In this three credit-hour course, an engineering approach to problem solving is taught with an emphasis on teamwork, communication (oral and written), creativity, ingenuity, coding, and computer-aided design tools. The instructional approach used in this course involves freshman engineering students as active participants in the learning process. Project based learning involves implementing projects with hands-on tasks, well-defined outcomes, multiple solutions to a given problem, and linking science and engineering concepts.
This Complete Evidence-based Practice paper will describe a longitudinal study of 6 years of enhanced attainment of course and programmatic outcomes in a Fundamentals of Engineering course. A process of continuous improvement of active learning techniques to achieve each course goal and demonstrate each outcome has resulted in more effective development of firstyear engineering students. One of the signature assignments in the course, the short midterm research paper and presentation, demonstrates effective incorporation of elements from The Critical Thinking Initiative. It is a framework to teach a mentality of critical thinking, guide development of a researched writing piece, and as a rubric instrument to assess student critical thinking through writing. Student oral communication is another key outcome. A subjective rubric has been replaced with a transparent, straightforward, binary check sheet rubric. Another signature assignment in the course is a team-based design challenge. Evaluation of student performance was difficult and subjective. Through continuous improvement built on student feedback we developed a transparent method of evaluating the design challenge. We demonstrate the effectiveness of a simple check-sheet style rubric for evaluation of demonstrated design thinking and project management skills in the team-based design challenge. Results of this 6-year study show steady achievement of the course outcomes, with progress toward achieving all course goals.
Infrared light, when used in a narrow biological window, can be applied in such a way as to obtain blood flow measurements in vivo in tissues deeper than skin. When using light as a medium for blood flow measurement, the circulatory system's response to a stimulus such as occlusion may be a useful tool to characterize circulatory health. We developed a wireless, noninvasive device that uses photoplethysmography (PPG) in order to study pulsatile blood volume changes in the finger in both the skin and bone that occur during post-occlusive reactive hyperemia. We used this device at the top of the intermediate phalanx of the middle finger to measure a hyperemic response, which was induced mechanically with the use of a pressure cuff. Our study develops on prior work done by Näslund et al. and J. Mateus which evaluated pulsatile blood volume changes in bone with near-infrared light 1,2 .The custom built wireless reflection-mode PPG system consisted of both a visible light sensor and an infrared sensor to observe the pulsatile blood volume changes at both the surface of the skin as well as in the bone, respectively. The system utilized green and infrared LED's with peak spectral output at 568nm and 810nm. A dedicated visible light phototransistor detected the green LED light and a near-infrared phototransistor detected the near-infrared light. We specifically chose these two wavelengths because of their location near the isobestic points of blood as well as their depth of penetration into and absorption by biological tissues of interest. Each analog front end was comprised of an anti-aliasing filter, a tunable gainstage and high and low pass active filters, which filter the analog signals from the phototransistors and restrict the PPG data to a bandwidth of .7 Hz to 4.1 Hz, covering the full range of the human pulse. We heuristically tuned the gain stage to yield a .5V peak to peak PPG waveform from both the green and infrared sensors under normal conditions with no treatments applied to the subject being studied. A microcontroller sampled data from the green and infrared sensor systems at 50 samples/sec. The device sent the data points for both channels concurrently over a single Bluetooth channel to a PC running MATLAB by time-division multiplexing the two signals.The experiment consisted of data collection from the green and infrared PPG sensors for about ten minutes. We collected PPG data without any treatment being applied for the first two minutes. Around minute two, we inflated a pressure cuff on the bicep of the arm to 140mmHg for about three minutes in order to induce ischemia in the finger being studied. The ischemia was characterized by the absence of a pulse at the finger. At around five minutes, we deflated the cuff, inducing a hyperemic response in the finger.We recorded eight experimental trials of the setup on one individual in MATLAB. It was not possible to obtain reliable hyperemic response data for both infrared and green PPG sensors at the same time in any of the eight trials due to the susceptibili...
Through service learning, both students and community partners help fulfill each other's needs. A robotics service-learning course teaches the principles of robotics through hands-on activities and requires each student to participate in mentoring high school robotics team. Through these relationships, students gain a deeper understanding of the principles of robotics from the classroom, through teaching those principles to others and helping their mentored team solve problems. Students gain an appreciation for, and capability to, inspire younger generations to engage in STEM activities.The course integrates STEM outreach into the engineering curriculum as a major elective for all engineering students. The course successfully implements reflection practices to measure attainment of civic learning outcomes, which are essential to true service-learning courses. A rubric measures student achievement of course technical outcomes. Improved team performance demonstrates effectiveness of the university mentors. The mentoring has a demonstrable effect on youth attitudes toward STEM education and careers. The course and mentoring resulted in 85% retention of existing youth team members, plus addition of new youth from 3 additional high schools, expanding the reach of the robotics team in the community. The course has also resulted in the university hosting a district competition, increasing STEM visibility to the ~1200 community attendees.
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