Teaching Design Skills In The Freshman Engineering Curriculum

With the mission of introducing engineering early in the undergraduate curriculum, the freshman engineering course has developed the following goals: (1) Introduce an engineering approach for problemsolving through team projects; (2) Demonstrate the importance of graphical, oral, and written communication skills; (3) Incorporate the skill oriented tusks, such as analysis and interpretation of experimental dat+ into design projects. Essential skills taught in the freshman engineering course are: graphical presentation including sketching and solid modeling, use of engineering principles with physics and math for analysis, construction and testing of working prototypes, and documentation of the solution. Students are also instructed on how to manage their projects and work in teams.