Two approaches to flexible learning were tried in an Australian college of technical and further education: in engineering, the industry enterprise approach focused on employers as clients; in office administration, the individual customization approach viewed the student as client. Each model fit different types of training needs and contexts.…

By designing, building, and operating autonomous robots students learn key engineering subjects and develop systems-thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. Such events as the Trinity College Fire-Fighting Home Robot Contest (TCFFHRC) offer rich opportunities for students to apply their skills by requiring design, and implementation of…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between: 1) comprehensiveness of student developed model tests and final exam score, 2) the quality of student developed model tests and answer keys combined, and final exam score, and 3) student developed model test similarity to instructor final exam and final exam score.…

This article is part of a larger scale project on some aspects of the process of academic socialization of a group of Iranian Ph.D. students studying in five UK universities, particularly focusing on the relationship between these students and their supervisors. The study included eight engineering and five social sciences/humanities students, as…

This study examined the utility of social cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994) in predicting engineering interests and major choice goals among women and men and among students at historically Black and predominantly White universities. Participants (487 students in introductory engineering courses at 3…

This paper is based on the results of the initial phase of a long-term study undertaken to identify some of the factors that contribute to 'good teaching' in the realm of higher education in engineering in India. Feedback from both students and teachers in an engineering institution in India points to the fact that 'good teaching' consists of much…

This study examined university engineering and physical science students' misconceptions of the nature of magnetic field. It is assumed that a significant knowledge of the sources of magnetic field is a basic prerequisite when students have to think about electromagnetic phenomena. To analyze students' conceptions, we have taken into account the…

This chapter presents an innovative framework for a mechanical engineering program of study termed desegregated learning. The goal is not desegregation but rather to promote a higher level of learning and to look for opportunities where desegregating the learning environment yields optimal results with reasonable costs and complexity. (Contains 3…

This study examined the extent to which women and men majoring in science, math, engineering, and technology (SMET) fields engaged in a broad array of effective educational practices. Women in SMET fields were generally as, or more, engaged in educationally fruitful activities as their male counterparts. The results of this study, when combined…

Women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors and careers in most industrialized countries around the world. This paper explores the broad array of explanations for the absence of women in STEM put forth in the literature of the last 30 years. It is argued that some proposed explanations are without…

While blacks are making modest headway in U.S. undergraduate engineering programs, there are few blacks in graduate engineering programs and, thus, among the nation's engineering faculty. Discusses: nationwide black enrollments in undergraduate and graduate engineering programs; blacks at top-rated engineering schools; universities enrolling the…

The author has developed an innovative science website resource that also shows how engineers use science. As well as addressing scientific facts and concepts, the resource also engages children in the process of scientific enquiry, using graph tools and data interpretation. Part of the resource helps children to understand that much of what they…

In 2001 a large-scale project, the "Breakthrough project", to develop teaching and learning was started at Lund Institute of Technology (LTH), Lund University, Sweden. The project has had a duration of 3 years and the aims of the project were to change the paradigm from teaching to learning and implement a sense of scholarship of…

In 2000 the UK Engineering Professors' Council (EPC) drafted an output standard to describe first-cycle engineering programmes that would prepare students for practice and further professional learning. The standard described what is authentic and worthwhile in engineering education--it identified complex outcomes of learning. This poses practical…

In a project-organized problem-based learning curriculum, students are encouraged to learn through a process where they write questions and find their own answers. Their supervisor has an important function in facilitating this process. When it comes to project assessment, this pattern is often changed to one where the supervisor asks the…