Studying the Impact on Mechanical Engineering Students who participate in Distinctive Projects in Thermodynamics

This paper summarizes two projects which were creat ed in 2001 and incorporated within a Thermodynamics and Advanced Thermodynamics course. Int nded learning outcomes of the projects include strengthening Thermodynamics relat ed knowledge; improving communication abilities, and strengthening intellectual curiosity in areas related to thermodynamics and mechanical engineering, in general. The focus of t his paper is on the framework development to measure certain effects that project participation may have had on student participants. In 2001, the projects were introduced and over the past nine years, each project has been refined through assessment in order to improve student learning whi le achieving intended learning outcomes. The two projects which were designed to prolong and strengthen students’ interest in areas related to thermodynamics. The first project is an individual project within Thermodynamics which requires students to critically read a techni al book related to Thermodynamics, technically review the book in written form, and or ally present results to the class in an informal setting. The second is a team-based project within Advanced Thermodynamics which requires student teams to create and present a class-long pr esentation for a non-technical audience. The content of the presentation must strongly relate to Thermodynamics and have direct relevance to the audience. Past student teams have presented to a variety of audiences ranging from college level liberal arts classes to middle and high schoo l science, math, and technology classes. This paper includes a brief background of both proj ects with project rationale, past assessment results, and discussions on project refinement. A key element of the paper is the development of an enhanced assessment strategy to measure impact a sso iated with participation on the teambased presentation project. An indirect measure in volving focus groups is also introduced and administered on a pilot basis with sample results p re ented.