The Engineering Genome Project

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

There are many engineering concepts that, to an expert eye, are clearly related to each other but seem quite disconnected to novices and students. The Engineering Genome project builds on previous NSF work and is developing learner-centered tools for linking these engineering concepts, thus enabling students to better recognize the interrelationships of the concepts. It is expected that by enabling students to recognize these relationships, students will more quickly develop expert-like behavior and understanding. The understanding of these relationships also serves to assist students as they search for learning materials related to a subject they are studying. Analogous to Pandora, the internet radio search application that relates and finds similar music using a music genome, the Engineering Genome project will implement a search method for finding related engineering concepts using the Engineering Genome. The project is developing the Engineering Genome for a subset of engineering topics and is assessing the efficacy of the genome for enhancing student learning.