Discusses the effects of training on the teaching staff in an innovation process that is the implementation of English-medium instruction by non-native speaking lecturers to non-native speaking students. The workshop turned out to be the most appropriate professional development for the first two phases in the innovation process. (Contains 13…

Critical reflection is at the heart of being an effective teacher. Suggests that it is no longer appropriate in university education to focus on what but also on how and why. (Author/MM)

Describes the two-course engineering design graphics sequence on introductory design and graphics topics. The first course focuses on conceptual design and the development of visualization and sketching skills while the second one concentrates on detail design and parametric modeling. (Contains 28 references.) (Author/ASK)

This paper discusses the knowledge and skill requirements for manufacturing system design and describes an innovative "learning laboratory" approach to educating graduate level manufacturing engineers. The laboratory provides a mechanism that gives engineers a wide range of knowledge and skills in design and implementation, much of which cannot be…

This chapter describes how engineering faculty and learning scientists developed a collective wisdom--shared language, capabilities, and world view--in order to work together to achieve a common goal of developing course materials in the domain of biomedical engineering. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Compares three common ways of measuring persistence and emphasizes factors that encourage students to persist including positive images of scientists and engineers, positive attitudes toward gender equity in science and engineering, and positive classroom experiences. Indicates that students' gender did not interact with their images, attitudes,…

This paper describes a case study concerning the teaching of logistics in the Computers and Electrical Engineering degree at FEUP. The logistics course is taken in the last semester of the degree and there are no lectures given by the teachers. All the learning strategy is based upon the autonomous learning capacity of the students, following the…

Assessment determines what students regard as important: if a teacher wants to change students' learning, he/she should change the methods of assessment. This article describes the use of portfolio assessment on five courses dealing with chemical reactor and process design during the years 1999-2001. Although the use of portfolio was a new…

An engineering professional argues that the graphing calculator is simply a pedagogical tool no more useful than the answer key in the mathematics text.

Societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology have become a hot topic of public debates in many countries because both revolutionary changes and strong public concerns are expected from its development. Because nanotechnology is, at this point, mostly articulated in visionary and futuristic terms, it is difficult to apply standard methods of…

Purpose: To show the key points of a development education program for engineering studies fitted within the framework of the human development paradigm. Design/methodology/approach: The bases of the concept of technology for human development are presented, and the relationship with development education analysed. Special attention is dedicated…

Some of the most important challenges for engineering schools at the beginning of the 21st century are summarised as well as the role of ERASMUS Thematic Networks (TN) in this scenario. Though focus is mainly given to the European environment, the changes which are interesting Engineering Education appear to involve also the non-European sphere…

Comments on the original article "Sex Differences in Intrinsic Aptitude for Mathematics and Science?: A Critical Review," by E. S. Spelke (see record EJ733610 ). Spelke reviewed an assortment of studies showing how rare the differences are between genders in mathematics ability. Yet she also mentioned that academic faculties of U.S. universities…

A survey on the attitudes of engineering faculty to chemistry, physics, and mathematics was conducted with the aim of clarifying the attitudes of engineering faculty to chemistry courses in relation to engineering education or curricula and assessing their expectations. The results confirm that on the whole chemistry is perceived as having a…

The purpose of the U.S. Department of Education's online newsletter "The Education Innovator" is to promote innovative practices in education; to offer features on promising programs and practices; to provide information on innovative research, schools, policies, and trends; and to keep readers informed of key Department priorities and activities.…