NDLI: Statics and Engineering Design-a new freshman engineering course at the US Coast Guard Academy

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Russell, J.
Copyright Year	2002
Description	Author affiliation: U.S. Coast Guard Acad., New London, CT, USA (Russell, J.)
Abstract	The US Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) began teaching a new freshmen engineering course titled Statics and Engineering Design (SED) in the Fall 2000 semester. The new course represents a significant change from the Introduction to Engineering and Design course that had been taught at USCGA for more than 20 years. Teaching statics to freshman is not new; however, unlike most institutions, all freshmen at USCGA take the same first course in engineering regardless of their intended major. The critical factor that allows us to successfully teach a statics-based course to nonengineers yet provide an acceptable foundation in mechanics to future engineers is that the order and choice of topics was new. Many have argued that design is an essential component of all freshmen engineering courses. In SED, we introduce a six step problem solving process that is identified by the acronym DRIDS-V (define, research, identify, decide, solve-verify). This same process is not only used in other engineering classes but it is also used in several other freshman level classes in other departments. In SED, we put DRIDS-V to use on multiple open-ended group projects that require statics-based design and hands-on building of a system. Each project has a clear goal and multiple constraints, yet affords the cadets many opportunities to be creative while solving the problem. Nightly closed ended statics homework is completed using a three-step subset of the full design process. The initial success of the course can be partly measured in the recruiting of would-be nonengineers to engineering. By giving all USCGA freshman a fun yet "real" engineering course, it took away their fear of engineering and has resulted in an increase in the number of qualified applicants to the engineering majors. A comparison is made showing that future engineer SED cadets performed as well as Sophomore Statics cadets on a common multiple choice final exam.
Sponsorship	IEEE Educ. Soc. IEEE Comput. Soc. American Soc. Eng. Educ. (Educ. Res. & Methods Div.)
File Size	387721
File Format	PDF
ISBN	0780374444
ISSN	01905848
DOI	10.1109/FIE.2002.1158623
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2002-11-06
Publisher Place	USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Design engineering Education Buildings Recruitment Ethics Mice Robots Problem-solving Process design Bridges
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Education Computer Science Applications Software

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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