Musical Analogies as a Teaching Tool for Engineering Concepts

Matthew Rhudy; Tobias Rossmann

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Conference: 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Seattle, Washington
Publication Date: June 14, 2015
Start Date: June 14, 2015
End Date: June 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-50180-1
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Microcontrollers, Programming, and Data Acquisition
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering
Page Count: 10
Page Numbers: 26.1180.1 - 26.1180.10
DOI: 10.18260/p.24517
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/24517
Download Count: 673

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Paper Authors

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Matthew Rhudy Lafayette College orcid.org/0000-0001-7613-4003

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Matthew Rhudy is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. He received a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering (AE) at West Virginia University (WVU), a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (ME) from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (ME) from the Pennsylvania State University (PSU). His primary research focus is sensor fusion.

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Tobias Rossmann Lafayette College orcid.org/0000-0003-0950-8161

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Tobias Rossmann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Lafayette College (Easton, PA). He received his PhD in 2002 from Stanford University. His research interests have focused on the development and application of advanced optical measurement technology to complex fluid flows, from micro-optical sensors to large reacting flowfields. He has received the 2011 Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (SAE International), is a five-time winner of the Rutgers School of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award, and is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA.

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Abstract

Music as a Teaching Tool for Engineering Concepts This paper will detail the introduction of a new laboratory experience in a junior levelMechanical Engineering laboratory course (Instrumentation and Data Acquisition). Thislaboratory experience is intended to develop the students’ comprehension of continuous anddiscrete signals, time and frequency domain analysis, and filtering and transforms. Students tendto struggle with these difficult concepts as they tend to be abstract and highly mathematical inlecture [1,2]. Incorporating music into instrumentation not only helps to expand students’understanding of music through various engineering concepts such as amplitude (loudness) andfrequency (pitch), but also deepens their comprehension of signals and systems in terms ofmusical concepts that they already intuitively know [3,4]. Thus, students can not only improvetheir appreciation and understanding of music, but also develop a firmer grasp of difficultconcepts that have been presented in class [5]. This new laboratory experience is centered on the idea of using music to illustrate andreinforce engineering concepts relevant to instrumentation. Over the course of three weeks,students complete a set of four exercises designed to illustrate specific engineering concepts inthe context of music and sound using various instruments, microphones, LABVIEW™ andMATLAB™. These exercises are briefly summarized as follows: • Investigate the use of different sampling frequencies and record lengths in order to see and hear the effect of aliasing on a signal using Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFTs) • Explore the concepts of volume, amplitude, clipping, and microphone placement and their effect on how an audio signal is recorded, sounds, and appears visually • Identify the fundamental frequencies produced by a musical instrument and relate them to musical notes using DFTs. • Produce a beat note (both seen and heard in MATLAB) and use this idea to tune a ukulele “by ear” In addition to these four exercises, this experience culminates in student generatedprojects and presentations to explain a musical concept using engineering tools. This requiresstudents to develop and perform experiments which illustrate a musical phenomenon. Then theyanalyze their results and give a technical presentation to articulate their understanding of bothmusical and engineering elements to their peers. Some example slides from studentpresentations are shown in Figure 1. In order to assess the learning outcomes of this project, a survey was given to determinethe students’ initial experience and confidence in both engineering and music concepts. A post-lab survey was then used to determine the growth in student understanding stemming from thisnew lab experience. The results for the three central questions (with 1 = strongly disagree and 5= strongly agree) are shown in Figure 2. Also, students rated their understanding of individualconcepts from both engineering and music. On average, the perceived student understanding ofengineering concepts increased from 3.54 to 4.62, while music concepts increased from 3.28 to4.59. Overall this project has demonstrated success in introducing music concepts into anengineering course in order to improve student learning. Figure 1. Example presentation slides from student projects on engineering and music. 5 Before 4.5 After 4 Average Student Response 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 2 3 1: I use my engineering knowledge to better understand music 2: I use my musical knowledge to better understand engineering 3: I feel confident in my understanding of musical concepts Figure 2. Pre- and Post-Lab Survey Result SummaryReferences: [1] Felder,R., Peretti,S., “A Learning Theory-Based Approach to the Undergraduate Laboratory”, ASEE Conference Proceedings, Session 2413 , June 1998. [2] Head, L., “Signals, Systems and Music: General Education for an Integrated Curriculum”, ASEE Conference Proceedings, Session 1424, June 2011. [3] Doering, E. R., “Making Music with MATLAB: An Electronic Music Synthesis Course for Engineering Students”, pp. 3581-3584 in Proceedings of the 1999 International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Volume 6, 1999. [4] Kaplan, K.M., McGuire, J.A., Kaplan, J.K., “The Music of Engineering”, ASEE Conference Proceedings, Session 1793, June 2004. [5] Jouny, I., Hamilton, P.S., Hoffman, G.L., “Sound Analysis Laboratory For Undergraduates”, ASEE Conference Proceedings, June 1995.

