A Dual-Level, Inquiry-Based Experimental Structural Dynamics Course in a "Roving" Laboratory

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Engineering - Mechanical (56) Engineering undergraduate and graduate students are rarely asked to design, set up, carry out, and interpret their own experiments. Although prearranged laboratory experiments are used very effectively to reinforce theoretical concepts, they follow a fixed format and do not give students an opportunity to develop their own experimental planning skills. The overall objective of this project is to give students more control of the learning process. Experiments in an on-campus laboratory or test-trips to an off-campus site, i.e. the "roving" laboratory, are going to create an interactive, student-driven learning environment where instructors serve as learning coaches. Analytical and experimental structural dynamic course materials are going to be adapted from a proven set of course notes to meet the needs of this environment. Industrial partners, who serve on an advisory committee as third-party evaluators, are going to donate structural specimens or data to be used in experimental student projects. The project is going to better educate students in experimental structural dynamics within the roving laboratory, encourage lifelong self-learning, establish an educational link between university classrooms and industry, promote and support curriculum innovation where this approach is warranted, and provide other educators and industrial sponsors with information needed to implement this approach elsewhere.