A Cognitive Approach to Spatial Visualization Assessment for First-year Engineering Students

First-year engineering (FYE) students are routinely screened for spatial ability, with the goals of predicting retention in the major and identifying those who need supplementary spatial instruction. Psychometric tests used for such screenings are often domain-general measures that lack diagnostic information to inform remedial instruction. A new approach to spatial screening is to use measures that assess perfor¬mance on authentic engineering tasks while accounting for the cognitive processes that underlie spatial thinking. We tested the utility of a relatively new spatial visualization test (the Santa Barbara Solids Test; SBST) to characterize individual differences in performance among FYE students with low mental rotation scores. The internal reliability and predictive validity of the SBST were previously demonstrated in sample populations with average spatial skill. One hundred and forty-one FYE students with low mental rotation scores completed the SBST and an engineering drawing task before instruction. We investigated the internal reliability of the SBST, patterns of performance and the validity of the test to predict performance on the drawing task. Through item analysis, we deleted problems that contributed to low internal reliability. Performance means were normally distributed. There were small significant positive correlations between the drawing task and SBST total score and subscales. The SBST shows promise for diagnosing difficul¬ties and strategies demonstrated by students who are challenged by spatial visualization. We suggest applications of the SBST to support remedial spatial instruction

Why change engineering education?: pragmatic perspectives from the humanities and social sciences

Engineering education in the early 21st century is being transformed in many ways to meet the technological challenges of the future. In particular, the role of the humanities and social science in engineering coursework is under new scrutiny, as educators attempt to strengthen students’ proficiencies in aspects of the profession including interpersonal and intercultural skills, assessment of broader impacts of technical work, and especially ethics. These developments are often framed as responses to the demands of employers and institutions, who view these ‘soft’ skills as increasingly relevant to the work life of technical professionals. In this concept paper, we wish to pursue a somewhat different line of thought: We will examine arguments from the philosophy of science and technology, and from the social sciences, about the value of teaching engineers (as well as other technical professionals) to think through humanistic, social, and cultural lenses. We will review a range of perspectives supporting educational reform along these lines, with a particular focus on work in the recent pragmatic tradition (including Sellars, Mitcham, and others). Having established a range of theoretical defenses for educational reform along these lines in engineering fields, we will then consider the distinctions among them and how these insights might be applied most effectively in engineering curricula. We will conclude by reviewing available evidence for the practical utility of such interventions. We hope, by situating current reforms more firmly within a principled framework of ideas, to provide deeper support for positive change in the education of future engineers

Sustainability In Engineering And Engineering Education: A Comparative Study Of German And Saudi Arabian Industries

Sustainability has become a major concern in the fields of engineering and engineering education. Organizations such as UNESCO have defined goals for sustainable development in engineering. As engineers design, develop, and implement products and processes that impact the environment and society, their role in promoting sustainable development is vital. Addressing sustainability in engineering curriculum is needed to equip engineers with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to develop sustainable solutions in their respective areas, and it involves merging the teaching of technical skills with a systems-based approach that considers the broader environmental and economical context of engineering. This 1 Corresponding Author Talha Bin Asad [email protected] requires collaboration between different disciplines and stakeholders, including engineers, educators, policymakers, and industry. This study investigates the industry practices regarding sustainability goals and measures in two countries. Another point of inquiry is to find practical recommendations from engineers and project managers to inform engineering education curriculum in terms of knowledge and awareness of sustainability. Qualitative case study protocol was followed in this research, and participants from Germany and Saudi Arabia were interviewed online. Thematic coding was performed to extract meaning making descriptions from the interview transcripts. In response to the interview prompts, the participants shared their perspectives of sustainability in their area of engineering. Their recommendations towards the curriculum development included making UN sustainability goals a part of engineering curriculum, while still teaching students to adopt a ‘lean product development approach’ in their course projects, so that they learn the practical implementation of sustainability in engineering projects as well as in life

Analysis of Blended and Multi-Modal Instruction and Its Effects on Spatial Visualization Ability

For the last decade, remedial spatial visualization training has been offered to first-year engineering students in traditional classroom settings where students attend class and interact face-to-face with an instructor and peers. An alternative to the traditional pedagogical approach is a multi-modal blended learning format that combines in-class instruction with videos that can be viewed at the student’s convenience. The new setting affords students the opportunity to repeatedly revisit the basic instruction at the time and place of their choosing. This case study investigated student outcomes in a blended multi-modal Introduction to Spatial Visualization course that integrated video lectures; free-hand sketching techniques, sketching outdoors, Computer-aided-design (CAD) instruction, and 3D printed artifact manipulation. There was a statistically significant improvement on two (pre-to-post) spatial measures and performance on a drawing task

Happy Hours are a Godsend

Office hours that happen in a virtual environment are called virtual office hours. This type of student-faculty interaction can be easily hosted from a faculty computer/mobile device/tablet. With an invitation, students can login to the online session and join their instructor and peers in a virtual space. Using mobile technologies, students can join virtual office hours from a variety of locations including a library, outdoors, on a commute ride home, while caring for children, eating dinner, and even while grocery shopping. Virtual office hours allow for more flexibility of student-faculty interaction. They are an alternative to traditional office hours. This type of student-faculty interaction helps increase students’ trust in the teacher’s care of their learning. This paper describes the design and implementation of virtual office hours for courses in the thermal-fluid sciences (Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, and Heat Transfer). Further, it reports on students’ learning experiences

