{"title":"Work in progress - math infusion in a middle school engineering/technology class","authors":"David Burghardt, Michael Hacker","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720457","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720457","url":null,"abstract":"Engineering design projects can provide a rich opportunity to enhance middle school student knowledge in core disciplinary subject areas, such as mathematics and science and forms an important aspect of the NSF-supported mathematics, science, technology education partnership (MSTP) project . A key goal of the project has been to develop a model for infusing mathematics into science and technology at the middle school level. The informed design process was created as part of a NSF materials development program and formed the engineering design framework for this study. Structured mathematics activities (knowledge and skill builders - KSBs) were developed that linked to the design challenge. As a result of these hands-on activities, students apply the mathematical reasoning developed in order to solve an engineering problem; the design of a bedroom. A pilot research study, involved implementation of a math-infused bedroom design lesson. A paired t-test indicated the difference was statistically significant t (128) = 2.828, p<.005, providing evidence that students were showing gains on their math content knowledge.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127925017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A simple but realistic assembly language for a course in computer organization","authors":"E. Larson, M. Kim","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720662","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720662","url":null,"abstract":"Computer science curriculums, constantly evolving to include new material and methodologies, have reduced the amount of time spent on low-level computer hardware and organization. Our institution recently combined a course on computer organization and a course on assembly language programming into one course covering both topics. The choice of assembly language is a critical decision that contributes to the success of the course. ANNA (a new noncomplex architecture) is a new 16-bit instruction set architecture that is similar to MIPS but has fewer instructions. The instruction set, while small, is sufficient in illustrating how high-level languages are translated into assembly, how to design a CPU datapath, and how to implement pipelining. Real-world assembly languages such as IA-32 or MIPS have many subtleties that complicate the learning experience for students and consume valuable class time. This paper describes the ANNA assembly language and the assembler and simulator tools that can be used in the classroom. In addition, the paper describes how ANNA can be used effectively in a combined course on assembly language programming and computer organization. ANNA was used in three courses with very positive results based on our observations and feedback from students.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133272316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Psychological sense of community & belonging in engineering education","authors":"D. Wilson, D. Spring, L. Hansen","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720650","url":null,"abstract":"Using previously validated measures, belonging and psychological sense of community are measured in a cross section of engineering communities including engineering classes at the sophomore and junior level at a major Research 1 University and various conference venues and research center retreats. Belonging and sense of community vary among the venues examined. As students become more invested in their community of practice (moving from undergraduate to graduate level), belongingness and psychological sense of community (PSC) increase. Differences in belonging and PSC also occur within different groups of graduate students but remain surprisingly consistent among undergraduates. Both of these affective/relational measures are important to academic outcomes and student experience as they mediate academic engagement and are mediated by extraversion, making it more difficult for the introvert-dominated engineering student population to attain strong connections to community.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133606157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A hands-on overview course for computer science and modern information technologies","authors":"Lixin Tao, Li-Chiou Chen","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720277","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes the logics and experience in piloting a new project-based program overview course to introduce the fundamental computer science concepts, methodologies and technologies underpinning the latest information technologies for students who have just completed CS2 or the equivalent. The course focuses on recurring great computing ideas, motivates computing students with the modern real-world challenges and their innovative solution technologies based on creative application of the great ideas, and shortens the prerequisite chains for subsequent computing courses to support more current and flexible computing curricula. The assessment data indicate that students who have taken this program overview course are better motivated and prepared for follow-up courses and real-world IT challenges.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134547616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interdisciplinary Engineering: Enabling student dreams, broadening participation in engineering, and increasing student retention","authors":"K. Lough, R. Stone, B. Bachman","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720548","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720548","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents the status of the Interdisciplinary Engineering (IDE) degree program at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), formerly the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR). The IDE degree was founded in 2005 at UMR to meet the emerging need to provide considerable flexibility to students allowing them to construct programs of study in areas of interest while maintaining a solid and rigorous foundation in mechanics, thermal science, electrical networks and linear systems. Students are able to pursue studying the latest technological fields through a collection of ldquotracksrdquo enabled by the flexibility of the curriculum. This modern degree program houses energetic motivated students interested in a variety of disciplines from product design and amusement park fundamentals to industrial automation and control. The first students graduated the IDE program in December 2007. This facilitated the evaluation of IDEpsilas current status, preparation of its future plans, and sharing these findings with other universities interested in increasing student retention and broadening their demographic of engineering students. This paper presents statistics detailing the students involved in the IDE program, their educational interests inside the program (i.e. track selection), IDEpsilas budding reputation with potential students as well as its recognition in corporate America and its plans to broaden the popularity of the program. Lessons learned from the curriculum development and implementation will be discussed.