A Gentle Bridge between Dynamics and Thermodynamics

Engineering Thermodynamics is a stumbling block for many engineering students, as it introduces many new concepts and uses completely different approaches in solving problems. Therefore, a bridge between the knowledge of the previous courses and this course is very useful. Engineering Mechanics-Dynamics is a required course that is familiar to most students, and thus the idea of the conservation laws there can be carried over. With this approach, we found that the barrier in concept and methodology is lowered significantly. In the assessment at the end of the semester, the statistical result shows that the challenge levels of these two courses perceived by the students are identical.