A vital aspect of an answer is the confidence that goes along with it. Misstating the level of confidence one has in the answer can have devastating outcomes. However, confidence assessment is rarely emphasized during typical engineering education. The confidence-based scoring method described in this study encourages students to both think about…

This paper reports on the development of metalearning capacity in the learning of a "threshold concept"--capacity of transformative significance relative to metalearning in the general response context of a discipline or subject. The development of metalearning capacity is framed within a protocol that invites students to self-construct…

Thermodynamics, and in particular entropy, has been found to be challenging for students, not least due to its abstract character. Comparisons with more familiar and concrete domains, by means of analogy and metaphor, are commonly used in thermodynamics teaching, in particular the metaphor "entropy is disorder." However, this particular…

An integrative laboratory study addressing fundamentals of enzyme catalysis and their application to reactors operation and modeling is presented. Invertase, a ß-fructofuranosidase that catalyses the hydrolysis of sucrose, is used as the model enzyme at optimal conditions (pH 4.5 and 45 °C). The experimental work involves 3 h of laboratory time…

In order to train young professionals, instructional methodologies in engineering need not only teach students knowledge, but must also instill the values and teach the behaviors--"competencies" students can demonstrate--required of professional practice. Herein, we focus on understanding the values and behaviors of students with respect…

This paper presents a case study of how the interactive whiteboard (IWB) may facilitate collective meaning-making processes in group work in engineering education. In the case, first-year students attended group-work sessions as an organised part of a basic physics course at a Norwegian university college. Each student group was equipped with an…

Pressure to increase the throughput of university students in ethical ways has been a catalyst for innovations to improve learning and student success. Student dropout occurs mostly in the first year of study and poor performance is a major contributor to dropout even if the underlying reason for the poor performance is not academic…

Our nation's prospects hinge on how well it responds to demographic change. The future of U.S. leadership in technology and innovation will increasingly depend on young women and people of color. If current trends persist, we are in for a world of trouble. Researchers have long known that women and people of color are scarce in STEM jobs, but…

Language use cannot be divorced from the context in which it takes place. In the academic circles, the context can be twofold: one concerned with language learning while the other interested in language assessment. The aim of this research paper is to shed light on both perspectives by setting a high premium on the speaking performances and the…

Social network analysis (SNA), with its distinct perspective on studying relations and its exceptional capability to visualize data, should be embraced by institutional researchers as a promising new research methodology complementary to inferential and exploratory statistics. This article introduces SNA through discussion of three analytical…

There is increasing pressure to make pathways to higher education more accessible to students from a wide range of backgrounds, including those from lower socioeconomic circumstances. Often, those students gain vocational qualifications but those qualifications do not always support them fully to articulate to higher education. This is, at least…

Engineering is being currently taught in the full spectrum of the P-12 system, with an emphasis on design-oriented teaching (Brophy, Klein, Portsmore, & Rogers, 2008). Due to only a small amount of research on the learning of engineering design in elementary and middle school settings, the community of practice lacks the necessary knowledge of the…

This study focuses on the effectiveness of incorporating the Laboratory for Innovative Technology and Engineering Education (LITEE) Lorn Manufacturing case into a senior level chemical engineering unit operations course at Manhattan College. The purpose of using the case study is to demonstrate the relevance of ethics to chemical engineering…

A version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, passed by the House of Representatives in June 2009, mandates a 17% cut in emissions by 2020 and upwards of an 80% cut by 2050, based on emissions from 2005. This impending legislation is a challenge to companies already trying to survive in an economic downturn. It is critical that the…

The unreacted-core shrinking (UCS) model is employed to characterize fluid-particle reactions that are important in industry and research. An approach to understand the UCS model by numerical methods is presented, which helps the visualization of the influence of the variables that control the overall heterogeneous process. Use of this approach in…