Enhancing Undergraduate Engineering Education Through Experiential Learning Activities in Statics

Abstract

Statics, the most fundamental engineering mechanics component of the curriculum for nearly every engineering major is typically taken during the sophomore year and, for many, represents their first true engineering course. Students draw from knowledge taken from the arenas of math and physics and learn to predict how systems of forces will behave. Even though the concepts represent the basic application of their academic core, we have viewed first hand a high percentage of students struggling with many of the concepts; possible reasons for which are discussed in this paper. Presented herein are new, innovative, hands-on experiential learning activities that include physical representations of traditional Statics problems, each specifically tailored to increase a student's grasp of the material and enhance their problem-solving skills. These experiential activities have been proven to be highly effective. They have also been designed to be portable, affordable, and deployable in a manner that does not require additional lab time and in no way detracts from valuable lecture and class time thus preserving the current credit hour count. Eight different activities covering the following topics are detailed in this paper: two-dimensional particle equilibrium, pulleys, equivalent systems, two-dimensional rigid body equilibrium, frames, cables subject to discrete loads, fluid pressure, and friction. Also present are the results demonstrating the effectiveness of the experiential learning activities with regard to surveys gauging student acceptance and perceived value. Overall, the experiential learning activities employed by our school enhance the education of the students in Statics and therefore provide them with a stronger starting position for subsequent courses in Engineering Mechanics. It should also be noted that these activities are well suited for outreach programs to demonstrate application of STEM to potential upcoming engineers.