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"388 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133557655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Work in progress: How building informational modeling may unify IT in the civil engineering curriculum","authors":"M.J. Casey","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720644","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720644","url":null,"abstract":"IT in the civil engineering curriculum is often fragmented into courses that emphasize either design tools (e.g., CAD), or packages for analysis, planning and modeling. Graduating students often report a lack of coherence in the IT tools used in their courses and a distinctive gap in their junior years where technology skills are under-used or forgotten. Building information modeling (BIM) may offer the opportunity to unify disparate technologies to provide a coherent IT skill set for civil engineering students to address the range of problems in the infrastructure and facilities life cycle. BIM is a framework that combines visualization and parametric modeling in a way that allows students to simultaneously consider the interdependent processes of planning, analysis, design and construction. This research will evaluate the feasibility of embedding BIM in the civil engineering curriculum with the goal of defining and promoting an extensible skill set that is reinforced through a comprehensive transportation design problem.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133875954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Work in progress - comparing the results of Reflective Thinking interventions at IIT and Uppsala University","authors":"M. Huyck, D. Ferguson, E. Howard","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720460","url":null,"abstract":"A common problem in higher education is the question of whether or not students are obtaining the skills they need to solve problems in the real world. At the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), an attempt to address this problem has led to the concept of Reflective Judgment, defined by Patricia M. King and Karen Strohm Kitchener (1994) as the ability to make good decisions about ill-structured problems, or problems that do not have a single right answer. At IIT, a written measure of Reflective Thinking has been developed using questions included in Reflections assignments. At Uppsala University, a similar interest in the question of how students learn has led educators to experiment with the use of Reflections assignments in their courses as a means of stimulating deeper learning. Comparing IITpsilas scoring of student Reflections for Reflective Thinking to Uppsalapsilas interest in ill-structured problem solving and use of Reflections as an enhancement of the student learning process, it is clear that while these two universities have in common the use of reflections and the goal of helping students develop advanced problem solving skills, they are taking two fairly distinct approaches. What is not clear is whether one approach is more effective than the other approach at enhancing studentspsila problem solving skills.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"167 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114370831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Active listening” in written online communication - a case study in a course on “soft skills for computer scientists”","authors":"Christine Bauer, K. Figl","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720282","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720282","url":null,"abstract":"\"Active listening\" is a well-known ingredient in contexts that involve gathering information and solving problems. Demanding both verbal and nonverbal skills, this way of communication improves mutual understanding by using techniques like paraphrasing. The benefits are manifold and crucial for computer scientists. For instance, it avoids misunderstandings, as people verify they do really understand. Our study investigates active listening in an online educational setting using written communication, which is a novel asset. We explore whether active listening is effective in written online communication and examine this mediumpsilas capacity to fully exploit this conceptpsilas benefits. The study was conducted in a technology-enhanced course on ldquoSoft Skills for Computer Scientistsrdquo. Interestingly, analysis reveals that active listening techniques do have positive effects on communication in the analyzed setting of online communication. Furthermore, it appears that instant messaging tools facilitate to let the other completely verbalize his or her thought before responding.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114578572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The foreign language engineering writer - what makes a readable report?","authors":"D. Dalton","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720273","url":null,"abstract":"Writing in a foreign language brings its own set of complex difficulties, not least that the structure, notions and productive skills required by different genres are commonly often not understood by writers writing in their native languages. They have to be taught. The purpose of this exploratory research is to analyze some of the linguistic and organizational elements of a typical degree-level document (memo report) produced in one of the engineering programmes at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, UAE with a view to describing some salient features which contribute to its level of 'success' (readability) as judged by the subject teacher grading the document. Texts were analyzed according to specified linguistic features and use, style and organization. Successful application of these features was a factor in the response of the content teacher to the quality of the report. Recommendations are made as to how the readability of such documents might be improved by better preparing students to produce them, in particular by developing a better understanding of the relevant genre.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114760289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Contextualization of programming learning: A virtual environment study","authors":"M. Esteves, B. Fonseca, L. Morgado, P. Martins","doi":"10.1109/FIE.2008.4720544","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2008.4720544","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, it is presented a study concerning about the use of the three-dimensional virtual world Second Life (SL) to visualize and contextualize the learning of computer programming. SL allows students to use avatars to create 3D objects and program their behaviours, process data, and interact with external servers, using Linden Scripting Language (LSL), a language with C-like syntax and a state machine. Scripts can execute concurrently, and several students can simultaneously work over the same object and/or script. Through action research, we explore and analyse the potential of SL for teaching-learning introductory computer programming in computer science undergraduate courses. We believe this virtual environment has potential to help students, since it presents an immediately visual feedback of the program execution.","PeriodicalId":342595,"journal":{"name":"2008 38th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference","volume":"206 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116744700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}