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Employing Music as an Entry Point into Classes

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Conference

2024 South East Section Meeting

Location

Marietta, Georgia

Publication Date

March 10, 2024

Start Date

March 10, 2024

End Date

March 12, 2024

Page Count

9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--45519

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/45519

Download Count

17

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Paper Authors

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William J. Davis P.E. The Citadel Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-3812-8654

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William J. Davis is Dept. Head & D. Graham Copeland Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of Construction Engineering at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. His academic experience includes: transportation infrastructure planning and design.

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Simon Thomas Ghanat P.E. The Citadel

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Dr. Simon Ghanat is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Citadel (Charleston, S.C.). He received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Arizona State University. His research interests include Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Education.

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Ronald W. Welch P.E. The Citadel

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Ron Welch (P.E.) received his B.S. degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Military Academy in 1982. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1990 and 1999, respectively. He taught at The United States Military Academy during his 25 year military career. After retiring form the military he has taught at the University of Texas at Tyler and The Citadel, where he was the Dean of Engineering for 10 years.

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Abstract

For the past 10 years, music has been employed as an entry point into classes at University “X”. Using music as an entry point into classes has been an effective icebreaker. The musical prelude to class has pedagogical benefits in enhancing the readiness of students to start the intellectual work of the day. As class begins, students are energized and ready to learn; they are also ready to figure out how the music relates to the topic of the day. For example, to connect to the Mohr’s Circle concepts, as students enter the classroom, an instructor plays a song with the word ‘circle’ in its lyrics, such as “Circle in the Sand” by Belinda Carlisle; “Circle of Life” by Elton John; or “Draw Me a Circle” by Barbara Streisand to stimulate learning and build students’ enthusiasm about Mohr’s Circle. A survey of students’ perception of playing music prior to a lesson was conducted over a period of four years. This paper discusses the playlist of songs used in Mechanics of Materials, Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering, Engineering Economy, and Engineering Probability and Statistics. In addition, it discusses the results of the survey of students’ perception of playing music before a lesson.

Davis, W. J., & Ghanat, S. T., & Welch, R. W. (2024, March), Employing Music as an Entry Point into Classes Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45519

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