not consistently presented and reinforced, instructors and students often interpret poor capabilities in problem solving to misunderstandings of fundamentals or to gaps in mathematical knowledge. In this contribution, a previously proposed concept map aimed at ascribing a common approach to problem solving is further explored in a sequence of two junior-level chemical engineering courses. The difficulties of implementing a common problem-solving approach are discussed, and a hierarchy of problem solving is proposed – based on a combination of learning theories – to structure a problem-solving methodology from junior to senior level as well as toward graduate studies and professional practice. Preliminary results indicate that students benefiting from this structured approach exhibit improved confidence in their problem-solving abilities.  The proposed concept map forms the basis of future stages of the project, including curriculum and teaching innovations.

scholarly journals PREREQUISITE EVALUATION OF ENGINEERING SKILLS

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérard J. Poitras ◽  
Eric G. Poitras
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Procedural Knowledge ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
First Year ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
Problem Instances ◽  
Over Time

Preliminary findings obtained from a three-year study are presented where different cohorts of undergraduate civil engineering students are followed for three consecutive years while completing the Civil Engineering program at the Université de Moncton. This study outlines how a set of problem instances were developed, wherein a student performs a series of steps to formulate a solution. These steps are mapped to one or more skills, also known as procedural knowledge components, which are essential for students to have mastered from one or more previous courses in order to successfully complete the course in question. Over a hundred students from the second, third, or fourth year performed a series of problem-solving tasks that assess a common set of skills at the beginning of their respected courses. The findings obtained from the first year of this study show that students vary in their abilities to correctly solve instances of a problem on their first attempt. This suggests that there is a pressing need for assessment tools that target progressions for specific courses using the range of standards outlined by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board as progress indicators while providing individualized instructional modules developed on the basis of research-based understanding of how these skills develop over time for all students.

First-Year Engineering Computing Courses in Canadian Engineering Programs

1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Maw ◽  
Janice Miller Young ◽  
Alexis Morris
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Expected Value ◽  
Knowledge Development ◽  
First Year ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Digital Computation ◽  
Pedagogical Philosophies ◽  
Introductory Computing

Most Canadian engineering students take a computing course in their first year that introduces them to digital computation. The Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board does not specify the language(s) that can or should be used for instruction. As a result, a variety of languages are used across Canada. This study examines which languages are used in degree-granting institutions, currently and in the recent past. It also examines why institutions have chosen the languages that they currently use. In addition to the language used in instruction, the types and hours of instruction are also analyzed. Methods of instruction and evaluation are compared, as well as the pedagogical philosophies of the different programs with respect to introductory computing. Finally, a comparison of the expected value of this course to graduates is also presented. We found a more diverse landscape for introductory computing courses than anticipated, in most respects. The guiding ethos at most institutions is skill and knowledge development, especially around problem solving in an engineering context. The methods to achieve this are quite varied, and so are the languages employed in such courses. Most programs currently use C/C++, Matlab, VB and/or Python.

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