Mechanical Engineering Course Research Articles

Auto-assessment tools for mechanical computer aided design education

Traditionally Computer Aided Design (CAD) courses have been carried out in computer classrooms requiring great amount of teaching personnel. Assessment of students' modeling exercises has been both time consuming and error prone. Utilization of the teaching resources could clearly benefit from online auto-assessment. The auto-assessment tools are widely in use in programming and language courses, but suitable tools for assessing 3D models used in CAD are lacking. This paper presents two new online auto-assessment tools to support the development of both command (“what steps are needed to create this shape?”) and strategic (“how should I model this shape?”) knowledge while learning CAD. The first tool is based on neutral file format (in this case STEP) and can recognize surface differences between student's model and reference model. This tool can assess student's skill to create certain predefined shape (i.e. command knowledge). The second auto-assessment tool utilizes commercial CAD software's API (Application Programming Interface) to test how student's model behaves when modeling parameters are changed. This tool assess student's capabilities to build and design a CAD model's design intent (i.e. strategic knowledge). Developed tools were tested on three mechanical engineering courses. This paper presents both the tools and the feedback received from the students and teachers. Overall, the auto-assessment tools functioned well and feedback from both students and teachers were positive. The most appreciated tool functionality was time and place independent submission and assessment of exercise works. These new tools able focusing teachers' workload from checking the basic exercises to guiding the learning process.

Revised Bloom Taxonomy for Mechanical Engineering Courses: Evaluation and Performance

The level of knowledge required in engineering education is the major problem that are facing the education process in each university. Universities endeavor to provide their graduated students with the highest levels of tools required to tackle tough challenges. If the students lost the ability to build up the knowledge in the classroom, they will be disable to faced and handle challenges in the real industrial life. Active learning techniques nowadays become an essential ingredient in making students acquire the scientific knowledge. This study devoted to evaluate the Revised Bloom Taxonomy (RBT) on students performance measured by two dimensions; cognitive process dimensions and the knowledge dimensions. It has been found that using RBT to be quite instrumental in motivating students to gain knowledge. In the midterm exam, the students showed better performance in the fourth cognitive process dimension [Analyzing] with approximately 86% with respect to the assigned weight through the exam and they registered more score related to the procedural knowledge 84%. However, the analysis of the final exam showed some deterioration in students performance resulted in increasing of the level of difficulties of the subjected taught after the midterm exam as well as the students most likely were busy in the second part of the term with other commitments related to other university activities. The structure of the RBT could help the instructors to predict and evaluate the performance of their students and design the course assessments/instructional methods to enhance the students to acquire more knowledge through the classroom.

Accuracy in judgments of study time predicts academic success in an engineering course

The present work examines the accuracy of self-reports of study time for college students. In a 10-week Mechanical Engineering course, 99 college students accessed their textbook, homework solutions, graded work, and lecture slides via custom software that recorded objective measures of reading time. In addition, the students provided subjective judgments of the time they spent reading these materials. Comparisons between the objective and subjective measures reveal that students significantly overestimated time with the textbook, homework solutions, graded work, and lecture slides, with higher performing students overestimating to a lesser degree. The difference between objective and subjective judgments of study time correlated significantly and negatively with final course grade for the textbook (r = −.31), homework solutions (r = −.39), and lecture slides (r = −.24), but not for graded work (r = −.05). This study calls into question the utility of self-report data in studies of student study habits, and showcases the value of objective technology-based measures of such habits.

Hands-on experiential learning of structural mechanics

ABSTRACTAn innovative and affordable table-top experiential learning platform, that aims to redress the lack of ‘hands on’ experimentation opportunities in engineering mechanics courses, is presented in this paper. Experiments developed for this platform are targeted for use by students working in pairs in practice class/tutorials sessions of subjects such as Statics, Mechanics of Solids/Materials/Structures, Introduction to Finite Element Modelling and Structural Dynamics. By blending hands-on experimentation in the practice class/tutorial classroom, student learning experience is enriched and retention of the basic principles of mechanics greatly enhanced. In addition, introducing on-line Smart Sparrow adaptive learning modules in combination with this platform enables students to pace and test their learning experience in mechanics to suit their own specific situation.

