Examines first-year chemical engineering students' conceptions of the energy changes taking place in dissolution. Students were individually interviewed and transcripts (n=17) were analyzed using a phenomenographic methodology. The phenomenographic category explanations given by students were used as the basis for developing an approach to…

Describes the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA), a collaborative project in distance education that was developed to offer graduate engineering degree programs involving MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Discusses results of student evaluations of the…

The two models for group exams described here employ these exams as both a formative strategy for assessing student understanding of key course material and preparing students for further class activities and a summative strategy for evaluating student learning and assigning grades.

Presents effective strategies for teaching in chemical engineering. (Author/NB)

Describes a study that looked at assessment areas and practices in engineering/technical graphics education. The study focused on the particular assessment practices that should be used in grading introductory courses. Outcomes include a listing of major assessment categories with content objectives that experts feel should be addressed in the…

Journal impact factors (JIFs) as determined by the Institute for Scientific and Technological Information of China (ISTIC) of forty-two Chinese engineering journals were compared with external Web link counts, obtained from Lycos, and Web Impact Factors (WIFs) of corresponding journal Web sites to determine if any significant correlation existed…

When a multiculturalist in one of today's politicized departments imposes his relative nihilism on students--and will tolerate no questioning of that orthodoxy--he is acting on the same self-interested urge for conformity that impels your average suicide bomber. Balance does not come into play. Max Hocutt treats the impulse toward political…

Multimedia presents a number of challenges and opportunities which must be addressed if it is to be used effectively in an educational context. Engineering education can greatly benefit, if these challenges and opportunities are met. This paper describes a framework for the development of multimedia applications. It then uses this framework to…

The increased use of electronics in today's automobiles has complicated the control of circuits and actuators. Manufacturers use relays to control a variety of complex circuits--for example, those involving actuators and other components like the A/C clutch, electronic cooling fans, and blower motors. Relays allow a switch or processor to control…

From personal relationships to complex business dealings, negotiations are essential forms of communication. But negotiation skills are often neglected in university courses. One reason for this neglect is the difficulty of teaching negotiations effectively. Such teaching requires both an underlying theoretical base and activities that provide…

Educators and school designers place a high priority on creating facilities that enhance learning. That applies not only to how a school is built, but also to the materials and equipment used. Just as acoustical treatments or well-placed windows and skylights can make a classroom more conducive to learning, so can the right furniture. Desks,…

Reformers seeking to increase student understanding and interest are looking to collaborative partnerships to support improved science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching. At the college level partnerships across colleges are encouraged by reformers in order to provide all students with strong content understanding, model…

The purpose of this online study was to create a ranking of essential core competencies and technologies required by AET (audio engineering technology) programs 10 years in the future. The study was designed to facilitate curriculum development and improvement in the rapidly expanding number of small to medium sized audio engineering technology…

This paper investigates learner response to a novel kind of intonation feedback generated from speech analysis. Instead of displays of pitch curves, our feedback is flashing lights that show how much pitch variation the speaker has produced. The variable used to generate the feedback is the standard deviation of fundamental frequency as measured…

Now in its fourth year, PR[superscript 2]EPS is a National Science Foundation funded initiative designed to recruit high school students to attend college majoring in the physical sciences, including engineering and secondary science education, and to help ensure their retention within the program until graduation. A central feature of the…