Education of potential professional engineers should take account of the type of employment that they will eventually obtain. The quality of an engineering degree course can be judged by assessing whether the correct balance of "essential attributes" has been effectively obtained. This case study is concerned with assessing the balance…

Emerging engineers need to rely on a whole body of scientific and technical knowledge, but also on a wide set of competencies. For engineering schools a competency objectives approach requires specific pedagogical methods. Some competencies based on skills and attitudes are difficult to develop through traditional teaching, so in 2003 our…

Design is at the heart of vocational training programmes. That is the reason why teaching design and training students to design are major concerns of engineering schools. Our participation in this training favours a particular approach: reflexive practice. The Reflexive pedagogy lays the emphasis on the metaphorical dimension of learning. It is…

This article explores issues related to the choice of goals and approaches for advancing sustainability in higher education through research. The paper argues that diverse nature of the questions, issues and problems facing advocates of sustainability in higher education requires a willingness to adopt an eclectic approach to the choice of…

Most, if not all, systems have a mechanism that collects information to facilitate monitoring performance. This information is primarily used to modify the system to make it more efficient in performing desired tasks and, thus, attaining desired results. Similar to electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic systems, the feedback mechanism in an…

Some students show a lot of artistic talent. Astounding sketches of a Mini Cooper done with a pen in an English-composition spiral-bound notebook scream talent and success. But teachers, parents and guidance counselors want to help artistically talented kids avoid the macaroni-and-cheese existence common to aspiring artists--working just to make…

Comments on the original article "Sex Differences in Intrinsic Aptitude for Mathematics and Science?: A Critical Review," by E. S. Spelke (see record EJ733610). Spelke's critical review is a research-based rebuttal (though implicitly) of Summers's (2005) speech that posited a hypothesis that one of the reasons why women are underrepresented in…

Equipping engineering students with the skills and knowledge required to be successful global engineers in the 21st century is one of the primary objectives of undergraduate educators. Enabling students to practice self-directed learning, to find solutions to design problems that are sustainable and to recognize that they are part of a global…

In spring 2007, four Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Science and Technology/Engineering (STE) operational tests were introduced at the high school level (grades 9 and 10): Biology, Chemistry, Introductory Physics, and Technology/Engineering. Over 100,000 Massachusetts public high school students in grades 9 and 10 participated…

There is a wide variety of factors such as: age, attitude, motivation, aptitude, amount of exposure, gender and anxiety etc in second language learning. These are also responsible for individual differences in learning a second (L2) / Foreign Language (FL). In social Psychology, it is a widely accepted fact that learner's individual differences…

This report looks at whether pre-apprenticeships increase the potential supply of tradespeople, with a special focus on electrotechnology, automotive and engineering students. It found that pre-apprenticeships have been used in Australia for many years and are widely regarded as a valuable strategy for increasing the supply and quality of…

This study examined university students' knowledge of and attitudes (n = 378) toward biotechnology in Slovakia, a conservative country where the distribution of genetically engineered products are banned by law. We found a significant positive correlation between attitudes and the level of knowledge; however, although students enrolled in biology…

This paper analyses polytechnic graduate placement in Finnish manufacturing. The paper uses a register-based data source covering white-collar manufacturing workers over the period 1995-2004. Taken together, the results show that wages and job classification are higher for polytechnic graduates, once other covariates are controlled for. Despite…

Simulations make it possible to explore physical and biological phenomena, where conducting the real experiment is impracticable or difficult. The implementation of a software program describing and simulating a given physical situation encourages the understanding of a phenomenon itself. Fifty-nine students, enrolled at the Mathematical Methods…

This article describes a portion of a long-term action-research project investigating the teaching of the science of transportation to high school students using the case study or experiential method. Other aspects integrated with the project-oriented study are the use of Constructivist theory, the Socratic Method, and the incorporation of…