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…

The focus on construction in T&E education has drastically changed. This article presents a series of topics and design-based labs that can be taught at various grade levels to integrate STEM concepts while also increasing students' overall awareness of construction and structural technologies.

Industrial purification of biomolecules is commonly based on a sequence of chromatographic processes, which are adapted slightly to new target components, as the time to market is crucial. To improve time and material efficiency, modeling is increasingly used to determine optimal operating conditions, thus providing new challenges for current and…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators are facing the challenge of attracting more students. The disparity between the need for engineers and the enrollment of engineering students is growing (Genalo, Bruning, & Adams, 2000), and career aspirations of high school students are inconsistent with the employment…

Engineering design has been suggested as a viable instructional approach for Technology Education (TE) to intentionally provide students the opportunity to apply multidisciplinary concepts to solve ill-defined design challenges (Wells & Ernst, 2012; Sanders & Wells, 2010; Wicklein, 2006). Currently, the context for design challenges in TE…

This design/problem-solving activity challenges students to design a replacement bridge for one that has been designated as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The Aycock MS Technology/STEM Magnet Program Virtual Bridge Design Challenge is an authentic introduction to the engineering design process. It is a socially relevant…

As much research has demonstrated, novel scientific concepts do not arise fully formed in the head of a scientist but are created in problem-solving processes, which can extend for considerable periods and even span generations of scientists. To understand concept formation and conceptual change it is important to investigate these processes in…

Nanoelectronics is an emerging area of electrical and computer engineering that deals with the current-voltage behavior of atomic-scale electronic devices. As the trend toward ever smaller devices continues, there is a need to update traditional undergraduate curricula to introduce electrical engineers to the fundamentals of the field. These…

Students in introductory engineering graphics courses at North Carolina State University (NCSU) were asked to complete surveys to help educators and administrators understand their attitudes toward learning and their motivation to learn. Analyses of the completed surveys provided the Graphic Communications Program at NCSU with an understanding of…

The new standards for K-12 science education in the United States call for science teachers to integrate engineering concepts and practices within their science teaching in order to improve student learning. To accomplish this, teachers need appropriate instructional materials as well as the knowledge and skills to effectively use them. This mixed…

Today's engineers and technologists are more frequently thrust into the role of problem solver. Some would argue that, if this is the case, then using simulation is a more acceptable way to educate students for the work environment they will enter. The authors wanted to introduce entry-level university students to advanced engineering concepts…

Science educators face the challenge of piquing students' interest in subjects whose concepts are often entirely foreign to them. The author wanted to give her students a hands-on, "real world" experience rooted in scientific concepts. What evolved was an engineering design competition. The point of the project was two-fold: to work on real-world…

Describes new program leading to Master's degree in Ocean Engineering. Established in 1966, program is third of its kind in the U.S. (WM)

As agents of social change, engineers should take into account the interaction of technology with environment so that technological advances are not made at the expense of safe environmental conditions. Adapted from address delivered to International Conference on Engineering Education, September, 1969, Oslo, Norway. (WM)

It is customary for engineering syllabuses to include a substantial amount of mathematics, a fact traditionally justified through their usefulness in the analysis and resolution of many technological problems. In other words, usually the role of mathematics in engineering is emphasized. Nevertheless, the opposite viewpoint could be considered as…