Learning an Integrated View of Engineering (LIVE)

Trustees Of Boston University, Boston

Investigators

Abstract

Engineering - Electrical (55) This project is enhancing curricular integration by introducing new modules based principally on concept maps into existing courses. These modules explicitly establish connections among the concepts or methods taught in different courses throughout the program. The Investigators intend to improve students' understanding of the interconnections among basic concepts, to increase their ability to use such concepts to solve new problems, to enable them to more easily learn new paradigms to cope with new technologies, and to minimize the aversion to interdisciplinary problems. They are creating new learning materials and teaching strategies for four courses (Introduction to Engineering, Signals and Systems, Electromagnetic Systems, and Capstone Design) that utilize concept maps showing the connections between the courses. The investigators hypothesize that the teaching of cross-course knowledge during the process of knowledge building will significantly enhance the students' assimilation, retention, recall, and application of knowledge to the solution of new problems, particularly complex or interdisciplinary problems. They are disseminating their methods and data by postings on a website, which they are connecting to the NSDL, by presentation and publications in the engineering education conferences and journals, and by talks to specific ECE departments and at the ECE Department Heads meeting. The evaluation effort is using student performance on special assessment tests and open-ended feedback about student perceptions to determine if students in the program differ from a control group and if GPA affects these differences. Broader impacts include the dissemination of the material, particularly through the NSDL and the ECE Department Heads. and the potential for a wide-reaching effect on engineering education.