This paper describes the development of the IDEAS: Interdisciplinary Design Engineering and Service program. This program supports and promotes community-based projects as a vehicle for providing students with real-world experience working with clients to solve need-based problems. IDEAS supports senior design projects, an interdisciplinary course on community-based projects, as well as extra-curricular projects through various student organizations. A complete description of the course, common projects and challenges is provided. We describe the benefits of developing long-term community partnerships. Student self-assessments of skills gained shows the course to be successful in providing engineering design experience and soft skills as well as professional sense of the positive societal impact of engineering projects. Course demographics show these projects attract a higher percentage of underrepresented groups than in the overall engineering student population.

Too often new engineering concepts are presented to students with little to no indication of where these concepts exist in our day to day lives. If examples are provided, they are commonly applications that are still beyond the everyday experience of our students, e.g. bending of beams in a loaded building versus bending of a skateboard carrying a rider. Educational studies indicate that learning and understanding are enhanced if the learner can tie new concepts to existing knowledge, especially knowledge they have gained experientially. To promote improved student performance and retention, NSF's Research on Gender in Science and Engineering funded ENGAGE to increase college and university use of three research strategies found to improve outcomes for all students but particularly for female students. One of these strategies is the incorporation of Everyday Examples in Engineering (E 3 s) into math, science and engineering instruction. This work presents the results of using E 3 s in a sophomore-level Mechanics of Materials course. Student performance on exam questions from three sections that did not receive instruction using E 3 s was compared with student performance from five sections taught using E 3 s. The only change in the course instruction was the replacement of typical textbook examples to everyday examples. All students included in the study were taught by the same instructor. Long-term retention of course concepts was also reviewed by implementing a concept quiz on the first day of a junior level course that students take anywhere from six to nine months after the completion of the Mechanics of Materials course. The concept quiz has been administered three times: once to students from the three sections taught without E 3 s and twice to include the students from the five sections taught with E 3 s. Results of this work show that both student exam performance and material retention improved as a result of using proven E 3 s regardless of gender. Course topics where the existing teaching methods already resulted in solid student exam performance saw the least impact on exam grades from the inclusion of E 3 s, but student retention in these topics was improved. This would suggest that faculty would see the greatest immediate gains by including E 3 s in those areas where their students have historically had poor performance. However, for long-term material retention, proven E 3 s should be included whenever possible to introduce new engineering concepts. Finally, student interest in course material was shown to increase slightly for male students and significantly for female students when E 3 s where incorporated in the course.

This work examines the impact different pedagogical approaches in an engineering statics course had on student learning, long-term retention of material, student interest in their field of study and how the impact differs with gender. During the 2015-2016 academic year, five sections of engineering statics were taught, for a total of approximately 130 students including all sophomore civil and mechanical engineering students along with junior and senior electrical engineering students and some bio-engineering students pursuing a minor in mechanical engineering. Four sections, each taught by different professors, implemented significant pedagogical changes. Course changes incorporated flipped classes, flipped-flipped classes and many hands on activities. One of the professors taught the fifth section as a control group using their normal teaching style that includes more traditional active learning methods like group work, questioning and demonstrationsTo assess the impact of the pedagogical approaches, the statics concept inventory developed by Paul Steif was used twice during the course to assess pre-then post-course knowledge. The concept inventory was also used to assess long-term retention of a cohort of students one to four months after they finished the course. Results between the control class and the students taught with the inverted model are compared. Students filled out a post-course survey asking for input on activities and videos and how they perceived the course helped them learn and engage in the subject and engineering.Results from this work indicate the specific active learning technique implemented is less important in student learning gains and student engagement than the experience and training of the faculty member in effectively implementing active learning methodologies. Students in all sections showed long-term retention of course topics and had similar preferences in contentdelivery methods. Gender differences were striking, with female students gaining significantly to their male counterparts. The results of this study provide insight for other researchers hoping to implement active learning approaches in introductory engineering courses. IntroductionEngineering statics is one of the first classes specific to the fields of civil and mechanical engineering and an important opportunity to engage engineering students in a challenging subject in their field of study. Extensive lecturing is still the most common form of instruction for engineering faculty at Santa Clara University, with over 70% of STEM faculty self-reporting lecturing "most" or "all" of the time.1 A recent meta-analysis by Freeman, et.al. 2 of over 225 studies in STEM education, indicates that students in STEM courses taught with extensive lecturing are 1.5 times more likely to fail, earn a D, or withdraw from the course than students taught with active-learning methods in the same STEM course subject. To facilitate other SCU faculty in adopting more active approaches in the statics course, the authors developed a...

Social media, cell phones, Candy Crush, the crossword in the student newspaper, and worries about the exam in the next class are among the many distractors competing for students' attention in class. Teaching in this potentially distraction-filled environment can pose significant challenges for instructors. Use of active learning techniques such as in-class activities, problem solving exercises, discussions, and questioning draw students' attention to the task at hand and help keep them engaged. Effective use of humor and fun are important tools in this endeavor. Numerous studies cite the importance of building positive rapport as a critical factor in promoting student learning. This study investigates the effectiveness of using candy in engineering classrooms and recommends methods of developing positive rapport using candy. Some faculty may be concerned about the use of candy in college classrooms as unprofessional or as a trick to curry student favor. Accordingly, students from four universities, both public and private, and from different geographical regions within the United States were asked for input about the use of candy in engineering courses. Results indicate that students feel that candy is an appropriate tool in college education and a majority agreed that candy use is not distracting or unprofessional. Similarly, students considered candy as a means for motivating them to pay attention and participate. The authors provide recommendations on how to incorporate use of candy in the classroom and list common pitfalls to avoid. This study demonstrates that, if used correctly, candy can aid student learning in college engineering classrooms. No Sugarcoating: An Introduction to using candy in the classroom Is 'having fun' relevant to learning engineering? Can use of humor or candy help promote fun? Will students perceive use of candy as unprofessional or distracting? Will students take a class or professor less seriously if candy is used? Will colleagues frown upon use of candy in the classroom? These important questions, sometimes expressed as concerns by faculty, provided the motivation for this study. Each of the authors has made an intentional choice to use candy in support of student learning. However, each of us has also asked and been asked the questions presented above. Frequently, concerns are expressed by junior faculty who may not have been exposed to the concept of 'having fun' in a college classroom or who may be concerned about students' perceptions of their role as leader in the classroom. Some faculty have expressed concern that students may consider use of candy or humor as unprofessional or inappropriate in engineering classrooms. Appropriate use of candy, as with any tool in the classroom, can help engage students, especially when coupled with appropriate use of humor. Numerous sources in engineering education literature describe the importance of engaging students as active participants to improve contextual understanding and retention of material 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Instructional strate...

where she teaches undergraduate courses in civil engineers. Before coming to SCU, Laura was a post doctoral scholar for the John Muir Institute of the Environment at University of California, Davis where she used multi-dimensional models to examine water quality of the San Francisco Bay Delta system. She earned her masters and doctoral degrees at UC Davis and her undergraduate degree (all in civil engineering) is from Loyola Marymount University.