Feedback Control Systems: The \MATLAB/\SIMULINK Approach

Abstract Feedback control systems is an important course in aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and mechatronics engineering, to name just a...

Implementation of "E-Learning modules-entrepreneurial mindset in engineering" to Foster Teaching and Learning Environment at WVU Tech

We implemented “E-Learning Modules” developed by Tagliatela College of Engineering, University of New Haven and The Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in engineering students. Out of the twelve currently available E-Learning modules, we deployed one specific module, “Building, sustaining and leading effective teams and establishing performance goals” in a mechanical engineering course to develop effective team work skills in their semester projects. In the last two Annual Meetings of the WV Academy of Science, we presented about “demonstration based learning environment” and “active learning pedagogies.” Demonstration based activities create curiosity and motivation “by seeing,” whereas active learning environment foster the teaching and learning process “by doing.” Similar to these experiences, the implementation of “Building, sustaining and leading effective teams and establishing performance goals” help to better engagement of students in teamwork with an entrepreneurial mindset. Last year, the E-learning module was integrated into semester project of a regular course “MAE 331 Fluid Mechanics.” The semester projects were made highly interactive requiring to have a weekly progress report followed by a systematic class room discussion. The modules’ supplementary resources were guided by the instructor in the class and then made accessible to the students through blackboard. Overall, student teams effectively utilized the module materials for team formation, work division, conflict resolution, team performance plan, and evaluation. In the future, the module is planned to be customized and deployed as it fits in other courses.

Exploring bias in mechanical engineering students' perceptions of classmates.

Gender disparity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is an on-going challenge. Gender bias is one of the possible mechanisms leading to such disparities and has been extensively studied. Previous work showed that there was a gender bias in how students perceived the competence of their peers in undergraduate biology courses. We examined whether there was a similar gender bias in a mechanical engineering course. We conducted the study in two offerings of the course, which used different instructional practices. We found no gender bias in peer perceptions of competence in either of the offerings. However, we did see that the offerings’ different instructional practices affected aspects of classroom climate, including: the number of peers who were perceived to be particularly knowledgeable, the richness of the associated network of connections between students, students’ familiarity with each other, and their perceptions about the course environment. These results suggest that negative bias against female students in peer perception is not universal, either across institutions or across STEM fields, and that instructional methods may have an impact on classroom climate.

Revised Bloom Taxonomy for Mechanical Engineering Courses: Evaluation and Performance

Revised Bloom Taxonomy for Mechanical Engineering Courses: Evaluation and Performance

Topic Selection of Course Project for Principle of Machinery with Reference to Curriculum Setting of Mechanical Engineering in British Universities

Comparing structures of the mechanical engineering courses among three top British universities, the characteristics of their structure is analyzed. Based on the features of Chinese mechanical disciplines, enlightenment from Britain will be applied to course project for principle of machinery, with focus on topic selection and guidance, which will be more efficient than before to develop the students’ ability and quality. Also the feasibility and development trend of the topic selection are mentioned.

