Developing Students' Abilities in Engineering Design through the Teaching of Mechanism and Machine Theory

Abstract

The development of students' abilities has attracted a lot of attention in engineering higher education. Reform of the curriculum is necessary. Based on an analysis of what abilities an engineer should have, some reforms to the teaching (contents and activities) of mechanism and machine theory (MMT) are presented in this paper. The new approaches aim to develop students' abilities in engineering design, including the ability to apply basic knowledge of science to engineering design, the ability to design and carry out experiments, the ability to make some engineering designs under realistic constraints, the ability to communicate effectively and function in a design team, the ability to use modern engineering tools, and the ability to identify and formulate an engineering problem. The outcomes of the reforms are also presented.