Exploring Engineering Through Project-based Experiential Learning

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

PROPOSAL NO.: 0230601PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Patangia, HirakINSTITUTION NAME: University of Arkansas Little RockTITLE: Exploring Engineering Through Project-based Experiential LearningNSF RECEIVED DATE: 06/04/2002AbstractThe proposal will establish a bridge connecting engineering education in theDonaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering (DCISSE) to theCollege of Education (COE) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. A series ofthree thematic engineering courses has been proposed to bring engineering education tothe pre-college educators, education majors, and high school students. The courses willbe implemented using Project-Based Experiential Learning (PBEL) philosophy that iscurrently popular in Freshmen Design Experience Programs. The novelty of the proposed approach is that the courses will be designed to be intellectually substantive, taught on a just-in-time basis in context to a real-world problem, and the courses will also satisfy curricular requirements of engineering / engineering technology degree programs to insure that these do not function as service courses. The math prerequisites will be mid-level high school algebra, and the courses will be open to any student who wants to explore engineering. The enthusiasm for such an approach has been prompted by the success of a PBEL course that was initiated last fall in DCISSE, and cognitive scientists assertion that theoretical ideas aremuch easier to learn when the theoretical understanding is closely coupled to real-worldexperience..