Engineering 100: An Introduction to Engineering Systems at the US Air Force Academy

George, Lynnane E.

doi:10.1109/sysose.2007.4304252

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…According to the results, the weight of the component which recognized the contribution teamwork made to developing the interdisciplinary lesson is considerably higher than that of the component pointing out the difficulties in teamwork. It is important to note that the finding that the students pointed out the difficulties accompanying teamwork is not surprising, since students generally find it hard to acclimatize to teamwork, which usually constitutes a new learning environment for them [24].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Development of Interdisciplinary Lessons Integrating Science and Engineering in Heterogeneous Teams: Education Students’ Attitudes

Gero

2016

Int. J. Eng. Ped.

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Abstract-The course "Interdisciplinary Aspects in Science and Engineering Education" is a unique course designed to expose students of science and engineering education to the characteristics of interdisciplinary teaching and learning. The theoretical part of the course deals with the nature of science and engineering and the interaction between the two, various hierarchies describing the level of integration between disciplines, and possible strategies for developing interdisciplinary lessons. In the practical section, the participants develop, in heterogeneous teams of students from different academic backgrounds, an interdisciplinary lesson integrating science and engineering, and teach it to their peers. Using qualitative tools, the research described in this paper characterized the attitudes of 112 students towards developing an interdisciplinary lesson as part of a team. The findings indicate that the students identified both the difficulties involved in developing an interdisciplinary lesson as part of a team and the advantages inherent to teamwork. It was further found that the weight of the attitude component that recognized the contribution of teamwork to the development of interdisciplinary lessons was considerably higher than the weight of the component indicating the difficulties that involved teamwork.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Development of Interdisciplinary Lessons Integrating Science and Engineering in Heterogeneous Teams: Education Students’ Attitudes

Gero

2016

Int. J. Eng. Ped.

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“…Others [3]- [5] addressed the need of introducing design projects at an early stage in engineering studies to help students to explore design alternatives, to learn design concepts, to solve facing challenges, and to communicate their design solutions. In other cases, the course is meant to strengthen the fundamental problem solving skills, highlight the various engineering disciplines,hardware-based experiments, implemented using NI Lab VIEW and a DSP hardware kit, cover fundamental engineering applications such as signal processing, robotics, communication, computer vision, and digital image processing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Best You Can Utilize Your Computer to Tackle Engineering Problems

Khaddaj¹,

Fares²,

Joujou³

et al. 2014

IJIET

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Abstract-This paper presents an educational experience on how best engineering students can utilize their computers to tackle engineering problems. The study is matured from a long teaching experience of the Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering course required from all first year students majoring either in Computer and Communications Engineering (CCE) or in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the American University of Beirut (AUB). In addition to raising awareness of the engineering topics, the course focuses on the innovative approach of using software tools in considering real-life problem solutions in order to adopt them to new educational technology. This has been achieved by carefully designed experimental sessions where software tools are introduced with an objective of illustrating the technical and analytical computing environment such as Microsoft Office, PSPICE, and MATLAB. These tools are integrated, in this setting, for students to visualize programming environment in solving and documenting engineering problems. In addition the students are introduced to different information research tools to better enhance and support their problem solving skills by using proper referencing.Index Terms-Electrical engineering, introduction to engineering, LABVIEW, MATLAB, moodle, PSPICE, undergraduate engineering studies. I. INTRODUCTIONFor so many years, the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the American University of Beirut introduced a new course to first year engineering students on Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering. Parts of the main objectives of this course were to introduce students to engineering profession and to some basic mathematical and computing tools used in electrical and computer engineering in addition to fostering communication and teamwork skills. The course contents and approaches have changed over the years based on continuous assessment and feedback obtained from senior students and faculty members.Many papers have been published on this topic including course objectives, content, teaching approach, and design project. The authors of [1], [2] addressed the need to introduce a similar course in an effort to help students in selecting a major as early as possible of their study and informing them of their educational programs and career opportunities.Others [3]-[5] addressed the need of introducing design projects at an early stage in engineering studies to help students to explore design alternatives, to learn design concepts, to solve facing challenges, and to communicate their design solutions. In other cases, the course is meant to strengthen the fundamental problem solving skills, highlight the various engineering disciplines, explore the different areas of electrical engineering with hands on approach, and prepare them to have ingenuity and creativity [6]- [8]. In other related publications, "teaching-in-context" approach is used [9] and others showed the positive backgrou...

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“…Several programs have made significant changes in recent years to address these issues. 1,2,3,4,9 Many programs are less skills-based instruction and more project-based instruction with an emphasis on problem solving and engineering design. 1,6,7,8 The United States Air Force Academy, as well as other institutions, have taken a multidisciplinary approach in the first year by making the course open to or required by all engineering students.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1,2,3,4,9 Many programs are less skills-based instruction and more project-based instruction with an emphasis on problem solving and engineering design. 1,6,7,8 The United States Air Force Academy, as well as other institutions, have taken a multidisciplinary approach in the first year by making the course open to or required by all engineering students. 1,6,7 Assessment has also become more important in recent years, and student surveys are often used to better understand the freshman experience from the point of view of the students.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Project Based Introduction To Engineering For Freshman Students

Wight¹,

Friend²,

Beneat³

et al.

2008 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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After six years of discipline-specific freshman engineering courses for Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering majors, it was decided that all Engineering and Construction Management majors would share the same curriculum during their freshman year. The two main objectives of this change were to improve retention within the School of Engineering by facilitating a switch from one engineering major to another during or following the freshman year and to increase efficiency from a human resources perspective. A team of experienced and junior faculty from all three engineering disciplines developed two new project-based Introduction to Engineering courses, one for each semester of the freshman year. The overall design of the courses was guided by three principles. First, each of the ABET Criterion 3 Outcomes a-k should be covered in the courses, with several of them being reinforced multiple times. Second, the steps for problem solving and design, which lie at the heart of engineering, should be introduced at the beginning of the first course and reinforced through a series of challenging engineering projects across each of the three engineering disciplines. Third, and perhaps the most important, retention within the school of engineering should be improved by means of imparting more excitement and less mundane work and better response to the varied backgrounds and learning styles of the students. The courses are project-based. Besides technical and design objectives, the courses are to address ABET outcomes in the areas of economic, safety, environmental, social, and political implications of engineering work. Therefore, a project is defined by first selecting the desired ABET outcomes and then creating or evaluating potential exercises that are most suitable for reinforcing those outcomes. In addition, the primary skills that are necessary to successfully complete each of the projects, such as computer aided design, research methodologies, computer programming, communications, and time management are provided in a "just-in-time" mode with an interspersing of discussions about engineering professional topics. Working in teams and improving team dynamics for successful completion of the projects are emphasized. The new courses are also developed with assessment in mind. The course goals are evaluated by the students through an online questionnaire and used with student's performance to define if a course goal has been satisfied. Benchmarks to be used include retention numbers within each of the engineering disciplines and across the entire school of engineering, and the number of contact hours of the instructors.

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Engineering 100: An Introduction to Engineering Systems at the US Air Force Academy

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

Development of Interdisciplinary Lessons Integrating Science and Engineering in Heterogeneous Teams: Education Students’ Attitudes

Development of Interdisciplinary Lessons Integrating Science and Engineering in Heterogeneous Teams: Education Students’ Attitudes

How Best You Can Utilize Your Computer to Tackle Engineering Problems

Project Based Introduction To Engineering For Freshman Students

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