Mechanical engineering students take concurrent courses in mechanism and engineering design followed by a course in machine design. To reduce the burden on students of multiple, short-term projects, a single design project was developed to span all three courses. The primary goal of having students develop a design project in more depth than is usually expected in a single course was not attained.
Mechanical engineering students take concurrent courses in mechanism and engineering design followed by a course in machine design. To reduce the burden on students of multiple, short-term projects, a single design project was developed to span all three courses. The primary goal of having students develop a design project in more depth than is usually expected in a single course was not attained.
Mechanical engineering students take concurrent courses in mechanism and engineering design followed by a course in machine design. To reduce the burden on students of multiple, short-term projects, a single design project was developed to span all three courses. The primary goal of having students develop a design project in more depth than is usually expected in a single course was not attained.
A Report on Integrating Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering
Richard A. Layton and Samuel Owusu-Ofori
Department of Mechanical Engineering North Carolina A&T State University Greensboro, NC 27411
Abstract Mechanical engineering students at North • time-management problems as students try to
Carolina A&T State University take concurrent courses in schedule time for group work. During the first semester of mechanism and engineering design followed by a course in the sequence this problem is particularly acute because a machine design. Each course entails design projects. To student has different groups and projects for 440 and 474. reduce the burden on students of multiple, short-term In addition, many students have a third group and project projects and to give students the experience of developing a in a thermodynamics course the same semester. long-term project in more depth than is usually required in • start-up or learning-curve penalties as students an individual course, a single design project was developed spend time gaining familiarity with each project. Having a to span all three courses. new project for each course adds to this time penalty, The design project was selected to address a need in reducing the time available for productive work. developing countries for debris removal in street gutters to • interpersonal problems as students learn to reduce the health problems associated with flooding. accommodate one another’s work and study habits. Students designed machines for street-gutter debris Having a different group in each course tends to increase removal. Students at North Carolina A&T State University the likelihood of interpersonal friction, again reducing the and the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, time available for productive work. Ghana, collaborated in accordance with a previously established memorandum of understanding for student • student stress is high, particularly at the end of the exchange. first semester of the sequence, as written reports and oral In this paper is presented a report on this experiment presentations are prepared for several projects. in integrating design projects in mechanical engineering. • these difficulties are particularly burdensome on The problem is defined, students are profiled, and technical working students and other nontraditional students. issues, logistical issues, and methods of addressing these issues are discussed. The primary goal of having students develop a design project in more depth than is usually expected in a single course was not attained. Secondary goals of reducing the burden on students caused by multiple, short-term projects and assigning a meaningful design problem based on a documented need were met. An informal assessment of integration of this type is given.
Introduction
Mechanical engineering undergraduates at North Carolina
A&T State University (NCAT) take three courses in machine design. The first two courses, Mechanism Design Fig. 1. A sequence of design courses in mechanical and Analysis (MEEN 440) and Engineering Design (MEEN engineering at NCAT. 474), are typically taken concurrently in the second semester of the junior year. The third course, Design of A separate set of burdens is placed on faculty. First, the Machine Elements (MEEN 565), is scheduled for the instructor of each class spends time helping students with following semester. The sequence is illustrated in Fig. 1. the difficulties listed above. Mediating interpersonal Textbooks for these courses are by Norton [1] for 440 and problems can be particularly time-consuming. Second, at by Juvinall & Marshek [2] for 474 and 565. the end of a semester, lecture attendance drops as students In each of these three courses, students are assigned spend more time meeting their project deadlines. As a design projects that require significant team effort. The result, these students miss the concluding material of the burden placed on students by these projects includes: course, hindering their ability to unify the concepts developed earlier in the course. Last, instructors are obliged environmental