Experiments for a Freshman Engineering Computing Course

The author teaches the Computer Programming for Engineers course at Hofstra University. This course is a required course for all engineering freshmen in all disciplines. We have a variety of students. Some are eager to learn and highly motivated. Others are much less enthusiastic. To make the course interesting and relevant, we use problems from science and engineering as much as possible. Special emphasis is given to choosing problems that are of general interest to all the students, regardless of engineering discipline. Through outcome assessments, we have found that students have particular difficulty with problems involving simultaneous equations and problems involving curve fitting; i.e., determining functions to model experimental data. The students especially have difficulty fitting data to power and exponential functions. However, surprisingly, they also have some difficulty with linear functions. We have added experiments to the computing course in an effort to enhance student motivation and understanding. The experiments have been specifically chosen to cover the difficult areas of the course. There is an electrical circuit experiment for the simultaneous equations topic, a fluid mechanics (i.e., orifice flow meter) experiment for curve fitting of power functions, and a heat transfer experiment (i.e., cooling of a metal cube) for curve fitting of exponential functions. There is also an experiment involving a cantilever beam. Loading weights at the end of the beam illustrates curve fitting of a linear function, and vibration of the beam illustrates the solution of a single implicit function to determine the various modes of vibration. The paper includes a detailed description of the experiments. It also includes the results of a student survey. The addition of experiments has been very well-received by the students. It has enhanced the dynamics of class sessions through increased student participation, and it is believed that the use of experiments has resulted in a very positive impact on student motivation. The author believes that the use of experiments has improved the students' understanding of the course material. However, due to lack of a control group, this belief cannot be confirmed by the current study.