INTEGRATING

1
INTEGRATING SMART MATERIALS INTO A FIRST-YEAR
ENGINEERING CURRICULUM A CASE STUDY

• Luke Penrod
• Diana Talley
• Jeff Froyd
• Rita Caso
• Dimitris Lagoudas
• Terry Kohutek

http//crcd.tamu.edu
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Development of a Multidisciplinary Curriculum for
Intelligent Systems (MCIS)

• Rita M. Caso
• Jeffery E. Froyd
• Dimitris C. Lagoudas
• Othon K. Rediniotis
• Thomas W. Strganac
• John L. Valasek
• John D. Whitcomb

Work was partially supported by NSF CRCD Award
0088118. Their support is gratefully
acknowledged.
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Goals of MCIS Effort at TAMU

• Develop new curriculum track on Intelligent
  Systems emphasizing aerospace technologies.
• Increase knowledge and interest in using smart
  materials to design intelligent systems.
• Include a 2 semester design course and a
  one-on-one directed studies course with a faculty
  member.
• Offer an Intelligent Systems Track Certificate.
• 15 hour program
• Includes recognition on transcript

URICA and design team
Synthetic Jet Actuator
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Courses Impacted

• AERO 101 - Introduction to Aerospace Engineering
  (F01)
• ENGR 111/112 - Foundations of Engineering I/II
  (F01/S02)
• ENGR 211/213/214 - Basic engineering science
  courses (S02, F02)
• AERO 302 - Aerospace Engineering Laboratory I
  (S02)
• AERO 304/306 - Structural Mechanics I/II (F01,
  F02)
• AERO 401/402 - Senior design sequence (F03, S04)
• AERO 404 - Mechanics of Advanced Aerospace
  Structures (F02)
• AERO 405 - Aerospace Structural Design (F01)
• AERO 420 - Aeroelasticity (S02)
• AERO 489 - Special Topic MEMS for Aerospace
  Engineering (F01)
• AERO 489 - Special Topic Aerospace Intelligent
  Systems (S02)

New Course
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Foundations of Engineering (ENGR 111/112)
Activities with Shape Memory Alloys (SMA)
Butterfly DemonstrationSMA Linear Actuator
Heat Engine DemoSMA Efficiency/Thermodynamics
Thermobile DemoSMA Properties/Thermodynamics
Stiquito ProjectApplication of SMA
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ENGR 111/112 Project Walking Robot

• Robot (Stiquito) specifications
• Must be actuated by SMAs
• Goal is maximum distance in 3 minutes
• Only contact can come from ground
• Must be an autonomous system
• Assigned to 11 four-person student teams in ENGR
  112 (24 teams participated in Engr 111 in the
  previous semester)
• Maximum distance traveled was 48cm.

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How did it happen?

• Luke Penrod, graduate student, volunteered to
  develop materials and projects for first-year
  engineering course and coordinated material
  development.
• Diana Talley, undergraduate student on summer
  research project, assembled possible materials on
  shape memory alloys (SMAs) for use in first-year
  engineering course. One of the possible projects
  was a Stiquito robot kit that was commercially
  available.
• Jeff Froyd approached Terry Kohutek, first-year
  engineering course coordinator, about
  incorporating SMA material into ENGR 111 and
  Terry accepted

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How did it happen? (continued)

• Luke worked with Terry to develop specifications
  for a Stiquito robot project.
• Luke developed a PowerPoint presentation on SMAs.
• Showed applications for SMAs, e.g., SMA jacket
  that remembers its shape
• Described the material structure of a SMA
• Luke worked with Terry to implement and evaluate
  student robot project.
• After two semesters, Terry now uses the Stiquito
  project and PowerPoint presentation in his class.

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CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact
Assessment and Evaluation of YEAR 1
OUTCOMES-Design Knowledge (Implemented1
and/or Projected )
Levels at which Implemented ( i.e.,
FrFreshman, SophSophomore, SrSenior)

FOCI

STUDENT OUTCOME MEASUREMENT


Retention in Major


q

Pre
-
Post Attitude Survey results
(Fr, Soph)


Interest
q

Enrollment in Project courses

q

Targeted class activities feedback

(Fr)

q

Content
Targeted parts of class
-
embedded tests,
q

assignments projects

Knowledge



Engineering
Design Knowledge baseline pre-test (Fr, Sr)
q

Engineering /Design Process Performance
Design Process
q

assessment

(Fr)
Skills

Design Product assessment

q




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CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact on
Design Knowledge

• To be examine changes over time in students
  design knowledge, benchmark measures were taken
  for
• Freshmen Beginning and ending first year
• Seniors Beginning 1st semester of Aero Design
  and ending 2nd semester of Aero Design
• A slightly adapted version of the TIDEE
  Team-Based Design Knowledge Assessment Test and
  Scoring Rubric was used to measure
• Engineering Design Process
• Teamwork
• Communication.

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CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact on
Design KnowledgeTeam Design Process, Teamwork
Communication1 Freshman vs. Senior Baselines (
Early Fall 2001)
Scores Scaled 0 5.5, with 0no knowledge
5.5exceptional knowledge
AERO CRCD Students 05.5 Scale Design Process Team Work Communication
Freshmen2 (n88) Mean Scores 4 2.71 2.59 1.62
Freshmen2 (n88) Std. Dev. 1.14 0.95 0.76
Seniors3 (n23) Mean Scores 3.30 2.30 2.04
Seniors3 (n23) Std. Dev. 1.15 0.79 0.85
Validity in question. Question universally
misinterpreted.
1 TAMU AERO CRCD Adapted TIDEE Project Mid
Program Assessment Instrument 1, Design
knowledge
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CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact on
Design Knowledge Freshman Benchmarks
Scores Scaled 0 5.5, with 0no knowledge
5.5exceptional knowledge
Assessment
5.5
Validity in question. Question universally
misinterpreted.
4.5
3.5
Scores
2.5
1.5
0.5
-0.5

Design
Teamwork
Communication
Question Topics
Pre Test
Post Test
.Post Test was given to a different set of
Freshman
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CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact on
Design Knowledge Senior Benchmarks
Scores Scaled 0 5.5, with 0no knowledge
5.5exceptional knowledge
Senior Team-Based Design Knowledge Pre Post
Assessment
5.5
Validity in question. Question universally
misinterpreted.
4.5
3.5
Score
2.5
1.5
0.5
-0.5
Design
Teamwork
Communication
Question Topic
Pre Test
Post Test