This paper investigates the efficacy of an open-inquiry approach to achieve a long term stability of physics instruction. This study represents the natural continuation of a research project started four years ago when a sample of thirty engineering undergraduates, having already attended traditional university physics instruction, were involved…

Engineering has become an important subject in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which have raised engineering design to the same level as scientific inquiry when teaching science disciplines at all levels. Therefore, preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) need to know how to integrate the engineering design process (EDP) into their…

The present study aims to shed some light on how engineering lecturers teaching in English at a Spanish university view their work (teaching goals) within the current European internationalisation trend of offering courses and master programmes in English. A questionnaire where content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English-medium…

This paper presents results from a qualitative longitudinal study of students' transition into higher education engineering. The study aims at comparing upper-secondary school students' expectations of engineering with their actual experiences when encountering the engineering programme. It explores how this encounter provides a platform for…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which a 12-week after-school science and engineering program affected middle school students' motivation to engage in science and engineering activities. We used current motivation research and theory as a conceptual framework to assess 14 students' motivation through questionnaires,…

Physics applets are well known appealing resources to teach and learn physics, and a large number of them are available on the Internet. Nevertheless, not all of them are of the same quality, because such applets do not fit every specific teaching/learning purpose. The start question was which features should have a physics applet in order that it…

This paper addresses the efficacy of an open-inquiry approach that allows students to build on traditionally received knowledge. A sample of thirty engineering undergraduates, having already attended traditional university physics instruction, was selected for this study. The students were involved in a six-week long learning experience of…

This paper describes a method aimed at pointing out the quality of the mental models undergraduate engineering students deploy when asked to create explanations for phenomena or processes and/or use a given model in the same context. Student responses to a specially designed written questionnaire are quantitatively analyzed using…

We have conducted an education project to communicate the wave energy concept to high school students. A virtual reality system that combines both hardware and software is developed in this project to simulate the buoy-wave interaction. This first-of-its-kind wave energy unit is portable and physics-based, allowing students to conduct a number of…

As inspirations from flora and fauna have led to many advances in modern technology, the concept of drawing ideas from nature for design should be reflected in engineering education. This paper focuses on a maple-seed robotic flier (MRF) with various complexities, a robotic platform modeled after the samaras of maple or ash trees, to teach STEM…

In this manuscript, we report the impact of students' usage of a simulator in the preparation of chemical engineers. This case study was conducted using content pretest and posttests, survey questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations, and an analysis of students' written response to design problems. Results showed the use of simulator was…

Video analysis, using the program Tracker (Open Source Physics), in the educational process introduces a new creative method of teaching physics and makes natural sciences more interesting for students. This way of exploring the laws of nature can amaze students because this illustrative and interactive educational software inspires them to think…

Many scholars claimed the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is beneficial to the national economy and teachers and institutes have been working to develop integrated education programs. This study examined a project-based learning (PjBL) activity that integrated STEM using survey and interview…

Engineering graduates are expected to possess various competencies categorised into hard and soft skills. The hard skills are acquired through specific coursework, but the soft skills are often treated perfunctorily. Global Engineering Teams (GET) is a programme that promotes project-oriented tasks in virtual student teams working in collaboration…

In this paper, we summarize our experiences from teaching a course in humanoid robotics at Chalmers University of Technology in Goteborg, Sweden. We describe the robotic platform used in the course and we propose the use of a custom-built robot consisting of standard electronic and mechanical components. In our experience, by using standard…