Transcript Document 7156659

A New Approach to the Treatment of
Modeling in the Freshman Engineering
Course at Roger Williams University
Matthew R. Stein
Charles R. Thomas
School of Engineering, Computing
and Construction Management
Roger Williams University
Bristol, RI 02809
NE ASEE
WPI
March 2006
ENRG 110 – Engineering Graphics and Design
• 1st Engineering course at
RWU – (Fall semester of
freshman year)
• ~60 Students
• 50% AutoCAD instruction
• 50% instruction in
engineering design
• Design: semester-long
group project
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Teaching “Design”
• Topics:
– Difference between design
and science
– 5 stages of design
– Needs assessment
– Stages of team
development
– Managing Conflict
– Models and prototypes
• Hands on Example for
Models and Prototypes:
– Draw a battery-powered
pencil sharpener
• Method:
– Lecture
– Hands-on activity
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FA 2006 – Design Project Description
• Structurally Challenging
– Raise a 16 lb bowling ball as high as possible over a
horizontal standard and deposit it back on the floor in a small
wooden container
• Materials
–
–
–
–
–
10’ of 2’’ diameter PVC
2’ x 2’’ x 2’’ piece of lumber
2’’ PVC spherical cap
Roll of el-cheapo duct tape
200 standard, intact, unmodified empty aluminum cans
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FA 2006 – Design Project Description
• Limited support points
– Three wooden platforms
1, 2'x2' teammember platform
with attached crank
Horizontal
Bar
3, 2'x2' structure
support platforms
Standard
posts
Bowling Ball in
starting fixture
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4’
Destination fixture
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FA 2006 – Design Project Description
• Limited human participation
– Students may only turn a crank
1, 2'x2' teammember platform
with attached crank
Horizontal
Bar
3, 2'x2' structure
support platforms
Standard
posts
Bowling Ball in
starting fixture
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4’
Destination fixture
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FA 2006 – Design Project Description
• Semi-competitive demonstration
– Four trials used at any time during
the semester – typically the final day
– Scoring
• Points for specific heights
• Bonus for three best heights
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Modeling the Design Project – Hands on activity
Common student questions:
• Will our design work?
• Do we violate any rules?
• Answer: Hold a mini-design
competition based on the
semester-long project
– One class period in length
– Fabulous prize (high-quality
duct tape)
– Analogous materials
– Analogous goals
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Our Intent:
Demonstrate the value
of modeling in solving
engineering problems
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Modeling the Design Project – Hands on activity
Materials
Model
PVC pipe
Drinking Straw
Piece of lumber
1/8’’ diameter wooden dowel
PVC cap
[Nothing: A hidden message?]
Duct Tape
Aluminum Cans
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Plasticine Modeling Clay
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Comparison
To the Video!!
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Did it work?
• Asked students to comment on the activity in their
design notebooks and on semester-end course
evaluations
•
Just because the activity is enjoyed by the students,
does not mean that the goal was accomplished!!
•
Must avoid asking specific questions to which students
think there is a “correct answer”
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Student Feedback
• Survey question, comments in design notebook
– The modeling exercise was excellent.
– The modeling exercise was not useful at all, because my particular
groups idea could not work on a small scale, it just wasn’t possible,
so we made a model of something totally different than our project.
– Modeling was excellent, helped us to creat a part for our structure
we didn't think we needed
– I found the experiences of this class very valuable. The modeling
was real life experiences that gave me an idea of what will be
expected of me in an engineering job in the future. I found this
information very helpful.
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Conclusions and Future Work
• Conclusions
– Modeling activity seemed to be enjoyed by the students
– Less convincing that the objective message was communicated
goals
• Future Work
– Solicit more specific feedback
– Again be wary of looking for what they perceive to be “correct
answers”
– Do the exercise earlier in the semester to give them some time to
actually use the method
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Sources
• Photo of PVC pipe:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nsf.org/business/newsroom/plumbing991/pvcpipe.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nsf.org/business/newsroom/plumbing991/pvcpipe.html&h=162&w=232&sz=7&tbnid=PfD_XolzJ0pvlM:&tbnh=71&tbnw=103&hl=en&start=3&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPVC%2Bpi
pe%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2005-41,RNWE:en%26sa%3DN
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