The research phase preluding a design capstone project is challenging for both students and instructors. In a situation where students are free to work on a topic of their choosing, a preset, generic research design is not suitable. Imposing a rigid framework would endanger the possibility of students truly examining and capturing the complexity…

This paper will describe a unique partnership among the Department of Teacher Education and School of Engineering at the University of Dayton (UD) and the Dayton Regional STEM Center (DRSC). This partnership resulted in the development of the STEM Education Quality Framework (SQF), a tool to guide educators in teaching, learning and refining STEM…

Design thinking is about using design to improve the human experience. It combines collaboration, systems thinking, and a balance of creative and analytical habits. It also fuels what the students want for themselves: making an impact on the real world in real time and having adults take their passions seriously. The process essentially comes down…

Designing constructive digital media is a process of mapping and remapping our physical and conceptual worlds in order to determine their meaning. When readers become composers, when users become designers, they may construct for themselves both a digital "Wunderkammer" of evidence and the potential associative connections available…

This paper summarizes the findings of a five-year study aimed at improving the retention rates of female students pursuing careers in engineering. The study analyzed a series of programs implemented at the University of Toledo. The programs involve hands-on design projects, research experiences, communication tools geared towards females,…

Community gardening provides many benefits for students like outdoor physical activity, an understanding of plant life cycles, food production and healthy eating (Blair, 2009; Whiren, 1995). Gardening also provides hands-on learning opportunities to draw parallels between what is needed for plants to grow and what students need to be healthy. When…

An animatronic robot was designed and constructed for the 2003 Annual Student Robotic Technology and Engineering Challenge organized by the Robotics International (RI) association of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). It was also the senior capstone design project for two of the design team members. After a thorough study of body and…