The Creation Of An Experiential Engineering Library

In preparation for solving twenty-first century problems, today's engineering students need twenty-first century examples. These students also express a need for hands-on activities to help them understand the theories they learn in class. Satisfying these criteria while ensuring mastery of the fundamentals is becoming an increasingly greater challenge given the time constraints of the typical mechanical engineering curriculum. In order to meet this challenge, the VCU Mechanical Engineering Department has begun development of an NSF-sponsored “Experiential Engineering Library” that will provide an easily accessible environment for hands-on learning experiences beyond the traditional Mechanical Engineering curriculum. The library will foster critical thinking by encouraging students to apply fundamental mechanical engineering principles to interdisciplinary research in emerging fields such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), bioengineering, and nanotechnology. The present article describes the library concept, elaborates on its contents, and describes its impact on student interest and performance in a pilot course: Energy Conversion Systems.