System Modeling: An Exploratory Study Of Engineering Students’ Conceptual Knowledge And Problem-Solving Skills

System modeling (SM) instructional strategy, an application of system thinking (ST), canbe used as an instructional approach to help students develop SM skills and deepen their understanding of subject matter (Hung, 2009). Mechanical engineering students have difficulty applying gained knowledge in real-world contexts and are reportedly underprepared for workplace challenges (Kirkpatrick et al., 2011; Warsame, 2017). This study explored the efficacy of system modeling (SM) instructional strategy in a mechanical engineering course. Specifically, the study sought to understand students’ perceptions and experiences with the use of system modeling in enhancing their conceptual knowledge and problem-solving skills. This study employed a qualitative inquiry approach to understand engineering students’ experience and perceptions of the use of system modeling. A purposeful sampling technique was utilized to recruit mechanical engineering students to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews and students’ artifacts including problem solving survey and causal modeling diagrams, were used to explore and gain an in-depth understanding of students’ experiences with the use of system modeling (SM) instructional approach. The findings indicated promising effects of the SM approach on students’ learning outcomes. Seven major themes emerged from the in-depth interviews conducted to gain insights into students’ experiences. These themes included: problem diagnosis, interconnection and interdependency, linearity, external representation of causal relationship, wholeness and decision making, organize problem-solving approach, and systematic and forward-thinking process. Students’ artifacts and data presented in this study supported their positive experiences using the SM approach. The problem solving inventory PSI survey responses indicated that most of the participants believed the SM approach affected their perceived problem-solving skills, especially their approach-avoidance style. Furthermore, the model diagram analysis suggested that all participants showed moderate system thinking skills after the SM instructional strategy. This current study provides insight and understanding about SM instructional strategy effectiveness and how it can help enhance student learning outcomes. Exploring the impact of SM on student learning experiences is important not only because it could provide alternative instruction to the traditional methods, but also to inform instructors of its potential benefit of undergraduate education instruction. Furthermore, the current study could serve as a guide for instructors on how to implement the SM instructional strategy in a mechanical engineering curriculum

Visualizing Set Relations and Cardinalities Using Venn and Euler Diagrams

In medicine, genetics, criminology and various other areas, Venn and Euler diagrams are used to visualize data set relations and their cardinalities. The data sets are represented by closed curves and the data set relationships are depicted by the overlaps between these curves. Both the sets and their intersections are easily visible as the closed curves are preattentively processed and form common regions that have a strong perceptual grouping effect. Besides set relations such as intersection, containment and disjointness, the cardinality of the sets and their intersections can also be depicted in the same diagram (referred to as area-proportional) through the size of the curves and their overlaps. Size is a preattentive feature and so similarities, differences and trends are easily identified. Thus, such diagrams facilitate data analysis and reasoning about the sets. However, drawing these diagrams manually is difficult, often impossible, and current automatic drawing methods do not always produce appropriate diagrams. This dissertation presents novel automatic drawing methods for different types of Euler diagrams and a user study of how such diagrams can help probabilistic judgement. The main drawing algorithms are: eulerForce, which uses a force-directed approach to lay out Euler diagrams; eulerAPE, which draws area-proportional Venn diagrams with ellipses. The user study evaluated the effectiveness of area- proportional Euler diagrams, glyph representations, Euler diagrams with glyphs and text+visualization formats for Bayesian reasoning, and a method eulerGlyphs was devised to automatically and accurately draw the assessed visualizations for any Bayesian problem. Additionally, analytic algorithms that instantaneously compute the overlapping areas of three general intersecting ellipses are provided, together with an evaluation of the effectiveness of ellipses in drawing accurate area-proportional Venn diagrams for 3-set data and the characteristics of the data that can be depicted accurately with ellipses

2011-2012

Contains information on courses and class descriptions as well as campus resources at Collin College.https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/catalogs/1023/thumbnail.jp

2001-2002 Course Catalog

2001-2002 Course Catalo

Music as Communication: A Rhetorical Perspective Based on Susanne Langer\u27s Theory of Aesthetic Symbolism

The purpose of this dissertation is to create a rhetorical perspective by which to understand and analyze music as aesthetic communication. Specifically, this study extends Susanne Langer\u27s theory of aesthetic symbolism as it relates to music as a mode of communication. Once the rhetorical perspective for analyzing music as communication has been depicted, the perspective is operationalized to analyze music from two contemporary social movements in the United States. The music analyzed in this dissertation comes from the Neo-Nazi Skinhead movement and the New Age movement. By approaching music as aesthetic communication in this way, the reader is able to determine how music can communicate, as well as how it is used as a mode of communication in these two social movements. Further, the value of this rhetorical perspective as a means by which to understand and analyze music as communication is ascertained. Several conclusions may be drawn from this study. First, this study furthers the inquiry offered in existing literature with regard to analyzing music as communication. By approaching the procedure from an aesthetic perspective, this dissertation provides a means by which to analyze music as it may communicate using both lyrical content and musical score, as well as how music can communicate without lyrical content. In addition, based on the data in this dissertation, this author confirms the ideas presented in the existing literature that music communicates for social movements. Finally, this author concludes that music does communicate for the Neo-Nazi Skinhead movement and for the New Age movement

2003-2004

Contains information on courses and class descriptions as well as campus resources at Collin College.https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/catalogs/1015/thumbnail.jp

A plm implementation for aerospace systems engineering-conceptual rotorcraft design

The thesis will discuss the Systems Engineering phase of an original Conceptual Design Engineering Methodology for Aerospace Engineering-Vehicle Synthesis. This iterative phase is shown to benefit from digitization of Integrated Product&Process Design (IPPD) activities, through the application of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) technologies. Requirements analysis through the use of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and 7 MaP tools is explored as an illustration. A "Requirements Data Manager" (RDM) is used to show the ability to reduce the time and cost to design for both new and legacy/derivative designs. Here the COTS tool Teamcenter Systems Engineering (TCSE) is used as the RDM. The utility of the new methodology is explored through consideration of a legacy RFP based vehicle design proposal and associated aerospace engineering. The 2001 American Helicopter Society (AHS) 18th Student Design Competition RFP is considered as a starting point for the Systems Engineering phase. A Conceptual Design Engineering activity was conducted in 2000/2001 by Graduate students (including the author) in Rotorcraft Engineering at the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA. This resulted in the "Kingfisher" vehicle design, an advanced search and rescue rotorcraft capable of performing the "Perfect Storm" mission, from the movie of the same name. The associated requirements, architectures, and work breakdown structure data sets for the Kingfisher are used to relate the capabilities of the proposed Integrated Digital Environment (IDE). The IDE is discussed as a repository for legacy knowledge capture, management, and design template creation. A primary thesis theme is to promote the automation of the up-front conceptual definition of complex systems, specifically aerospace vehicles, while anticipating downstream preliminary and full spectrum lifecycle design activities. The thesis forms a basis for additional discussions of PLM tool integration across the engineering, manufacturing, MRO and EOL lifecycle phases to support business management processes.M.S.Committee Chair: Schrage, Daniel P.; Committee Member: Costello, Mark; Committee Member: Wilhite, Alan, W

1994-1995

Contains information on courses and class descriptions as well as campus resources at Collin College.https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/catalogs/1006/thumbnail.jp