Facilitating Learning With a Project-based Curriculum that Engages First-year Engineering Students

At Binghamton University the State University of New York, Engineering Design Division faculty in the Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science have found that when facilitated student learning is the focus, students are engaged, resulting in motivation to succeed and increased retention rates. In the Engineering Communications classes of the first-year core courses, activities are created that generate inquiry through project-based learning. This approach has proven to enhance the classroom experience and retain first-year engineering students. Several approaches in the 2013 and 2014 spring semester design projects were taken: instruction in the development and writing of project requirements; an increase in team size; pairs within teams researching alternative designs; and a culminating exposition in the form of a competition. This paper describes a semester long first-year engineering conceptual design project that engages students in the design process in a way that allows them to experience being engineers and places the faculty member in the role of facilitator. A description of the design projects, the changes made in the spring 2014 semester based on the student and faculty feedback from spring 2013, and the results of data collected in the 2013 and 2014 spring semesters are reported.