Open AccessConnecting Incoming Freshmen With Engineering Through Hands-On Projects
Author(s) -
Suxia Cui,
Younhui Wang,
Yonggao Yang,
Felecia Nave,
Kendall T. Harris
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
american journal of engineering education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2153-2516
pISSN - 2157-9644
DOI - 10.19030/ajee.v2i2.6636
Subject(s) - attrition , curriculum , engineering education , mathematics education , science and engineering , engineering , engineering management , psychology , pedagogy , engineering ethics , medicine , dentistry
Engineering programs suffer a high attrition rate, which causes the nation to graduate much less engineers. A survey of the literature reveals that the high attrition rate is due mainly to the fact that the first year of an engineering program is all fundamental theory and students don't see the connection to their future engineering careers. To address this problem, educators in the Roy G. Perry College of Engineering at Prairie View A&M University launched a five-week summer camp entitled “College of Engineering Enhancement Institute (CE2I)” aimed at improving the performance of incoming freshmen in mathematics by one level and a smoother transition between high school and college. Each department in the college participated by introducing their individual curriculum through hands-on projects designed by faculty members. Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Computer Engineering Technology programs implemented multimedia projects to tie the incoming freshman to their selected majors. Results show that the camp met the expectations and successfully points the directions for our future engineering education practices.