Water - Activities

The document contains activities for students in higher education. These activities are focused on water issues related to sustainability. It is designed for the general engineering or science audience. Its design is based on the framework of the Fink Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Each activity includes a profile that indicates whether the activity involves direct or indirect information sources, whether the experience is doing or observing and whether it involves individual or group reflection. The profile also includes notes for faculty, an estimate of the time investment, a graphic of the developmental aims with respect to the six areas of development within the Fink Taxonomy, and a suggested grading rubric

Population - Learning Objectives

This document is a list of learning objectives based on the framework of Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning: foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. It represents the aspirations for learning that the population is based on

Microelectronics Process Engineering at San Jose State University: A Manufacturing-Oriented Interdisciplinary Degree Program

San Jose State University\u27s new interdisciplinary curriculum in Microelectronics Process Engineering is described. This baccalaureate program emphasizes hands-on thin-film fabrication experience, manufacturing methods such as statistical process control, and fundamentals of materials science and semiconductor device physics. Each course of the core laboratory sequence integrates fabrication knowledge with process engineering and manufacturing methods. The curriculum development process relies on clearly defined and detailed program and course learning objectives. We also briefly discuss our strategy of making process engineering experiences accessible for all engineering students through both Lab Module and Statistics Module series

An Engineering Education of Holism: Einstein’s Imperative

In the aftermath of World War II, Einstein urged scientists to develop a substantively new thinking, lest we suffer a technology-enabled self-destruction. In this chapter, we will unfold the emerging scientific findings that serve as vectors, pointing to the same conclusion: the educational foundation that has brought about Industry 5.0 is causal to brain development that not only undermines our ability to address our emerging complex societal challenges, but biases us toward inhumane logic. We will outline a science of holism, the profoundly new thinking urged by Einstein. This science is rooted in nature’s ontology of dynamic complexity. An engineering education reflecting this new thinking will be described along with the novel developmental capacities afforded by it. The chapter will end by considering questions that need to be resolved to manifest such a radical shift in engineering education

Curricula to Educate the 2020 MSE Engineering Professional: Simple But Powerful Changes in the Way that MSE is Taught

National leaders in science and technology sectors speak in unison as they call for engineers who are not only technically competent in their fields, but who possess the abilities to communicate well, to work on teams, to apply systems thinking, to operate in the global business environment, to design within a greater set of constraints (environmental, health and safety, sustainability, economic, societal, political, manufacturability, and ethical). In short, our challenge is to educate an engineering professional who is far more sophisticated than the engineer of the 20th century. Additionally, challenges brought on by the overuse of natural resources put a special responsibility on materials science and engineering (MSE) faculty, whose role it is to assist in shaping the MSE profession. How can faculty deliver relevant curricula for the MSE engineering professional in an already crowded curriculum? Certainly curricular content must be up-to-date. However, a number of the goals can be met through changing the way in which the curriculum is delivered. In particular, we have emphasized mastery at the lower levels to increase retention, and implemented a number of learning “best practices”. Our preliminary results are promising: within one year, we were able to reverse a five-year trend in declining enrollment; we have just finished our fourth consecutive year of 100% on-time completions of senior projects; students exhibit a shift in mindset towards a greater awareness of their professional responsibility to serve humanity. In this paper, we will provide a survey of the techniques that we have used along with some preliminary results from our program

The Foundation Series on Corrosion: Integrating Science, Math, Engineering & Technology in a Lab Setting

We have developed a laboratory module focusing on the subject of corrosion. The module itself is designed to be completed in one three-hour session. It consists of three parts: I. The Impact of Corrosion Media, II. The Impact of Corroding Materials, III. The Impact of Anode/Cathode Sizes. Our objectives in developing this module were to address the need for clear bridges between math, science and technology in the engineering curriculum and to provide a means of faculty development primarily at community colleges. As a result, it was designed to allow the engineering student to experience the synergy of science, math and engineering technology in a laboratory setting. Recent findings in learning theory research were used in the design of the module to reach students of diverse learning styles. Our targeted audience is sophomore engineering majors at community colleges and institutions without Materials Science and Engineering programs. In this paper we will present the module, its goals, objectives and performance criteria, and the preliminary results of its implementation

The Human Dimension of Systemic Department-Level Change: A Change Agent’s Retrospective on a Case of Reform

This paper represents a narrative of the process of department-level reform through the eyes of the initiating agent of change. Over the course of reform, our program has grown by 40%, primarily through retaining students. We exhibit a 10% net important rate of engineering students in the first two years of the curriculum relative to the college’s 5% mean export rate. Student freshmen SAT scores also indicate that we are attracting students with more balanced learning interests. The design of our Department Level Reform grant was to advance the knowledge of how to design engineering learning experiences that accomplish two social imperatives: retaining women and other underrepresented groups in the engineering degree programs; and equipping engineers to solve the technical challenges in the context of our complex global society. There is evidence that we are fulfilling our aims, but time will tell. This paper is focused on the impact that our reforms have had on the faculty. In the process of reform, I have emerged with these convictions: 1. Decisions are not made by data but by examining consequences against our values; 2. Humans should not be viewed or treated like mechanistic objects; 3. Structural changes that do not proceed from changes in mental models will not survive; 4. The anxiety around change must be mindfully managed at multiple stakeholder levels; and 5. Sustained change requires interactions with external agents. In this paper, I chronicle the process of change, the agents of change, their actions, and some of the results by the numbers. I also reflect on the meaning and provide recommendations

Systems Thinking - Assessment

The document contains an assessment activity for an individual or team project in higher education. These assessments are focused on systems thinking issues related to sustainability. It is designed for the general engineering or science audience. Its design is based on the framework of the Fink Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Each assessment consists of a scenario in which the student is an actor who must address some design dilemma. The assessment also includes an estimate of the time investment, a detailed list of learning objectives with respect to the six areas of development within the Fink Taxonomy, and a suggested grading rubric

Work in Progress - Attaining and Measuring Global Competency for Engineering Graduates

Downey et al. laid out a clear path of learning criteria and outcomes for global competence in their 2006 Journal of Engineering Education publication. We build on their work by integrating other disciplinary perspectives to expand upon the questions: How can global competency be learned? , and How can we assess it? In this work-in-progress paper, we propose an expanded framework for global competence and identify the use of Fink\u27s taxonomy of significant learning as a tool to consider how it can be achieved through careful design of classroom learning experiences. Drawing heavily from other models, our framework attempts to articulate the knowledge, skills, attitudes and experiences necessary for engineering students to attain global competency. The effectiveness of Fink\u27s taxonomy of significant learning for the design of learning experiences that promote global competency is being tested through a unique international capstone design experience with a quasi-control group and a test group in which Fink\u27s taxonomy will be used to target specific growth toward global competency. The ideas presented are derived from the international business community, cross-cultural research studies and engineering education research results. Assessment techniques and are also discussed in this work in progress

Energy - Learning Objectives

This document is a list of learning objectives based on the framework of Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning: foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. It represents the aspirations for learning that the energy is based on