Now’s the time to start incorporating Everyday Examples in Engineering into your gateway course syllabi
You know those gateway courses that derail many an undergraduate from pursuing an engineering degree: Physics. Chemistry. Calculus. Engineering Graphics.
If you want to help students clear those gateway course hurdles with confidence, NOW is the time to plan. It’s summer and you’ve got the time. ENGAGE Engineering has resources to make it easy.
Everyday Examples in Engineering (E3s) are lesson plans that introduce engineering concepts with familiar examples to which students can easily relate. They can make a huge difference in students’ ability to understand and retain important foundational concepts. There’s also evidence that using E3s improves student course evaluations.
Are you teaching physics this fall? We’ve got E3 lesson plans for teaching particle kinematics, particle kinetics, rigid body kinetics, thermodynamic laws, and vibrations and waves. Some of the most popular physics-based E3s feature Winnie the Pooh, potato chips, kites, and a wet dog shake.
How about chemistry? Two of the ENGAGE chemistry-based E3s are the most widely used E3s overall. Students more readily understand oxidation with Why is the Statue of Liberty Green? and colligative properties with Why Does Salt Melt Ice?
And then there’s calculus. Calculus and differential equations-based E3s cover pre-calculus and calculus concepts with real-life examples ranging from soda cans to a major oil spill.
To make their use even easier, we’ve also organized many of the Everyday Examples in Engineering into topically-defined collections for you:
- Dynamics: A set of 9 ENGAGE lesson plans
- Engineering Design: A set of 7 ENGAGE lesson plans
- Engineering Graphics: A set of 10 ENGAGE lesson plans
As you explore these resources this summer, it will be easy to incorporate them into your fall course syllabi. Now is the time to do it! Your students will benefit from them with increased understanding, engagement, and persistence.
Tools for increasing student retention through:
Everyday Examples in Engineering
Faculty-Student Interaction
Spatial Visualization Skills