and health hazards when blocked by litter or to develop new and interesting design projects for each natural debris. Blocked gutters cause flooded streets, course each semester. It is a difficult task to design student creating a driving hazard and contributing to pothole project assignments that are pedagogically satisfying, that formation. Blockage also produces standing water, creating contribute significantly to student learning, and that can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, posing a serious threat to completed in one semester. public health. The consequences of these difficulties are: In years past, gutters of this type were cleaned daily by • project assignments can lack “real-world” laborers. Today, with a more highly educated workforce, relevance, resulting in a project that is more an exercise manual laborers are in scarce supply and are than an open-ended problem of substance. correspondingly costly. There exists, therefore, a need for a • students acquire experience with short-term gutter cleaning system that is less costly and less labor- projects with limited goals instead of long-term projects intensive than manual laborers. The project assignment is to with broader goals. (This is not to say that short-term design such a system. projects don’t have a place in the curriculum.) • the typical completed project does not exhibit the depth of understanding of design and the application of fundamental principles instructors desire of the students. To address these issues, we developed a two-semester design project that spans all three courses. The project is assigned to students in 440 and 474 the first semester and is continued in the 565 class the following semester. The basic goal of this experiment is to give students the time to develop a design project in more depth than is usually expected in a single course, allowing them to exercise their skills in applying fundamental principles to a Fig. 2. Typical roadway gutter cross-section. Dimensions greater degree than is usually possible. Secondary goals are are approximate and vary by locale. to reduce the burden on students caused by multiple, short- term projects and to assign a meaningful design problem Student Profile based on a documented need. This project is not intended to be a capstone experience. Students enrolled in 440 and 474 are typically in the second For many students, 440 and 474 are the first courses in semester of their junior year and take the two courses which open-ended design is inherent in the course material. concurrently. Most of these students take 565 the following Therefore the project is intended to exercise students’ skills semester. Since only a single section of each course is only in these specific courses and their associated offered, the same cadre of about 25 students, with some prerequisites. exceptions, take these courses together. In this paper is described the design problem, a profile Prerequisites for these courses include materials, of the students involved, the technical and logistical issues statics, strengths, dynamics, circuits and thermodynamics. that arose in implementing this experiment, and methods Topics covered in 440 include the design and analysis of the instructors used in addressing these issues. Results linkages, gears and cams. In 474, the topics are design for include observations on group work, lessons in cooperative static and fatigue strength as well as project planning, learning, and comments on the international aspects of the standards and ethics. Topics covered in 565 include the project. design of fasteners, springs, bearings, gears and shafts. Students in these courses exhibit the usual range of Design Problem personality characteristics and learning styles of any student group. Some students strenuously resist group work. Some Roads are typically cambered to allow rainwater to drift to worry about individual credit for group work. Some have the sides of the road. Gutters are provided along the modest technical abilities but good group skills. Some roadsides to collect and dispose of runoff water, helping to students thrive on cooperation and others thrive on prevent premature roadway failure. A cross-sectional view confrontation. Competitiveness, arrogance, shyness, of a typical gutter in Ghana is shown in Fig. 2. Unlike most friendship, trust and distrust are all present in varying runoff water drainage systems in the United States, these degrees. These characteristics are important to note because gutters are not covered. the instructors devote a significant amount of time assisting Gutters of this type can contribute to serious students coping with nontechnical, group-interaction issues. Issues and Methods
Technical issues and methods
In most lower-division courses, students solve problems