Citation
Format

Rhudy, M., & Rossmann, T. (2015, June), Musical Analogies as a Teaching Tool for Engineering Concepts Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24517

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                 Music as a Teaching Tool for Engineering Concepts        This paper will detail the introduction of a new laboratory experience in a junior levelMechanical Engineering laboratory course (Instrumentation and Data Acquisition). Thislaboratory experience is intended to develop the students’ comprehension of continuous anddiscrete signals, time and frequency domain analysis, and filtering and transforms. Students tendto struggle with these difficult concepts as they tend to be abstract and highly mathematical inlecture [1,2]. Incorporating music into instrumentation not only helps to expand students’understanding of music through various engineering concepts such as amplitude (loudness) andfrequency (pitch), but also deepens their comprehension of signals and systems in terms ofmusical concepts that they already intuitively know [3,4]. Thus, students can not only improvetheir appreciation and understanding of music, but also develop a firmer grasp of difficultconcepts that have been presented in class [5].        This new laboratory experience is centered on the idea of using music to illustrate andreinforce engineering concepts relevant to instrumentation. Over the course of three weeks,students complete a set of four exercises designed to illustrate specific engineering concepts inthe context of music and sound using various instruments, microphones, LABVIEW™ andMATLAB™. These exercises are briefly summarized as follows:    • Investigate the use of different sampling frequencies and record lengths in order to see        and hear the effect of aliasing on a signal using Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFTs)    • Explore the concepts of volume, amplitude, clipping, and microphone placement and        their effect on how an audio signal is recorded, sounds, and appears visually    • Identify the fundamental frequencies produced by a musical instrument and relate them to        musical notes using DFTs.    • Produce a beat note (both seen and heard in MATLAB) and use this idea to tune a        ukulele “by ear”        In addition to these four exercises, this experience culminates in student generatedprojects and presentations to explain a musical concept using engineering tools. This requiresstudents to develop and perform experiments which illustrate a musical phenomenon. Then theyanalyze their results and give a technical presentation to articulate their understanding of bothmusical and engineering elements to their peers. Some example slides from studentpresentations are shown in Figure 1.        In order to assess the learning outcomes of this project, a survey was given to determinethe students’ initial experience and confidence in both engineering and music concepts. A post-lab survey was then used to determine the growth in student understanding stemming from thisnew lab experience. The results for the three central questions (with 1 = strongly disagree and 5= strongly agree) are shown in Figure 2. Also, students rated their understanding of individualconcepts from both engineering and music. On average, the perceived student understanding ofengineering concepts increased from 3.54 to 4.62, while music concepts increased from 3.28 to4.59. Overall this project has demonstrated success in introducing music concepts into anengineering course in order to improve student learning.          Figure 1. Example presentation slides from student projects on engineering and music.                                                       5                                                                                                                       Before                                                      4.5                                                                                                                       After                                                       4                           Average Student Response                                                      3.5                                                       3                                                      2.5                                                       2                                                      1.5                                                       1                                                      0.5                                                       0                                                                    1                        2                       3                                                             1: I use my engineering knowledge to better understand music                                                            2: I use my musical knowledge to better understand engineering                                                               3: I feel confident in my understanding of musical concepts                                   Figure 2. Pre- and Post-Lab Survey Result SummaryReferences:    [1] Felder,R., Peretti,S., “A Learning Theory-Based Approach to the Undergraduate Laboratory”, ASEE        Conference Proceedings, Session 2413 , June 1998.    [2] Head, L., “Signals, Systems and Music: General Education for an Integrated Curriculum”, ASEE        Conference Proceedings, Session 1424, June 2011.    [3] Doering, E. R., “Making Music with MATLAB: An Electronic Music Synthesis Course for Engineering        Students”, pp. 3581-3584 in Proceedings of the 1999 International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and        Signal Processing, Volume 6, 1999.    [4] Kaplan, K.M., McGuire, J.A., Kaplan, J.K., “The Music of Engineering”, ASEE Conference Proceedings,        Session 1793, June 2004.    [5] Jouny, I., Hamilton, P.S., Hoffman, G.L., “Sound Analysis Laboratory For Undergraduates”, ASEE        Conference Proceedings, June 1995.
AU  - Matthew Rhudy
AU  - Tobias Rossmann
CY  - Seattle, Washington
DA  - 2015/06/14
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Musical Analogies as a Teaching Tool for Engineering Concepts
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/24517
DO  - 10.18260/p.24517
ER  -