Pengembangan Modul Praktikum Fisika Untuk Teknik Mesin

Most of the students of the Mechanical Engineering Study Program at the University of Nusantara PGRI Kediri assume that basic physics is a course with memorizing many formulas so that they have difficulty understanding the concept of physics. This study aims to develop a Physics practicum module for Mechanical Engineering and to know the feasibility value of the module. This study uses the development research method (RnD) of the Plomp model which consists of 3 stages, namely: The first stage of the initial investigation, the Second Stage of the preparation of the prototype, and the third stage of the assessment. From the results of the validation and analysis of the readability test, the average value of the feasibility of the Basic Physics module based on problem solving is 3.22 with feasible criteria, and the feasibility assessment for presentation is 3.55 with the appropriate criteria. So that overall the feasibility assessment of the Basic Physics module is problem solving based on 3.39 with a decent criteria. While the results of student satisfaction data analysis on the use of the Basic Physics module based on problem solving obtained 83% stated very well and the remaining 17% stated good. The product of the development is in the form of a basic Physics practicum module for Mechanical Engineering. From the data analysis it can be concluded that the feasibility assessment of the overall development module is feasible to develop.
 Keywords: module, research development, problem solving, satisfaction questionnaire.
 Abstrak
 Sebagian besar mahasiswa Program Studi Tehnik Mesin Universitas Nusantara PGRI Kediri beranggapan bahwa fisika dasar merupakan mata kuliah dengan hafalan rumus yang banyak sehingga mereka kesulitan untuk memahami konsep fisika tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengembangkan modul praktikum Fisika untuk Teknik Mesin dan mengetahui nilai kelayakan modul tersebut. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian pengembangan (RnD) model Plomp yang terdiri dari 3 tahap, yaitu: Tahap pertama investigasi awal, Tahap Kedua penyusunan prototipe, dan Tahap ketiga assesment. Dari hasil validasi dan analisis uji keterbacaan diperoleh nilai rata-rata kelayakan isi modul Fisika Dasar berbasis problem solving sebesar 3.22 dengan kriteria layak, dan penilaian kelayakan penyajian sebesar 3,55 dengan kriteria layak. Sehingga secara keseluruhan penilaian kelayakan modul Fisika Dasar berbasis problem solving sebesar 3,39 dengan kriteria layak. Sedangkan hasil analisis data kepuasan mahasiswa terhadap penggunaan modul Fisika Dasar berbasis problem solving diperoleh 83% menyatakan sangat baik dan sisanya sebesar 17% menyatakan baik. Produk hasil pengembangan adalah berupa modul praktikum Fisika dasar untuk Teknik Mesin. Dari analisis data maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa penilaian kelayakan modul hasil pengembangan secara keseluruhan layak untuk dikembangkan.

Efficacy and perceptions of assessment digitization within a large‐enrollment mechanical and aerospace engineering course

AbstractEngineering's design‐oriented and problem‐solving emphases pose considerable challenges to the use of multiple choice assessments, and thus the use of digitized forms of assessment within Engineering curricula warrants a substantive evaluation of their validity. To address this research need, novel computer‐based assessment infrastructures and delivery protocols were launched via a crossover study as defined below. The objective of the study was to investigate the impact of proctored digitized examination that was delivered using a secure or “lockdown” internet browser interface. Measures tracked in the study included test score validity, learning achievement, and student perceptions within a large‐size undergraduate Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering course. Using a crossover‐based study design, the class was divided into two cohorts. Half of each cohort's formative assessments were delivered in a computer‐based testing center via and the other half of the assessments were delivered on paper. Within each cohort, the intervention of computerized delivery was interchanged with paper‐based delivery during successive topic modules on a mutually‐exclusive basis. An identical paper‐based final exam was delivered to all students. The data collected was analyzed and de‐correlated to investigate the topic‐specific learning outcomes of digitized assessment. Test score validity and learning outcomes were studied using independent sample t‐test statistical analysis. Results indicate that well‐formed digitized exams can determine scores differing as little as 0.6% from paper‐based assessment. Moreover, when the labor hours of the grader which were freed up were reallocated to tutoring and remediation of formative assessments, the as much as 16.9% higher learning outcomes were obtained during summative assessment as compared to paper‐based delivery.

What Makes a Good Assessment? Assessments for Learning

We present in this paper a ‘how-to’ frameworkfor designing motivating assessments, based upon thecognitive theories of expectancy-value and of aligned andauthentic objectives. The framework recasts thesecognitive theories into more practical steps of determiningobjectives, setting expectations, and framing theassessment to be well scoped, authentic, and relatable. Inthe Fall 2017 offering of our Introduction to MechanicalEngineering course, two new short design challenges andone long design challenge were piloted after beingdesigned according to the objectives-expectations-framingframework. In each case, the assessments were designed tobe (to varying extents) engaging/authentic (something thatstudents would want to do), and doable/relatable(something the students could do). The term long project(of largest scope, authenticity, and relatability) was foundby student survey to be the most motivating. Of the twosmaller projects, the second, while seemingly moreauthentic and relatable, was found to be less motivating.We understand this to be due to the context of thisassessment coming during a time in the term when studentwere busy with the term design project and other courses.