using well-defined solution methods resulting in closed- form solutions. Consequently, students become accustomed to finding “correct” answers. However, in MEEN 440, 474 and 565, open-ended design is inherent in the subject matter. These are the first courses in the mechanical engineering curriculum in which students are daily expected to demonstrate competence through a thoughtful process instead of point solutions. As Hyman [3] says, “The design instructor is not so much a transmitter of facts, but a facilitator of the design process and a partner with the students in searching for successful solutions of design problems.” Students are not usually prepared for this type of student-instructor relationship. A related technical issue is that, prior to these courses, students are typically not required to integrate their Fig. 3. Example of student handout on problem types knowledge acquired in fundamental engineering science encountered in machine design. courses. It is often difficult for students to apply the skills they learned in statics, strengths, and dynamics, for example, as means of making design decisions in an Table 1. Student handout excerpts— learning objectives. iterative process rather than as ends in themselves. Lastly, since design is a new topic to most students Cam design entering this sequence of courses, students are generally 1. Given a cam specification, sketch the SVAJ unsure of what constitutes good conceptual design, good diagrams. detailed design, or even a completed design. One of the 2. Select an acceleration program to meet given objectives of all three courses is to address these performance criteria. uncertainties and ambiguities. 3. For a given cam and follower, sketch the pressure To address these technical issue, we collaborated on the angle; compute the pressure angle. problem statement and on the deliverables expected of 4. Outline the iterative procedure for sizing a cam. students at several milestones throughout the project. Design for static loads Learning objectives were provided to students for the major 1. Select an appropriate static failure theory. topics in each course. Excerpts from the set of objectives for 2. Apply failure theory to develop the design equation. kinematic cam design and static-load design are shown in 3. Analyze the design equation for sizing, material Table 1. Test questions were based on such written selection, and design factor. objectives. Design procedure suggestions for major components such as linkages, cams, springs, and so forth were summarized and provided to students. A sample Logistical issues and methods design handout is shown in Fig. 3. Project grades were based in part on the appropriate use of these procedures. In fairness to the students, we wanted to implement consistent policies for teaming, presentations, and grading. Accomplishing this goal entailed some compromise. For example, one instructor prefers group work for all assignments while the other instructor prefers individual work except for the major project. For the major project, one instructor prefers small groups (3 or 4 students each) while the other instructor prefers larger groups (4 to 6 students each). Our solution was to have small groups for all assignments in 440, and to combine small groups to form larger groups for the major project in both 440 and 474. In 565 the following semester, some of these larger and projects for each course according to personal groups were reorganized to account for students that preferences. However, grades assigned to oral and written dropped or added the course and to disband one group presentations in 440 and 474 were used in both courses. For having serious interpersonal difficulties. In all cases, as consistency, one instructor graded all oral presentations and recommended in [4], care was taken to have as the other graded all written reports. Presentation grading heterogeneous a mixture of student ability, race, ethnicity criteria were provided to students early in the semester and and gender in each group as possible. In addition, student written comments based on these criteria were provided schedules were considered in forming the small groups in after each submittal. Grades were not “curved.” Students 440 since these students had to meet regularly for all were held an objective standard based primarily on how assignments. Therefore the small groups were organized well the students satisfied the project deliverables, including first and the larger, combined groups were formed from the application of engineering fundamentals and basic combinations of the smaller groups. design principles. Assigning project deliverables consistent with the To mimic a competitive time-to-market environment, learning objectives in each course at progressive milestones teams earned extra credit for completing their final report was another logistical problem. The draft problem statement and presentation early. Teams requested a presentation date was reviewed with respect to course syllabi. The result was in writing and submitted written reports three days prior to a schedule of project deliverables that both moved the the presentation date. Only one presentation was allowed design project forward and built on the content of topical per date, except for the last day of class. The first group to course content. An outline of the schedule is given in Table present earned extra points equal to 20% of their score and 2 to illustrate the process. the second group earned 10%. Subsequent groups received Written and oral presentations were required of the no extra credit. student groups at each deliverable date. Emphasis was The final logistics problem was that of collaborating placed on clear and concise communications. During and with students and faculty at the University of Science and after oral