scholarly journals Hands-on Explorations as Background Research for First-Year Design Projects

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Trivett ◽  
J. Rathlin
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Mechanical Systems ◽  
Student Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
Preliminary Work ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Mechanical Devices

Collectively and individually, first-yearstudents in Mechanical Engineering lack familiarity withreal mechanical systems. Individual students have notedthat they have not grown up able to simply “take stuffapart”. As a result, the mechanical engineeringundergraduates have minimal skills or knowledge ofcommon mechanical devices. The foundations course forthe Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics at theUniversity of Waterloo has adopted the role of giving newstudents opportunities to interact with hardware in an“Engineering Clinic” environment.This paper will provide a preliminary work-inprogressreport on the activities and the role theseactivities played in the student experience. The paper willreport on the delivery of the activities, and the initialstudent reactions to the hands-on activities in this context.

scholarly journals Hands-On Design Projects in a Sophomore Mechanical Engineering Course

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasser Al Hamidi ◽  
Reza Tafreshi ◽  
Mahmoud El Zamli
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Design Projects

scholarly journals CAPSTONE DESIGN PROJECTS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Hong ◽  
S. V. Hoa ◽  
N. Bhuiyan ◽  
K. Siddiqui ◽  
M. Pugh
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Industrial Engineering ◽  
Engineering Profession ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Concordia University ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Engineering Projects ◽  
Capstone Design

A new approach to conducting the capstone design project at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Concordia University has yielded significantly enhanced student learning experiences. The design, manufacture and test phases of the mechanical engineering projects, and the design, implementation, and test phases for the industrial engineering projects, provided students the opportunity to ‘practice their engineering profession’ and to instil technical and personal confidence through ‘hands-on’ realization and achievement of their project goals. This paper describes the new approach and the benefits that resulted.

scholarly journals MENTOR-MANAGED DESIGN CHALLENGES FOR FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn MacGregor ◽  
Linda Carson
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Systematic Design ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Design Challenge ◽  
Suitable Scope ◽  
Design Challenges

The authors identify the main challenges facing engineering students and instructors during hands-on design projects and give an overview of the mentor-managed approach they take in a first year design course. Key features of the course include mentor management, choosing a design challenge of a suitable scope, providing an appropriate systematic design methodology, and structuring the design project around staged deliverables. They describe, in more detail, two distinctive components of the course: usability testing with modified design walkthroughs, and an introduction to creative practice and design through a Scrapheap Challenge.

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.

ChemApproach: validation of a questionnaire to assess the learning approaches of chemistry students

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 723-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika Lastusaari ◽  
Eero Laakkonen ◽  
Mari Murtonen
Keyword(s):  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Major Subject ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Master Level ◽  
And Gender

The theory of learning approaches has proven to be one of the most powerful theories explaining university students' learning. However, learning approaches are sensitive to the situation and the content of learning. Chemistry has its own specific features that should be considered when exploring chemistry students' learning habits, specifically the role of practicals (i.e. hands-on laboratory work), as they are crucial in chemistry education. Therefore, the aims of this study were to find and validate a questionnaire for measuring chemistry students' learning approaches. A 17-item questionnaire was tested with 561 Finnish chemistry students from four different universities. Students ranging from the first year bachelor level to the fifth year master level participated in the study. Statistical analyses showed that a four factor model fitted the data best and these factors were named submissive surface, technical surface, active deep, and practical deep. In order to establish validity, the model was further tested by analysis of the subgroups of the major subject and gender. The analyses show that the questionnaire is statistically valid and can be used for studying chemistry students' learning approaches.

scholarly journals PIVOT FOR THE PANDEMIC: COMPARISON OF TOY AND SCIENCE DEMO DESIGN PROJECTS IN A FIRST YEAR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING COURSE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J B Milne ◽  
Roydon Fraser ◽  
J Baleshta ◽  
Michael Collins
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Practice ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Work ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Course Redesign ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Actual Design ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
Toy Design

The first year course, “ME 100: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Practice, 1”, was redesignedfor the Fall 2017-2019 offerings. The goals of the redesign were to include: a major design project, opportunities for individual communication assessments, and opportunities for development of professional skills. A toy design project was piloted in Fall 2017 as a unifying course theme. In thisproject, industrial partners come to discuss the engineering and design that happens in the toy industry.  They also help critique student work as they design a toy of their choosing. With the impacts of COVID 19 the decision was made to pivot to a challenge to design new classroomphysics demonstrations. The course redesign has generally been successful. Both projects have been well received by students, faculty, and industry partners, with students reporting on an end-of-term survey that it was engaging and doable, and that it helped develop their confidence andunderstanding of design, and mechanical engineering. The demo project was generally slightly better received, with 2-8% more students agreeing to statements about the usefulness and appeal of the project. Both projects, the toy project especially, serve as a vehicle to discuss differentaspects of design and professionalism. Challenges exist with giving students guidance at the start and throughout the project to ensure that all student teams have suitably scoped projects. There is also the challenge of helping students develop a design mindset, as several groups struggle with performing the justified decision making necessary to actual design a toy.

scholarly journals Developing And Implementing Hands On Laboratory Exercises And Design Projects For First Year Engineering Students

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audeen Fentiman ◽  
Robert J. Gustafson ◽  
John Merrill ◽  
John Demel ◽  
Richard Freuler
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Design Projects

scholarly journals A Hands-on, First-year Mechanical Engineering Course

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariappan Jawaharlal ◽  
Paul Nissenson ◽  
Angela Shih
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
First Year ◽  
Hands On
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