Coordinating Mind and Hand: The Importance of Manual Drawing and Descriptive Geometry Instruction in a CAD-Oriented Engineering Design Graphics Class

The ability to graphically depict objects in two- and three-dimensional space is fundamental to engineering design practice. Historically, engineers have used pencil, paper, and erasers to draft preliminary sketches and to transform initial drafts into precise production drawings. With the proliferation of computer-aided design (CAD) software programs, instruction in descriptive geometry, and manual drawing has largely vanished from engineering education programs. This article describes the history of instruction in descriptive geometry and manual drawing. It also presents a case study that investigates the contribution of CAD instruction with and without supplemental instruction in descriptive geometry and drawing to the development of students’ spatial abilities in an engineering design graphics class

Personality dimensions, global and ethical perspectives and engineering students’ ethical decisions

Motivation is an important predictor of ethical awareness; however, it is not easy to assess. The goal of our study is to examine the relationship between motivation and ethical awareness in engineering students. We focus on two personality measures: person-thing orientation and spheres of control and test their association with ethical awareness using engineering scenarios that present ethical dilemmas. We predict that engineering students who score higher on the personality dimension of personthing orientation will display more ethical awareness than those who score lower. We also predict that students with a higher level of personal control will also display more ethical awareness. Two groups of students were involved in the study. Group 1 was formed by fifty-three first-year engineering students from University in the United States and Group 2 was represented by sixty-four sophomore engineering students in Engineering School in Spain. Students worked individually on case studies that presenting ethical dilemmas; they were asked to write short essays describing how they would respond to each situation. Then the essays were analyzed using an ethical reasoning and a global awareness rubric. Results revealed that 1) the context/nature of the students’ responses to the case study varied greatly, 2) personality traits and global and ethical perspective, all correlate to students’ ethical decisions as measured by their responses to the case studies scores, 3) there is an alignment between the SOC and the Global Perspective Inventory (GPI) dimensions that merits further exploration

Simulating an engineering workplace: a new approach to prototype-based team project

This paper documents the remote management of a first-year foundations of engineering course with special focus on students’ learning by completing a prototypebased project in an online course. The COVID-19 pandemic brought on unprecedented challenges to the teaching and learning communities around the world. Educators made purposeful changes in their teaching approaches, shifting rapidly from in-person to online mode of instruction. This study documents a project-based course that adopted an asynchronous mode of instruction as a part of the general engineering curriculum at a large Southeast university in the United States during the pandemic. This asynchronous course – through implementing necessary changes and adaptations – simulated the experience of a cross-border engineering workplace. The course content focuses on engineering design and problem-solving, physical prototyping, simulated data collection and analysis, contemporary software tools, and professional practices and expectations (e.g., communication, teamwork, and ethics). Learning activities are designed to introduce students to the types of work that engineers do daily and to challenge students’ knowledge and abilities as they explore the different elements of engineering by completing an aesthetic wind turbine project. Our paper reports on the development of the course site as informed by recent national developments in scholarship and practice for online teaching and learning. The principles of course design alignment as well as instructor presence and learner interaction as suggested by these national standards are discussed. Further, the study records strategies adapted to enable students to complete a successful prototypebased project working in geographically distributed and virtual, international teams

Work-in-Progress: Mobile Assisted Gains Through Innovative Curriculum for Students in the Thermal-Fluids Science Course

A learner-centered higher education ecosystem is essential to effective educational outcomes and societal advancement. Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and tablet computers enable learning anytime and from any location, blurring the boundaries between formal and informal learning. When paired with effective pedagogy, mobile technologies can positively impact the teaching and learning experience for students in high-demand science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, increasing the flexibility and ease with which they are able to pursue their education while developing their professional identities as engineers. Student retention remains a problem in STEM programs. In engineering, many students do not even make it past their core courses. This poster reports on initial efforts of a two-year research study to utilize mobile technologies and a technology-enhanced curriculum to improve student engagement and learning in STEM undergraduate courses. Guided by a social-constructivist theoretical framework and the Triple E framework (Engagement, Enhancement, Extension) this work in progress poster describes a quasi-experimental mixed methods study on implementing mobile devices (iPad and Pencil) and a technology-enhanced curriculum in an undergraduate thermal-fluids engineering course. The technology-enhanced curriculum will be fully integrated in the thermal-fluids course to deliver content and to facilitate student engagement with the content, instructor, and peers. This approach applies the social-constructivist perspective on learning and supports a connected community of learners with classroom peers and co-construction of knowledge where the instructor’s role is that of a subject matter expert who facilitates learning. To examine the impact of mobile devices on student learning, in this two-year study (started in Fall 2021), the following research questions will be addressed, hypothesizing improvements in the areas of engagement, learning outcomes, and extension of learning goals to real-life problems: (1) Does mobile device use facilitate engagement in thermal-fluid science course content? (Engagement), (2) Does mobile device use increase learning of identified difficult concepts in thermal-fluid science courses as indicated by increased achievement scores? (Enhancement) and (3) What are student perceptions of using mobile devices for solving real-life problems? (Extension). This poster will provide an overview of the research plan and describe some preliminary research efforts