Integration of Engineering Theory and Practice in a Junior-Level Machine Design Course

There is currently a trend in engineering education that emphasizes a blending of theory with the application of that theory to engineering practice. Current ABET criteria for accreditation of engineering programs focus on the ability of students to recognize engineering problems in a real system and to correctly apply engineering principles to those problems. In this paper, the authors describe a junior-level course in machine design that integrates a classic, theoretical treatment of the design of machine elements with a semester-long laboratory in which students design and analyze a ski lift to be used on their campus. This is a required course for all Engineering majors in the Mechanical Engineering Concentration at our university. The sequence of presentation of theoretical content in the course is coordinated with the requirements of the ski lift project, so that students are presented with theory on an “as-needed” basis. Preliminary evaluation of student perception of learning based on Student Assessment of Instruction (SAI) data demonstrates that students feel that learning of theoretical content is improved when it is motivated by the need to solve a problem for their ski lift design.