Combining Hierarchical Task Analysis and Usage Scenarios to Help Embed Human Factors in Design

The introductory design course in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Ryerson University combines Human Factors (HF) and Design. Due to its unique character, we have developed custom courseware.In recent years the instructors have noticed four specific shortcomings in students’ abilities to incorporate HF into their designs. We are developing new courseware that focuses on embedding HF considerations into the requirements specification stage. The courseware incorporates a novel combination of Hierarchical Task Analysis (a well-known method) with Usage Scenarios (a method of Salustri’s invention, based on the work of Stone and Wood). We further alter the courseware in several other ways to minimize the amount of documentation that students need to provide, while still capturing their decision-making process well enough to allow appropriate assessments. A plan for implementing and assessing the proposed work is also presented.

Developing in engineering students a critical analysis about sustainability in productive systems

PurposeThe Mechanical Engineering course at the University of Campinas is composed of different disciplines in the areas of materials, mechanical design, manufacturing (production and manufacturing), computational systems, thermal and fluids. In the manufacturing area, in particular, there is a discipline entitled Productive Systems whose main objective is to offer to the student a global vision about operations management. In the field of operations management, sustainability is gaining more and more importance; thus, it is important to develop in the students a critical sense about social and environmental aspects. Thus, this paper aims to present the main initiatives developed in the discipline to promote sustainability in engineering students.Design/methodology/approachSince 2015, the professors responsible for the Productive Systems discipline, assisted by post-graduate students and professors from other universities, have begun to redesign the discipline, including debates, lectures, projects and other initiatives to provide a critical view concerning the traditional concepts taught. The discipline has been performed three times with this new conception. The methodology to structure this research was literature review, documental analyses of the discipline records and meetings with professors that participated in the initiatives. An Action Research approach was performed by two professors and a graduate student. The authors of this paper also compared the results with those obtained by initiatives performed at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden).FindingsThis study allowed to reinforce some results from initiatives performed at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden); however, some differences were identified. For example, similar to the initiatives mentioned, the professors of University of Campinas had problems with didactic books, as they loosely integrate the basic operations management concepts with sustainable development fundamentals. On the other hand, debates related to social sustainability were considered positive from the point of view of the professors and students, differing from initiatives performed at Chalmers University of Technology.Research limitations/implicationsResults come from one field study (University of Campinas) when professors of the Mechanical Engineering course try to integrate operations management concepts and sustainable development. Different results may be observed by other higher education institutions.Practical implicationsThe authors of this paper believe that the diffusion of these initiatives can stimulate other professors and researchers in the field to broaden the academic debate about the insertion of sustainability into engineering courses.Originality/valueThere are few papers presenting didactic experiences and empirical results about the integration of operations management concepts and sustainable development. Results of this paper reinforce some good practices and they also present other ones, in a way that extend the debate about educational engineering.

Integrating environmental sustainability in undergraduate mechanical engineering courses using guided discovery instruction

In this paper we discuss a guided discovery instruction approach for integrating environmental sustainability in undergraduate mechanical engineering courses. To validate the proposed approach, we conducted two studies with students in a computer-aided design and prototyping course. The first study verified the feasibility of incorporating guided discovery instruction for teaching environmental sustainability using a structural shape synthesis design task. The second study compared the influences of the guided discovery instruction approach and traditional lecture-based instruction on students' understanding of environmental sustainability concepts. Results show the guided discovery instruction approach facilitated a better understanding of interactions among design parameters and the resulting environmental impact. We also found that students in the guided discovery instruction group gave more prominence to modifying design parameters specific to mechanical engineering concepts taught in the course. These findings suggest that using guided discovery instruction to teach environmental sustainability in undergraduate mechanical engineering courses is beneficial for promoting students' understanding of complex relationships between domain-specific design parameters and environmental sustainability.

Exploring the effects of cognitive style diversity and self-efficacy beliefs on final design attributes in student design teams

Previous research has demonstrated the benefit of higher levels of cognitive style diversity and task-specific self-efficacy beliefs on team performance in complex tasks. This study aims to add to this growing body of literature by exploring the effects of both cognitive diversity and the self-efficacy beliefs of design teams on final design solutions. The final designs produced by 55 student design teams in a junior-level mechanical engineering course were analyzed, and measures of team-level cognitive diversity and task-specific self-efficacy beliefs were collected. Results indicate that higher cognitive diversity and aggregate engineering design self-efficacy levels of design teams significantly impact final design characteristics; aggregate creative self-efficacy had no effect on design characteristics.

