Effective Teaching Methods In Lower Division Engineering Programs

Our teaching/learning strategy is to develop effective teaching and active learning methods for lower division engineering programs and prepare students for transferring to a four-year school successfully. One of the student learning attitudes is described as “Tell me, I will forget; Show me, I may remember; Involve me, I will understand.” It reflects the way whether students can learn effectively or not. In order to get students involved, we have developed several teaching methods for student active learning from the lectures of engineering fundamentals courses to hands-on design laboratory courses. The methods include teamwork, class/group discussion, peer tutoring/teaching, and problem solving skills. In each activity, students can be a learner or can be a teacher, to lead or to be led. It creates interaction between teacher and students. The hands-on laboratory courses reinforce the basic concepts that the students have learned from the lectures. To enhance the students’ laboratory experiences, computer-based design software has been used in the measurement and the design process. The student design projects are interdisciplinary. The projects integrate the knowledge from electrical/electronic, mechanical and computer programming. The design processes challenge students’ creativity and the ability to apply engineering principles to the design. Also the activities improve the teamwork and communication skills. In addition to the classroom teaching/learning, the field trips to the industrial sites and the meetings with engineering professionals help students to link the real world designs and problems. The outcomes are evaluated and the assessment shows that getting students involved to the actives improves the students learning. The rate of retention and successful transfer to 4year school is increased. In this paper, we would like to present some experience in teaching and learning in engineering education.