A Slinky is a loose helical coil spring and is a well-known educational toy. In this paper a model for a Slinky is presented. The Slinky is represented as a sequence of rigid half coils connected by torsional springs. A range of Slinky configurations in static equilibrium are calculated. Where possible the torsion spring model is compared with the…

The dynamics of a simple pendulum are often presented to undergraduate engineering students in introductory courses in dynamics. It is usually the first dynamic system considered by students that is modelled by a differential equation. This paper presents the standard material given to students. It is fair to say that students are accepting this…

Electricity and magnetism are fundamentally interconnected, as represented by the symmetry in Maxwell's equations. Much of the research on Gauss's and Ampere's laws has focused on their application in calculating electric or magnetic fields. However, there remains a significant gap in the literature in exploring these laws in a broader…

Engineering design practices in STEM education focus on reflecting the discipline-specific work of engineers in a manner that is suitable for the student level and course learning objectives. Using an engineering design context also facilitates student identification of global problems and feasible solutions to address such problems. In this…

This study presents a practical developed for an undergraduate geotechnical engineering course. The practical was designed to reduce systematic issues so that students could focus on cognitive and conceptual issues rather than practical minutiae. Compression tests were carried out on dry halite, enabling consistent specimen densities to be…

When engineering students are unable to evaluate the validity of their solutions, they are unprepared to solve complex, real-world engineering problems that require decomposition or knowledge transfer. A proper framework is key to successful implementation and can encourage more institutions to adopt problem-solving engineering labs. This paper…

This qualitative study describes a novel intervention designed to build science identity in first-year civil engineering students. Science identity is associated with resilience and perseverance in STEM fields, yet practical teaching activities that support science identity are lacking in university classrooms. To address this need, we created a…

Electricity and magnetism are closely related phenomena with a well-known symmetry found in Maxwell equations. An essential part of any electricity and magnetism course includes the analysis of different field source distributions through Gauss's and Ampere's laws to compute and interpret different physical quantities, such as electric flux,…

This study investigates to which extent students' understanding of the physical phenomenon of torque can be improved through the use of visualization technology, in particular of augmented reality (AR). The students in the first-year course Mechanics I at KTH participated in the study by taking two tests on torque. In between those tests, a…

CACAO (Chocolate Across the Curriculum and Outreach) is a vertical curriculum augmentation designed to help students across the ChE undergraduate program. The students use a chocolate-based food engineering lab to make connections between core chemical engineering topics using hands-on and project-based learning. Costs to create this component are…

The interrelationship of science and engineering and the recent inclusion of engineering in K-12 science standards have promoted the incorporation of engineering design in science classrooms. However, empirical studies on the impacts of engineering design on science learning show mixed findings and indicate that factors such as the complexity of…

This study explored K-12 teachers' understanding and implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) during and after participation in a professional development (PD) program that included the development of science teachers' conceptual understanding of science. We add to the literature with our focus on a multi-year PD program…

This article describes two sets of experiments designed to enhance the understanding of colloidal systems. These experiments were designed as a part of the theme "Colloids: Where Science Meets Engineering" taught in the Department of Chemical Engineering and additionally offered to physics, chemistry, and materials science departments as…

Undergraduate engineering students usually face difficulties understanding electric circuit concepts. Some of those difficulties regard with misconceptions students bring into the classroom and develop during the learning process. Additionally, the increasing complexity of the topics along the fundamental electric circuit course constitutes…

Worldwide, there is growing recognition of the importance of science in early childhood education. Doing science or, more formally, "science and engineering practices," is acknowledged as a critical component of early science education that requires support from the adults in children's lives. Moreover, engaging in science practices…