Mechanical engineering with solidwork flow simulation improving and supporting undergraduate student learning in mechanical engineering courses: Fluid dynamic course

The computer-aided design programs such as Solidwork flow simulation (SWFS) provide powerful, engaging, hands-on software to understand and develop designs for the real world. SWFS can be considered as a virtual laboratory. The purpose of this study is to show that using SWFS will help the undergraduate students to understand the concepts of fluid dynamic course in the Mechanical Engineering Department. This paper presents an example of the effect of both the temperature and density on the stream flow characteristics around a vertical axis wind turbine using SWFS. Moreover, the use of the SWFS in engineering education is shown by an important experiment taken from the field of mechanical engineering.Keywords: Fluid dynamic, mechanical engineering, SWFS, virtual laboratory.

Project-based experience through real manufacturing activities in mechanical engineering

As reported by many professional bodies responsible for accrediting engineering programs, today’s engineering graduates present important limitations in the practice of engineering because current engineering curricula are still too focused on fundamental engineering science without providing sufficient integration to industrial practice. To overcome these limitations, active learning approaches have been applied in the literature with positive results in engagement, motivation and student’s performance. In this paper, we propose a project-based learning approach with real manufacturing activities in a four-year mechanical engineering course to improve the learning process. The goal of the project is to plan the manufacturing process of a real part and conduct at shop-floor levels all the activities required. The experience was evaluated considering project/exam grades, questionnaires and manufacturing quality. The results showed an increase in student’s satisfaction, improvement in the exam performance and a clear increase in student’s enrolment in the manufacturing master degree.

Incorporating industrial design pedagogy into a mechanical engineering graphics course: a discipline-based education research (DBER) approach

BackgroundA redesigned curriculum for teaching engineering graphics was adopted in an introductory mechanical engineering course. The rollout of this curriculum was staggered, allowing for comparisons of student perceptions across the newly revised and previous instructional approaches. The new curriculum borrows from content and pedagogy traditionally employed in industrial design courses. The discipline-based education research (DBER) framework was used to investigate the manner in which the new curriculum was implemented and student reactions to this change. By using this approach, the researchers were able to incorporate and emphasize the unique aspects of the subject matter itself, as well as the attributes of the engineering discipline in which the course was embedded.ResultsResults indicated that students exhibited positive reactions to the sketching instruction, as well as various other aspects of the course, and that reactions were generally more positive among students in the redesigned course.ConclusionsThe contributions of this paper are twofold: illustrating the application of a specific research framework and providing results of an investigation of a redesigned curriculum. The redesigned curriculum was generally received well by students, and the partnership between the education researchers and faculty proved fruitful in allowing for nuanced investigation of the course redesign. Practical considerations for undertaking this type of research are also outlined.

Exploring Academic Performance Paths and Student Learning Strategies in a Large Foundational Engineering Course

Situated in the second year of an engineering curriculum, undergraduate engineering mechanics courses represent a significant barrier to persistence in engineering. This study seeks to inform and improve these educational environments by examining academic performance paths over time in a course and explore how students in each path compare in the learning strategies they employ to engage with course content. Through online surveys, we gathered data on self-reported time spent engaging with course content before high-stakes testing in four large sections of a Statics course that were all taught by the same instructor. Cluster analysis identified groups exhibiting distinct performance paths, and one-way Welch’s F-tests with post-hoc comparisons explored differences between these clusters based on time spent engaging with course content through specific learning strategies. Differences across performance clusters were found primarily in the ways in which students spent time rather than total time spent. Solving problems independently was a strategy employed significantly more often by the highest-performing cluster of students. In contrast, a group of unsuccessful students in the course spent comparably less time solving problems independently but comparably more time solving problems with peers. From these results, we suggest how leveraging these findings might impact educational practice and guide future research.