Integrating Design into the Sophomore and Junior Level Mechanics Courses

Abstract

Engineering schools across the country are developing ways of integrating design into their curriculum, and a question that often arises is how to best integrate design into the sophomore and junior level courses. Freshman design projects or mechanical dissection courses are designed to give the students hands-on experience in conceptual design and construction, with little if any of the mathematical modeling normally used in engineering design. The capstone senior design project is a true engineering design experience, where students draw from their background to conceptualize, analyze, model, refine, and optimize a product to meet design, manufacturing, and life cycle cost requirements. The sophomore and junior level courses should assist students in making the transition from the "seat-of-the-pants" freshman design approach to the engineering design approach required for the capstone experience and engineering practice. This paper summarizes a three year effort at integrating design into the Mechanics of Materials course, but the principal conclusions drawn would apply to most sophomore and junior engineering science courses.

Integrated Curricula: Purpose and Design

“…Although they may be difficult to formulate, authentic problems eliminate the student's ability to memorize solution tricks. Other researchers 8 distinguish between textbook problems and realistic problems. Since very few "real world" problems require knowledge drawn from a single discipline, 9,10 integrated curricula have a better chance at providing authentic and realistic problems.…”

Work in progress: Student outcomes of design projects across the curriculum

“…Most previous research on engineering design education [1][2][3][4] focuses on capstone courses [3][4]. The research on design integration throughout a curriculum does not give concrete student outcomes as to whether changes improve the undergraduate experience for students or increase performance in the design capstone course [1].…”

“…The research on design integration throughout a curriculum does not give concrete student outcomes as to whether changes improve the undergraduate experience for students or increase performance in the design capstone course [1]. Since design skills gained in capstone design courses are vitally important for students' careers in both industry and academia, design should not be introduced only at the end of undergraduate programs.…”

A Review of Practical Design Integration Methods for Existing Engineering Curriculum

“…Engineering faculty desiring to integrate the design process throughout their curriculum must develop innovative and insightful ways to do so without drastically changing existing curriculum. Slightly modifying the content of an engineering course is perhaps the most realistic approach 11,12 . Several examples of practical design integration methods are provided to meet this need.…”