presentations, instructors asked pointed questions Technology (UST) in Ghana. The primary difficulty was (for example, challenging unsubstantiated claims) and that of timely coordination— UST and NCAT follow encouraged students to think critically about the material different academic calendars. Consequently, NCAT students presented. Afterwards a colloquium-style discussion was in 440 and 474 were often unable to obtain timely answers held in which students and faculty discussed the merits and to their questions about local conditions in Ghana. From a errors of the presentations in context of industry pedagogical standpoint, this difficulty is simply another expectations. Presentation class time was divided roughly learning exercise. For students, however, lack of equally among the two fall courses. Both instructors information about design conditions and performance attended all presentations. parameters can cause great frustration. This problem was ameliorated somewhat for the 565 class. First, UST was in Table 2. Project deliverables for two semesters. session, enabling timely communications between NCAT students and UST students (enrolled in their own machine Week Milestone or deliverable design course). Second, two NCAT students, one from the 8 Project assigned. cadre of students involved in this project, went to Ghana in 9 Develop the design process, project plan, March, 1998, as part of a student exchange program. Thus schedule, system requirements. students had a better opportunity for coordination in the 11 Develop 3 design concepts, applying design second semester than they had in the first semester. methods covered in class. 14 Preliminary analysis; preliminary computer Group-work issues and methods simulation of relevant mechanisms; physical model. The skills or habits that students require for productive 15 End of first semester team work are discussed extensively in engineering 21 Progress report. education literature. One summary of these skills, given in 23 Progress report. [5], is that students should: 28-30 Final report, final computer simulation; final • take personal responsibility for team success. analysis (sizing, manufacturability and cost); • follow through on commitments to the team. construct a prototype; marketing strategy. 30 end of second semester • listen to others actively. • contribute to discussions with clear Grading was another shared duty. To simplify matters, communications. we assigned weighting factors to homework, quizzes, tests • give useful feedback. • accept feedback gracefully. As could be expected with any class, our students had varying degrees of difficulty in all of these areas. To assist students in learning these skills, we tried a variety of cooperative learning techniques. One was the colloquial discussion after presentations discussed above. Another was the use of brief classroom exercises for student pairs in which the pair was asked to reach a consensus and then were called on individually to give a response to the class. For groups having difficulties, we tried: • faculty-led meetings to air grievances and seek solutions. • student-authored memos to unresponsive group members. • confidential conversations with individual students. Fig. 4. Representative gutter-cleaning system. • faculty-facilitated “working meetings” in which the (The structural framework connecting the group was helped to function, kept on task, and by machine to a vehicle is not shown.) example shown how the desired skills are used. • as a last resort, dysfunctional groups were Logistical results disbanded at mid-year. In contrast to the technical issues, most of the logistical issues were adequately addressed even though our vision of Results active and persistent collaboration among students at NCAT and UST was not realized. Most students deemed the Technical results teaming, presentation, and grading policies fair and consistent. Having two instructors assess the oral and A representative example of student design is shown in written presentations aided learning for both students and Fig. 4. Overall, the project results were adequate, and two faculty. goals were attained— reducing the burden on students The time-to-market exercise at the end of the project caused by multiple, short-term projects and assigning a worked well. Teams that submitted early tended to get lower meaningful design problem based on a documented need. marks, which were offset by the extra credit given for early However, the primary goal of having students develop a completion. Teams that submitted later earned higher design project in more depth than is usually expected in a marks but no extra credit. Presumably the later reports were single course was not attained. The students had more time of higher quality than the earlier reports because students for this project than they would have had otherwise, but that were learning from one another’s mistakes. time did not significantly enhance the project results Students were assigned individual grades based on a compared to projects from previous semesters. Neither the group grade, adjusted according to their contribution as level of application of design principles nor the level of assessed by their teammates and the instructors. The peer- integration of fundamental engineering topics seemed to be assessment form