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A Generative Learning Approach to Teaching Engineering Calculations in an Introductory Course

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI) Technical Session 9

Tagged Division

Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI)

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42402

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/42402

Download Count

103

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Paper Authors

biography

Kathryn R. Gosselin State University of New York, Maritime College

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Kathryn R. Gosselin is a Senior Assistant Professor in the Mechanical & Facilities Engineering Department at SUNY Maritime College. She has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Connecticut. She joined Maritime College in 2018 and teaches upper-division courses in the thermo-fluids area. Additionally, she is Coordinator of Advising for the School of Engineering and is involved in assessment.

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biography

Martin S. Lawless State University of New York, Maritime College Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-5914-4469

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Martin Lawless is currently an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at SUNY Maritime College. He earned his Ph.D. in Acoustics in 2018 from the Pennsylvania State University where he investigated the brain/s auditory and reward responses to room acoustics. Martin's current research involves the perception of sound in virtual environments, low-cost measurement devices, and engineering education.

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Abstract

In many introductory engineering courses, the fundamentals of documenting engineering calculations serve as an important learning outcome for the first-year students. Specifically, students are instructed on how to properly format an engineering calculation from writing a straightforward analysis on engineering graphing paper to assigning unique variable names to relevant physical quantities, among other concepts. In a large (100-150 students) first-year course at a public university, this topic had previously been taught via a traditional lecture method. In this traditional approach, expectations are first described to the students and then briefly demonstrated in several examples, and students are provided a written guide of the rules. This paper examines a new approach, in which students are instead provided with a problem statement accompanied by three instructor-generated solutions to that problem. The three solutions arrive at the same correct numerical answer, but contain varying levels of detail and clarity. Students were asked to identify the specific differences among the solutions and explain what made one solution more effective than another. As a class, the students developed the list of rules for engineering calculations based on their observations. Student performance on an engineering calculation homework assignment was compared between two semesters that each used the traditional approach and the new approach, respectively, to determine if the students fared better with one approach over the other.

Gosselin, K. R., & Lawless, M. S. (2023, June), A Generative Learning Approach to Teaching Engineering Calculations in an Introductory Course Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42402

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