Freshman Laboratory for Product and Process Engineering

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

David F. Ollis DUE 9550927 North Carolina State University FY1995 $ 200,000 Raleigh, NC 27695-7905 ILI - Leadership in Laboratory Development: Engineering Title: Freshman Laboratory for Product and Process Engineering A Product and Process Engineering laboratory has been established for freshmen engineering students. The purpose of the laboratory is to bring students together in teams of three in order to explore fully operative, familiar devices (e.g., videocamera, videocassette recorder, photocopier, bar code scanner) by playing the successive roles of user, assembler, and engineer analyst. The lab places emphasis on a "hands-on" approach to each device and on working in teams. Results from pilot offerings in summer '93(12 students) and '94(18 students) indicate that this method creates an atmosphere in which students teach each other effectively, and in which women and minorities feel very comfortable and receive a positive and inclusive introduction to engineering. The objective of the project is the demonstration of a cost efficient manpower design and scale-up of this novel freshmen laboratory to handle a full cohort of up to 216 students per year for two years. Three 24 student sections/semester are offered in '95-'96 and five sections/semester in '96-'97. The method of laboratory execution involves roles for students, undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants, and the faculty director. The students, working in teams of three, examine each of six devices or processes. The senior undergraduates provide lab assistance and are selected so that they serve as role models for women and minority freshmen. The graduate teaching assistant (one per section) has general instruction and lab maintenance responsibilities for each section, and serves as back-up technica l consultant to the seniors. The faculty leader provides an initial week of hands-on training of seniors and graduate assistants with the lab devices prior to each semester, and leads the student discussion sections on outside readings, and maintains oversight of the laboratory operations. The project is significant because it provides an immediate "hands-on" introduction to engineering to freshmen students in a manner which includes teamwork, oral communication and presentation skills, and is conducive to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups.