Topic
Engineering education
About: Engineering education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 24293 publications have been published within this topic receiving 234621 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
••
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present descriptive statistics related to students' formal curricular experiences and their co-curricular experiences and present data for three constructs of ethical development (knowledge of ethics, ethical reasoning, and ethical behavior).
Abstract: BACKGROUND Ethics instruction is an important component of engineering undergraduate education, but little research has identified aspects of the undergraduate experience that contribute most to students' eth- ical development. Thus, an assessment of the impact of students' experiences on their ethical devel- opment is warranted. DESIGN/METHOD Using survey data collected from nearly 4,000 engineering undergraduates at 18 institutions across the U.S., we present descriptive statistics related to students' formal curricular experiences and their co-curricular experiences. Additionally, we present data for three constructs of ethical development (knowledge of ethics, ethical reasoning, and ethical behavior). RESULTS For our sample, the quantity and quality of students' formal curricular experiences and their co-cur- ricular experiences related to ethics was high. The levels of ethical knowledge and reasoning varied, as did ethical behavior. CONCLUSIONS Our data highlight opportunities for improving the engineering undergraduate/bachelor's level curri- cula in order to have a greater impact on students' ethical development. We suggest that institutions integrate ethics instruction throughout the formal curriculum, support use of varied approaches that foster high-quality experiences, and leverage both influences of co-curricular experiences and stu- dents' desires to engage in positive ethical behaviors.
108 citations
••
TL;DR: This paper identified and examined how the instructional elements of problem-based learning capstone engineering courses affected students' motivation to engage in the courses and identified several instructional elements that led to motivating opportunities.
Abstract: We identified and examined how the instructional elements of problem-based learning capstone engineering courses affected students’ motivation to engage in the courses. We employed a two-phase, sequential, explanatory, mixed methods research design. For the quantitative phase, 47 undergraduate students at a large public university completed a questionnaire that measured the components of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation (Jones, 2009): empowerment, usefulness, success, situational interest, individual interest, academic caring, and personal caring. For the qualitative phase that followed, 10 students answered questions related to the MUSIC components. We identified several instructional elements that led to motivating opportunities that affected students’ motivation to engage in the courses. We discuss how these motivating opportunities can foster or hinder students’ engagement and provide implications for instruction.
108 citations
••
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors point out the ways in which engineering and communication disciplines can work together to ensure the ABET criterion that encompasses effective communication is represented in engineering curricula.
Abstract: In this article we point to the ways in which engineering and communication disciplines can work together to ensure the ABET criterion that encompasses effective communication is represented in engineering curricula. Drawing upon examples from several universities in North America, we offer useful portraits of writing across the curriculum approaches, interdisciplinary courses, integrated programs, and a variety of support systems including writing and communication centers and online resources. As we develop increased awareness of the importance of including communication instruction in engineering curricula, the variety of possibilities presented in this article can help us integrate communication and engineering education.
107 citations
••
TL;DR: Results of this study show that the students who had taken the computer game-development course became more successful in the senior-project course than theStudents who had not taken it.
Abstract: Software-engineering education programs are intended to prepare students for a field that involves rapidly changing conditions and expectations. Thus, there is always a danger that the skills and the knowledge provided may soon become obsolete. This paper describes results and draws on experiences from the implementation of a computer game-development course whose design addresses problems in software-engineering education by improving students' abilities in four areas: (1) problem solving; (2) the application of previously learned knowledge; (3) the use of independent learning; and (4) learning by doing. In order to better understand this course's effect on students' performance in a software-development project, I investigated 125 students' performance in a 1-year senior-project course. Results of this study show that the students who had taken the computer game-development course became more successful in the senior-project course than the students who had not taken it.
107 citations
••
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on a three-year follow-up evaluation of an experimental problem-based learning (PBL) integrated curriculum directed to second-year engineering students, which brought together the contents of physics, mathematics and computer science courses into a single course.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to report on a three‐year follow‐up evaluation of an experimental problem‐based learning (PBL) integrated curriculum directed to second‐year engineering students. The PBL curriculum brought together the contents of physics, mathematics and computer science courses into a single course. Instead of the students having to enroll in each course separately, they had the opportunity to enroll in a single course in which they learned the contents of those subjects by solving real‐life engineering problems. In order to evaluate the effects of the program on the students’ academic achievement, three data sources were taken: pre‐test–post‐test scores on two physics tests: students’ grade point average (GPA); and students’ grades in advanced engineering courses. With respect to the first source of data, results showed that while PBL students’ improvements in scores were significantly higher than control students’ improvements on the Mechanics Baseline Test, improvements were similar in both ...
107 citations