Infusing Engineering Design in Introductory Physics

Most introductory college science courses focus on preparing students to solve well-structured end-of-chapter problems. However, most engineers are hired to solve non-routine, ill-structured problems that have multiple possible solutions and solution paths. These types of problems require engineering students to make assumptions, make approximations, and consider tradeoffs. Engineering design challenges, come close to representing the kinds of problems that professional engineers experience in their careers. We address this issue within the context of a physics class for future engineers through our implementation of two, five-week long, projects that integrate engineering design and coding in vPython into the laboratory experiences of a calculus-based physics course for future engineers and scientists. In addition, this project has developed training to prepare a cadre of graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants that would facilitate learning physics using engineering design.

This project is a collaborative effort between faculty in Physics and Engineering Education to redesign the physics laboratory course at a large public university impacting about 2400 students annually, 40% of whom are women or under-represented minorities. Our efforts to infuse design utilize engineering design process models that students use in their first-year engineering course and coding principles that are taught in their first-year engineering and computer courses, which are taken concurrently with the physics course. The initial results of our evaluation indicate that the integration of engineering and computer science processes to the physics labs facilitate students’ engaging in transfer, making connections to the majors, and grounding design, coding, and physics learning in authentic contexts.

NSF Program: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE)

CITATIONS

Bralin, A., Chapman, T., Morphew, J.W., Rebello, C. M., Rebello, N.S. (2022). Engineering design in introductory physics: Undergraduate students‘ and graduate teaching assistants‘ perspectives. Paper submitted for the 2022 Annual International Conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Vancouver, British Columbia.

Bralin, A., Morphew, J. W., Chapman, T., Rebello, C. M., & Rebello, N. S. (2021). Graduate TA Perceptions of Engineering Design in Introductory Physics Labs. Paper presentation at the summer meeting of the meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Virtual Conference: July 31-August 4.

Chapman, T., Bralin, A., Morphew, J. W., Rebello, C. M., & Rebello, N. S. (2021). Martian Lander: Integrating engineering design into undergraduate introductory physics. Paper presentation at the summer meeting of the meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Virtual Conference: July 31-August 4.

Fennell, H.W., Lyon, J.A., Magana, A.J., Rebello, S., Rebello, C., and Piedrahita, Y. (2019) Designing hybrid physics labs: Combining simulation and experiment for teaching computational thinking in first-year engineering. In Proceedings of the 49th IEEE-ERM Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), Cincinnatti, OH, USA. October 16-19, 2019. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9028390

Morphew, H., Kaufman-Ortiz, K. J., Rebello, N. S., & Rebello, C., M. (2022). Case study on engineering design intervention in physics laboratories. Paper presentation at 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). June 26-19, 2022.

Morphew, J. W., Bralin, A., Chapman, T., Rebello, C. M., & Rebello, N. S. (2021). Student Perception of Engineering Design Activities in Introductory Physics Labs. Paper presentation at the summer meeting of the meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Virtual Conference: July 31-August 4.

Rebello, C. M. (2022). A model for facilitating multidisciplinary justifications in engineering design challenges. Paper submitted for the 2022 Annual International Conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), Vancouver, British Columbia.

Rebello C. M., Asunda P. A., & Wang H. H. (2020). Infusing evidence-based reasoning in integrated STEM. In C. Johnson, M. Mohr-Schroeder, T. Moore & L. English, (Eds.). Handbook of Research on STEM Education (pp. 184-495). Routledge/Taylor & Francis.