Project Based Learning Incorporating Design And Teaming

Projects that provide inquisitive design and analysis are utilized in a 1 st -year engineering and science curriculum at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to introduce students to experimentation, data collection, analysis, technical report writing, and presentation. Projects allow for construction of numerical models, development of predictions, and corroboration through experimentation. Currently, four student projects are rotated on a yearly basis and include design of a bungee cord , trebuchet, catapult, and SEESat. Design parameters include opportunities for student teams to model, test, and modify the system for optimum performance. In addition, an experimental project involving the measurement of vibration of a cantilever beam is performed each semester. Instrumentation for data collection is utilized during all projects providing true integration between experimentation and analysis. Assessment results indicate students appreciate challenge where there are clearly outlined outcomes and experimentation is performed with informed supervision. Introduction to both design methodology and empowered self-directed teams is provided through these projects adding value to student learning in the first year. Trends in First Year Engineering Programs: With calls for greater accountability in Higher Education and changes in accreditation standards, the engineering education community has proven to be a highly innovative source for curricular reform and improvement. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in innovations in first year engineering programs. Many engineering programs have found substantial gains can be made by reorganizing and integrating curricular components in math, science, and engineering [1-5] . Although the Coalitions programs provided rich resource of materials for integrating curricula, such a dramatic reorganization requires a substantial development effort. Other programs found that many of these same gains can be obtained through incorporating freshman design projects and laboratory exercises [6-11] . For programs which incorporate vertically integrated teams, newer developments include the use of a service learning component within the design experience [12-13] . Most recently, programs are expanding the first year engineering experience to incorporate experiential learning through the co-curriculum. Such programs might collaborate with Student Affairs [14] , through freshman grouping in the dormitories, or through formal development of learning communities [15-16] . P ge 10033.1 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2005, American Society for Engineering Education Program Composition: The first-year engineering and science curriculum, GES 115, at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SDSM&T) has been a required course in all 10 engineering programs since 2001. Recently, 3 of the science programs have also added GES 115 as a required course. Approximately 400 students per academic year are enrolled in the course, which is offered in both the fall and spring semesters. The curriculum incorporates elements from project-based learning, cooperative learning, and technology-enabled learning [17] . Additionally, a rigorous assessment process has been used since 2003 to drive curricular changes and to asses the effectiveness of the program objectives [18-19] . GES 115 curriculum has also been incorporated into a larger campus initiative aimed at improvement in both student learning and retention beyond the 1 st year. Each fall, 2 of the GES 115 sections has been linked to 2 English 101 sections. Although links between these courses has not yet been achieved at the curricular level, it has been viewed by students as a positive experience. Attendance is almost perfect in both courses throughout the semester (in itself an anomaly) and student teams from GES 115 (which is required) remain seated together in English 101 (which is not required). In addition, GES 115 is an integral component of project FIRST (Freshman Introduction to Real Success at Tech), an initiative aimed at establishing and fostering student cohorts by grouping them together in the newest dorm on campus. As a new program, FIRST is still working through some of the development components but is essentially the first attempt at incorporating elements of a learning community within the first year experience. FIRST attempts to develop student communities through cohort grouping in the dormitory, by incorporating team experiences through the summer orientation program, and by blocked cohort schedules in some freshman courses. Students enrolled in FIRST are blocked in GES 115, mathematics, mentoring, and English 101. In addition, two sections of GES 115 and ENGL 101 are formally linked. Comparison of grades between linked and non-linked sections show that the students in the linked sections have a higher class-average grade than their non-linked peers. Thus, it is clear that the students have derived added value to their educational experience by these linkages. One possible explanation for this may reside in the fact that participation in the GES 115-English 101 linked sections and project FIRST is by self-selection, thus, may attract more motivated students. Project-Based Learning: Project-based learning, problem-solving, and technology-enabled learning are concepts that have been widely published [20-23] . Within this accepted pedagogical structure there remains arenas of challenge to both instructors and students, especially within a 1 st -year engineering program. Instructors are often forced to perform a subjective balancing act based on the need to effectively provide significant design challenge and experience to students in a way that does not alienate weaker students yet at the same time provides stimulation to more advanced students. The optimum method to achieve this balance would be to separate students into at least 2 programs following models used by Texas A&M or Purdue University [l] . In such a program, students are split based either on math/science preparation or on other pre-university performance measures. P ge 10033.2 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2005, American Society for Engineering Education However, at SDSM&T, we have a single program that receives all students regardless of their math and other preparatory background. During week 1 of the term, students fill out a survey where they self-rank using a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest) for their familiarity using several software programs including Excel, Powerpoint, Word, etc. They also list the courses they are currently enrolled in. Instructors use this information to assign student teams to ensure that strong students are distributed as evenly as possible with weaker students. In addition, many section instructors actively utilize strong students as mentors for those students requiring more assistance. This has proven to be a positive developmental and learning tool for all students. The primary pedagogical structure for that portion of the course related to engineering design is the utilization of projects that incorporate self-empowered student teams that use an engineered device to collect data to be compared to theoretical equations (functions). Preparation and submission of a team technical report is used to assess if the students gained understanding of the significance of the experiment and how mathematical models are used as predictive tools. This pedagogical structure is based on establishment of a design project library currently consisting of 4 projects, with an ultimate goal of 6 to 8 projects, that can be rotated over a number of years. The 4 large-scale design projects that have been developed and used in the course include: egg bungee, trebuchet, catapult, and SEESat. Each of these projects fill 5 weeks of the course. In addition to these large-scale design projects, a small-scale project, vibrating beam, fills 2 weeks of the course and includes significant exposure to instrumentation, data collection, and analysis. Approximately 1⁄2 of the semester is spent on the small-scale and 1 of the large-scale projects. A brief description of each of these projects is given below. Vibrating Beam This project is based on the inherent vibration of natural materials and how this may be problematic in engineering design. From analysis of a damped spring system based on Newton’s second law of motion, a simple homogeneous linear differential equation is derived, and without details, is solved and presented as a 5-variable damped exponential cosine function: