Spatial thinking is important for success in engineering. However, little is known about "how" students learn and apply spatial skills, particularly in kindergarten to Grade 12 engineering learning. The present study investigated the role of spatial thinking in engineering learning at a middle school summer camp. Participants were 26…

In general, what we think of as "diversity work" in undergraduate engineering education focuses in the following ways: more on the overlooked assets of minority groups than on the acts of overlooking, more on the experiences of marginalized groups than on the mechanisms of marginalization by dominant groups, more on supporting and…

Most higher education institutions employ a traditional, summative scoring system to report student grades at the end of each semester. This system is limited in that it offers a final grade based on individual assignments completed throughout the semester without testing whether students have sufficiently understood the learning objectives of the…

Background: Self-efficacy has been shown to be positively related to undergraduate engineering students' achievement. Designing self-efficacy measures to assess the multifaceted skills required of engineers could improve the predictive relationship between efficacy beliefs and performance. Purpose: This study evaluates the factor structure,…

Background: Community cultural wealth, or the types of cultural capital that students of color employ, has been used to understand the persistence of students of color in engineering. The assets-based theory of community cultural wealth helps identify the cultural resources that these students develop in their families and communities and bring to…

Science students should undertake engineering design projects and carry out scientific investigations, as recommended by the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013). However, studies show that students misconstrue the goals of science and engineering and are uncertain about their respective practices (Gilbert and Wade…

Science teachers and mentors continue to be challenged to meet the high expectations of "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" and the "Next Generation Science Standards." Indeed the Framework urges teachers to help learners "[build] progressively more sophisticated explanations of natural phenomena..." while the…

Robert Henry Thurston is presented in this article. He provides one the most significant examples of professionalizing engineering through innovative education and promoting scientific education practices in the late nineteenth century. The son of a draftsmen and steam engine mechanic, Thurston spent his early years in Providence, Rhode Island.…

Three different course models devoted to preparing science and engineering students for successful research endeavors were offered at three research institutions. Goals of this work include (a) involving students early in their academic career so they can gain the most out of subsequent research experiences and (b) providing basic skills to make…

The goal of this paper is to examine the relationship of student motivation and achievement in low-stakes assessment contexts. Using Pearson product-moment correlations and hierarchical linear regression modelling to analyse data on 794 tertiary students who undertook a low-stakes engineering mechanics assessment (along with the questionnaire of…

Neural engineering is an emerging field of high relevance to students, teachers, and the general public. This feature presents online resources that educators and scientists can use to introduce students to neural engineering and to integrate core ideas from the life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, computer science, and engineering…

We present an approach to the impulsive response method for solving linear constant-coefficient ordinary differential equations of any order based on the factorization of the differential operator. The approach is elementary, we only assume a basic knowledge of calculus and linear algebra. In particular, we avoid the use of distribution theory, as…

The aim of this paper is to describe the design of chemical engineering laboratory sessions in order to focus them on the learning company approach. This is an activity carried out in the classroom similar to the activities that exist in real companies. This could lead classroom practice to a more cooperative learning and a different style of…

Developing effective pedagogies to help students examine anomalous data is critical for the education of the next generation of scientists and engineers. By definition anomalous data do not concur with prior knowledge, theories and expectations. Such data are the common outcome of empirical investigation in hands-on laboratories (HOLs). These…

This paper discusses the use of a free mobile engineering application (app) called Autodesk® ForceEffect™ to provide students assistance with spatial visualization of forces and more practice in solving/visualizing statics problems compared to the traditional pencil-and-paper method. ForceEffect analyzes static rigid-body systems using free-body…