Search results for "engineering education"
showing 10 items of 58 documents
Open Inquiry Investigations on Heat Transfer Performed by Undergraduate Engineering Students
2012
Many researches have shown the pedagogical effectiveness of structured inquiry as a high performance tool in science education of undergraduate engineering students. In this paper we report the preliminary results of an extended investigation on the efficacy of the application of an open inquiry approach to the consolidation of the physics concepts regarding the topic of thermal energy transfer. We selected a sample of undergraduate mechanical engineering students, who passed the examination of the basic physics courses with good marks. Firstly, we investigated about resistant misconceptions in thermal physics by administrating a pre-activity questionnaire. Even the best marked students sho…
Inquiry-based environments for bio-signal processing training in engineering education
2021
Active student engagement, teaching via experience in real-life settings and learning by doing, are pedagogical strategies appropriate to improve student-reasoning skills. By building models, performing investigations, examining and explaining experimental results, using theoretical and computational thinking, constructing representations, undergraduates can acquire a deeper understanding of fundamental disciplinary concepts while reinforcing transversal abilities. In this framework, Engineering courses should be designed with the final objective to develop practical skills, focusing on hands-on activities. This contribution presents two different inquiry-based learning environments recent…
Simulation-Based Learning, an Essential Tool for Control Process in Food Engineering Education
2019
Abstract Simulation-based learning has become an essential tool for food engineers in education and industry. The students from food engineering higher education usually have difficulties to understand abstract concepts of the process control, to make links among microbiology, biochemistry and automation of the technological process from food industry. The present paper describes a methodology for teaching the process control by developing a control level process using simulation-based learning. The used of this metode highlighted that the students developed competence toward “thinking like a scientist”, developed argumentation and critical decision-making skills and reinforced research-pla…
On Supervising Master’s Theses in Industry Context
2022
In software engineering, students easily find internships in companies while still studying. To combine their studies and employment, many of them seek to compose their final theses in an industry context, for the benefit of the employer as well as to simplify their context switching between job and studies. This can put the student between a rock and a hard place, as on one hand the employer has certain expectations in terms of working for the company, whereas the supervising professor needs to follow the university guidelines. An additional aspect worth considering is the university as an administrative home for the thesis and owner of the thesis process. In this paper, we study how the d…
A Teaching Laboratory in Analog Electronics: Changes to Address the Bologna Requirements
2008
Training new electronics engineers presents several major challenges. This paper proposes a new approach for practical lessons in second-level analog electronics, where students get a closer view of real-world practices in electronic engineering. The authors describe and evaluate a more dynamic way of teaching practical lessons in analog electronics in the first year of an electronic engineering degree. The method consists of creating a virtual company that contracts students to develop prototypes. The design process involves theoretical concepts from the students' lessons, and poses challenges with respect to costs and teamwork. The method brings the students closer to the working environm…
Incorporating Sustainability and Green Design Concepts into Engineering and Technology Curricula
2016
Human society is facing an uncertain future due to the present day unsustainable use of natural resources and the growing imbalance with our natural environment. Sustainability is an endeavour with uncertain outcomes requiring collaboration, teamwork, and abilities to work with respect and learn from other disciplines and professions, as well as with governments, local communities, political and civic organizations. The creation of a sustainable society is a complex and multi-stage endeavour that will dominate twenty first century. Sustainability has four basic aspects: environment, technology, economy, and societal organization. Schools with undergraduate engineering or engineering techno…
Learning mechanisms in multidisciplinary teamwork with real customers and open-ended problems
2015
Recently, there has been a trend towards adding a multidisciplinary or multicultural element to traditional monodisciplinary project courses in computing and engineering. In this article, we examine the implications of multidisciplinarity for students’ learning experiences during a one-semester project course for real customers. We use a qualitative research approach and base our analysis on students’ learning reports on three instances of a project course titled Multidisciplinary working life project. The main contribution of this article is the unified theoretical picture of the learning mechanisms stemming from multidisciplinarity. Our main conclusions are that (1) students generally hav…
Workplace learning and higher education in Finland: reflections on current practice
2007
PurposeThe purpose of this article is to describe the organization of workplace learning in Finnish polytechnics, the models that have been developed for this purpose, and the challenges presented.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the models for embedding workplace learning in the curriculum are described and analysed. Second, the conflicting factors encountered in building the network of expertise to support students' workplace learning in the cooperation of polytechnics and working life are investigated. Third, suggestions are made regarding some of the questions raised by the introduction of connectivity that might be explored to better understand the similarities and differences between…
Long term stability of learning outcomes in undergraduates after an open-inquiry instruction on thermal science
2018
This paper investigates the efficacy of an open-inquiry approach to achieve a long term stability of physics instruction. This study represents the natural continuation of a research project started four years ago when a sample of thirty engineering undergraduates, having already attended traditional university physics instruction, were involved in a six-week long learning experience of open-inquiry research activities within the highly motivating context of developing a thermodynamically efficient space base on Mars. Four years later, we explore the effectiveness of that learning experience by analyzing the outcomes that the students achieved by answering again the same questionnaire that …
The importance of OER in engineering education
2017
The problem of education is a very important one and occupies an increasingly wider register among educational specialists, who see these changes directly related to current generations of students. It speaks increasingly more and more about the desire of young people to learn when they want, how they want and how much they want, in their own way, without any constraints imposed by fixed educational program, established by teachers, according to their idea how to go on an educational route. In this context, open education provides crucial support of any person who is interested, and covered a complete and appropriate educational needs, in connection with time and availability of the person.…