is shown in Fig. 5. Students rated their greater than usual for these courses. Students had no more teammates confidentially, though not anonymously, with than usual success in defining conceptual designs, detailed two interesting results. First, assessments by conscientious designs, and final designs. And student presentations students were generally consistent with faculty assessments. tended to contain more style than substance, reflecting Second, students that were flippant or otherwise students’ fragile abilities in applying engineering science to unprofessional in assessing their classmates also tended to problems in design. be the students deemed by their peers to be poor performers. This particular peer evaluation is the most satisfactory approach we have tried in recent years. Final distribution of project scores is shown in Fig. 6. Final course grades are shown for comparison. Generally, project scores are higher than course scores, reflecting both our students’ superior presentation skills and their fragile understanding of basic course content. admonishment that in industry they won’t always be able to choose their teammates. We counseled them in team skills Peer Evaluation of Design Project over the course of the semester. At the end of the first Rate on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Do not rate yourself. semester, these two students were not only working well Team member — > #1 #2 #3 #4 together, they jointly volunteered to make a technical presentation to a class of lower-class engineering students Write team member’s name vertically in during which they extemporaneously lectured their audience column — > on the importance of developing good team skills. The Attends meetings audience responded well to their comments [6]. regularly In contrast, another group (two women and three men) Contributes to was never able to overcome their distrust of one another nor discussions their reluctance to attempt working as a team. The basic Has good communication skills sources of interpersonal friction were strong preferences for Committed to group working individually, lack of commitment to team goals, goals and an unwillingness to accept criticism. Gender, too, Listens effectively seemed to play a role. Progress in overcoming these Takes responsibilities difficulties was made, late in the semester, through a seriously faculty-facilitated working meeting. Had this been done Accepts criticism earlier in the semester, and more than once, it is possible gracefully Performs significant that the group would have succeeded. The group was tasks disbanded in the second semester. Tasks have technical content Conclusions Completes tasks on time The primary goal of having students develop a design Fig. 5. Student peer-evaluation form. project in more depth than is usually expected in a single course was not attained. Secondary goals of reducing the burden on students caused by multiple, short-term projects and assigning a meaningful design problem based on a 7 documented need were met. 6 However, the primary goal is attainable (in our Project opinion) through closer attention in and out of class to 5 Course principles of design and building team skills. The published 4 learning objectives and suggested design procedures are valuable, as long as students use them appropriately, 3 recognizing that these are not so much recipes as 2 guidebooks. Faculty have to work harder at encouraging a sense of discovery instead of rote, algorithmic analysis. The 1 development of team skills is greatly enhanced through 0 faculty-facilitated working meetings, but the toll on a 90s 80s 70s 60s <60 faculty members’ time makes this strategy difficult to Scores endorse. It might be possible instead to organize a mandatory lecture or workshop on teaming with an in- Fig. 6. Grade distribution in MEEN 565. house expert. Whatever shape it takes, some provision is Group-work results necessary to more formally familiarize our students with the uncertainties and ambiguities of both team skills and We had mixed success in assisting students develop design. team skills. The following two anecdotes describe the range Another joint project is planned for this course of success and failure. sequence for the 98-99 academic year. One of the authors At the beginning of the project, two members of one (R. Layton) will repeat the experiment with a different group avoided speaking to one another, would not colleague, building on the lessons learned here. collaborate, and requested to be placed in separate groups. We refused and encouraged them to work together with the References
[1] Norton, R., Design of Machinery, McGraw-Hill, 1992.
[2] Juvinall, R. and Marshek, K., Fundamentals of Machine Component Design, 2nd ed., Wiley, 1991. [3] Hyman, B., Fundamentals of Engineering Design, Prentice Hall, 1998. [4] Felder, R. and Brent, R., “Navigating the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered Instruction,” College Teaching 44(2), 1996, pp. 43-47. [5] Shelnutt, W., “Coaching Multidisciplinary Teams, Just Enough at Just the Right Time,” SUCCEED Coalition Workshop on Multidisciplinary Design, Charlotte, NC, 25 Mar 98. [6] Pai, D., Kelkar, A., Layton, R., et al., “Vertical Integration of the Undergraduate Learning Experience,” in proc. of ASEE Annual Conference, Seattle, 1998.