Comparison of self-concept scores of groups of both engineering and speech communications students before and after a course in their corresponding subjects showed that the speech students underwent a positive change in self-concept whereas the engineering students were unchanged. (MLH)

Describes a chemistry course for electrical engineers that uses oral assessment as a terminal assessment method. (MLH)

Briefly discusses historical attitudes toward the divergence between the arts and sciences; describes a team-taught course in the literature of technology. (MLH)

Provides general guidelines for shaping a course devoted to the interaction of sciences and humanities, especially for the engineering student. (MLH)

Discusses civil engineering education and the need to extend engineering education longer than four years. (SL)

Spreadsheet programs are used increasingly by engineering students to solve problems, especially problems requiring repetitive calculations, as they provide rapid and simple numerical solutions. This article shows how advanced spreadsheet programs are used in the learning of numerical solutions of two-dimensional diffusion equation using the…

Reports on the Review of Undergraduate Education from the Committee for the Review to the National Science Foundation Directorate for Education and Human Resources, October 1996. Highlights recommendations for action in shaping the future of undergraduate education in the sciences by institutions of higher education; businesses, industry, and the…

Summarizes a report from the joint committee of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine that recommends a new model of Ph.D. education based on changes in science, engineering, the economy, and society in general. Changes include more versatility, better career information and guidance, less…

Studies how support tools facilitate knowledge building processes in a World Wide Web-based virtual university engineering course. Examines whether students engage in different types of knowledge building activities when they use support tools and assesses the effect of support tool use on student knowledge building. (LRW)

Summarizes the activities, contents, and overall outcomes of an international seminar organized jointly by two working groups of SEFI--the Working Group on Women in Engineering and the Working Group on Information and Communication Technologies. Replaces traditional teaching methods and concentration on narrow technical contents with a more…

Discusses two reports that focus upon the imperative to improve undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology: (1) the National Research Council's "From Analysis to Action: Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology"; and (2) the National Science Foundation's "Shaping the Future: New…

The example of Alcoa and North Carolina State University shows that partnerships in course design, development, and delivery can result in an engineering curriculum that bridges theory and practice and makes students aware of industry expectations. (SK)

Describes the development of a test designed to allow meaningful and widespread computerized testing of various spatial factors. Examines the differences between traditional paper and pencil and computerized versions of the same test. Compares an interactive test designed to measure a working memory factor to the computerized version of…

Compares results of Successive Perception Test I (SPT) for the study population of freshman engineering students to their results on the group-administered Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Visualization of Rotations (PSVT) and the individually administered Haptic Visual Discrimination Test (HVDT). Concludes that either visual and haptic…

Reviews concerns with the current educational environment in higher education science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), such as the sheer size of the enterprise and the focus on research to the detriment of student learning. Calls for a visible and persistent national commitment to educational reform and renewal. (EV)