Schoolwork, especially lessons in manual skills is often associated with various ergonomics stresses. These stresses are the result not only of school obligations but also of the physical working environment and inadequate lesson planning. Much can be done in this field if certain approaches are taken into consideration at the work planning stage.…

Ferment in engineering has focused increased attention on undergraduate engineering education, and has clarified the need for rigorous research in engineering education. This need has spawned the new research field of Engineering Education and greatly increased interest in earning Ph.D. degrees based on rigorous engineering education research.…

This paper presents the effects of a continuous assessment process on mechanical engineering education at Kuwait University. This process has been in place for the last five academic years and is producing results. Efforts to educate faculty and students about the process are beginning to produce accurate and consistent measurements of student…

The author discusses "Design Squad", a television program designed to introduce students to the engineering process. Each episode tells the story of how two teams tackled a particular challenge. A graphic announces each stage (e.g., brainstorm, design, build, test, and redesign) as the teams construct their solutions. These graphics make visual…

The number of students from the under-graduate level who have successfully completed their studies is on the increase every year. In the selection process for the best employee-candidate, employers have to take into consideration several factors other than academic excellence, including values that depict EQ or emotional intelligence. This study…

As the United States becomes more racially and ethnically diverse and draws more students from across the globe, more representative data are needed to understand at-risk and underrepresented populations in higher education, particularly in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The authors argue that the current…

This article investigates the effectiveness of a course employing a discipline-based computing approach. The research questions driving this study were: (1) Can experiences with discipline-based computing promote students' acquisition and application of foundational computing concepts and procedures? (2) How do students perceive and experience the…

Following the trend in science and engineering education generated by the visible impact created by the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), the investigator developed a Physics of Semiconductors Concept Inventory (PSCI). PSCI fills the need of standardized concept tests for undergraduate education in photonics and electrical engineering. The structure…

This research paper presents a database management system for tracking course assessment data and reporting related outcomes for program assessment. It improves on a database system previously presented by the authors and in use for two years. The database system presented is specific to assessment for ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and…

Building a competitive workforce for the 21st Century requires the careful alignment of K-12 and university curricula with the skill needs of business and industry. In addition to making students better problem solvers, critical thinkers, and users of technology, academic preparation must instill in them the desire to become lifelong learners,…

The paper points out the significance of hourly-waged tutors to the quality of the teaching-learning procedure in Mechanical Engineering Department. Existing research shows that higher education faces many challenges in its attempt to keep pace with the needs of students' body for effective learning. The changing nature of higher education is…

Along with the greater productivity that CAD automation provides nowadays, the product data of engineering applications needs to be shared and managed efficiently to gain a competitive edge for the engineering product design. However, exchanging and sharing the heterogeneous product data is still challenging. This dissertation first presents a…

Lack of satisfaction with the quality of the mathematical knowledge of non-mathematics majors has led to the design of new curricular materials. In this study, a mixed methods explanatory design was used to compare the performances of two groups of engineering majors enrolled in two courses on differential equations and investigate their written…

Problem-solving activities let students use knowledge gained in various areas of their academic education. They bring together skills and knowledge from such areas as science, math, art, and English by simulating activities and projects students will encounter later in career and life experiences. A very important feature of most problem-solving…

A large-scale, multi-year, randomized study compared learning activities and outcomes for hands-on, remotely-operated, and simulation-based educational laboratories in an undergraduate engineering course. Students (N = 458) worked in small-group lab teams to perform two experiments involving stress on a cantilever beam. Each team conducted the…